Aggy 2024: Still waiting on the Looch 44

[Born Burnt 6177]

25 minutes ago, CHEF RIBS W/ THE HAMM YALL said:

Will he go by:

J-Bate

Ja-Ba (Jabba)

Jay-Bae

Jaba the Coach

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

Just now, Tex Pete said:

I'm not sure Robinson was ever going to stay. I'm not sure the recruits were ever going to stay. That place has been a steaming pile of shit for years, spanning several coaches. For all the "WRTS!" bullshit, there have been lots and lots of red flags including a ton of transfers out. Even when people like Josh Pate have carried their water, a lot of people have seen through the veneer and surely recruits have heard lots of the warnings from different directions. This reminds me of Joseph Ossai waking up and bailing on them several years ago.

Painted on championships aren't real championships. Recruiting championships aren't real championships. 20__ trophies aren't real trophies. Air doesn't actually fill up a "Hall of Champions." Self-declared best fanbase in America and best alumni network in the world are not really the best fanbase or alumni network.

He's been interviewing for DC jobs the last 2-3 years. It was only a matter of time. 

[Pimphand 5735]

We really need a documentary about TAMU incompetence. Looch should be forced to narrate it in 2004 Baylor Dave South voice.

[Duane Moore 5237]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Strong to quite strong resume:

Coaching career

After graduating from Randolph–Macon in 1995, Bateman went to work for a company that sold paper machinery. He got into coaching when the owner sold the company, working as an assistant coach at Benedictine High School in Richmond.[1] He got his first job in the college ranks at Hampden–Sydney College in 1997 as a graduate assistant, working with the defensive line and linebackers. He was named the defensive coordinator at Siena College in New York in 1999, and was promoted to head coach in 2000. At the time of his promotion, he was said to be the youngest head coach in Division I football at 26.[2] After the football program was shut down in 2003, he joined the coaching staff at Richmond in 2004 as their assistant secondary coach, on a coaching staff that had future college and NFL assistants, such as Mike Elko, Patrick Graham, and Marcus Satterfield. He also had assistant coaching stints under Pete Lembo at Lehigh, Elon, and Ball State.[3]

Army

Bateman was named the defensive coordinator at Army in 2014. He was suspended in 2017 when it was revealed that he had received improper information from former Wake Forest radio announcer Tommy Elrod.[4] In addition to the suspension, he was also fined $25,000 and forced to attend an ethics training program.[5]

Bateman was named a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2018, the award given to the top assistant coach in college football.[6] In his tenure with Army, he improved the Black Knights defense from 91st overall in 2014 to 8th in the country in 2018.[7]

North Carolina

Bateman was named the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at North Carolina on December 9, 2018.[8] He and co-coordinator Tommy Thigpen oversaw the position change and development of former quarterback Chazz Surratt into an all-conference linebacker and NFL draftee and brought in several top defensive recruits to the program, being a key player in the Tar Heels' recruiting upswing. After three years leading the Tar Heel defense, Bateman and UNC agreed to part ways after the 2021 season, which featured the worst defensive unit of his tenure.[9]

Florida

In January 2022, Bateman joined Billy Napier's staff at Florida as the inside linebackers coach. [lulz]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bateman

My God. Santucci is a beautiful dream compared to this jabroni. 

[Js1 85311]

2 minutes ago, Born Burnt said:

Jaba the Coach

Alongside Elko the Hutt

[Tex Pete 20342]

20 minutes ago, Duane Moore said:

My God. Santucci is a beautiful dream compared to this jabroni. 

Aggy would have revolted over Santucci the same way we did over Mike Stoops. TexAgs would have blocked the hire like they did the Mark Stoops hire.

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

22 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

We really need a documentary about TAMU incompetence. Looch should be forced to narrate it in 2004 Baylor Dave South voice.

It needs to mention the Caden Sterns recruitment/video.

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

Cross posting for the lulz (or when aggy begins to brag about the 2018 Broyles Award finalist).

Some are pointing to Bateman's results at Army during the 2017-2018.  He was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award due to Army's defensive improvement from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018.

Couple of things.

He had been the defensive coordinator at Army for the 4 years prior to 2017-2018.  So the shitty defense he fixed was his.

Secondly, Army's #'s are skewed due to its ball-control offense.  Army's defense only faced an avg of 56.2 plays a game.  The median was 72.3 that year so 16 fewer plays.  As far as yards per play, Army was 110th in the country on defense.  Army's defense faced 77% of the number of plays as the average team that year, but gave up a shitload of yards per play - a more accurate representation.

Sorry for the tl;dr.  I'm holed up in a Vegas hotel with a herniated disc in my back.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Knoxtnhorn

[Tx74 96]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

named the defensive coordinator at Siena College in New York in 1999, and was promoted to head coach in 2000. At the time of his promotion, he was said to be the youngest head coach in Division I football at 26.[2] After the football program was shut down in 2003

I get it, he knows how to shut down a football program. Perfect fit for the Aggy job!!

 

[Ricky Butler 2694]

I believe it was Bill Walsh or maybe Bill Braske that said, “the most important position in football is the defensive coordinator under a defensive head coach.” Aggies hit another grand slam at the buzzer. 

[closetojumping 62604]

2 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

Updated after yesterday's mess

That's like 71-72 guys. That includes guys that haven't signed who may go elsewhere by February. Additionally, that's counting guys who are still likely to jump ship before the portal closes, of which there are rumored to be roughly 5 more of those. Wow. 

1 hour ago, ClubWhatever said:

Lots of people here, some of whom still aren't dead, thought he was a good hire by Mack at UNC. 

You do drive-bys like this somewhat regularly. You should post the examples in the future. 

In any event, are people ever allowed to, like, you know, learn? I don't remember having a thought about Bateman when Mack hired him, but he certainly didn't seem like an imbecile at Army so I probably thought the hire made sense.

I do remember watching Manny Diaz coach against Dick Rod in a bowl as the MSU DC and thought, "man, that guy's doing a good job containing Robinson (the mobile QB)." Then Texas hired him and I thought he was a solid hire. I was fine with him after year one, as well. By the time he was fired, I was volunteering to drive him to the city limits and drop him off myself. After watching him at Miami as DC and PSU this season, I'm kind of back to thinking he's, you know, learned some things and is an above average DC. It's super weird to gather new data points and then allow those to influence your point of view. I agree that should be something we continue to mock and make fun of on this board.

[NoName 16351]

4 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

It needs to mention the Caden Sterns recruitment/video.

that was Brandon Jones heh

https://texags.com/s/19482/on-an-island-being-brandon-jones

TexAgs did a documentary (above) then he ended up at Texas

it isn't working on their website, but is here lol

https://vimeo.com/blog/post/staff-pick-premiere-five-star/

[Vertigo 20276]

1 hour ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

I'm betting Mark Stoops would have put together a fairly decent staff (better than the Elk).  Also, Stoops is getting some solid portal guys at Kentucky compared to what the Elk is doing.

I don't at all feel bad for Bjork, but if I am him and this hire goes sideways, he has the perfect out to point to. 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Vertigo

[Js1 85311]

1 minute ago, Vertigo said:

I don't at all feel bad for Bjork, but if I am him and this hire goes sideways, he has the perfect out to. 

Bjork: Don't blame me, I voted for Stoops

[Vertigo 20276]

50 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Batemen's tweets from yesterday 

 

Them taking pictures with a wrinkled backdrop seems fairly on brand for Florida these days. Maybe Bateman can bring some of that attention to detail to colleyville. 

[linux 1660]

OK more info on the Wakeyleaks scandal, Bateman was punished by Army for it after they investigated and found he accepted "non-public information and took actions to conceal the information and its source."
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18638227/army-black-knights-suspend-fine-jay-bateman-wrongdoing-related-wake-forest-scandal

The plays were O only I think, but the DC of Wake Forest at the time was.... Mike Elko his former boss at Richmond (not FC)

This will go so swimmingly.

Edited December 21, 2023 by linux

[kevwun 15774]

Yeah it was only offensive plays.  The radio guy was giving out everything though, even some trick plays they were putting in at the end of the season.  The coaches and players were starting to get suspicious and then after a game against Louisville someone found a binder after the game on the Lousiville sideline that had their plays in it, including some they had never run before that game.  The coach launched an investigation and they eventually figured out who was doing it.

Edited December 21, 2023 by kevwun

[Vertigo 20276]

4 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Bjork: Don't blame me, I voted for Stoops

[BigHornedLurker 1936]

12 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Cross posting for the lulz (or when aggy begins to brag about the 2018 Broyles Award finalist).

Some are pointing to Bateman's results at Army during the 2017-2018.  He was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award due to Army's defensive improvement from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018.

Couple of things.

He had been the defensive coordinator at Army for the 4 years prior to 2017-2018.  So the shitty defense he fixed was his.

Secondly, Army's #'s are skewed due to its ball-control offense.  Army's defense only faced an avg of 56.2 plays a game.  The median was 72.3 that year so 16 fewer plays.  As far as yards per play, Army was 110th in the country on defense.  Army's defense faced 77% of the number of plays as the average team that year, but gave up a shitload of yards per play - a more accurate representation.

Sorry for the tl;dr.  I'm holed up in a Vegas hotel with a herniated disc in my back.

This makes sense as a fit for the OC he (maybe?) hired , Klein is definitely a ball control type coordinator 

It does seem like a general miss from what I understand the fans want out of their offense, but i do think what kansas state has put out the past few years is light years beyond jimbo 

I still have my doubts they have the QB battering ram , or the O Line to run that style of offense but hey im just an internet football fan  

[Pimphand 5735]

5 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Bjork: Don't blame me, I voted for Stoops

Has anyone put an APB out for Kayce? She was fired up about Elko three weeks ago. Wonder if buyers remorse has set in...

[BornOrange 1441]

1 hour ago, CHEF RIBS W/ THE HAMM YALL said:

Will he go by:

J-Bate

Ja-Ba (Jabba)

Jay-Bae

 

1 hour ago, derpyhorndog said:

It’ll be worse. Something juvenile. Something they falsely think is cool yet portrays a sense of toughness. Something everyone on the outside immediately cringes at.

Batman. 

 

44 minutes ago, Born Burnt said:

Jaba the Coach

You guys are terrible at this. The answer is:

MASTER BATEMAN

[linux 1660]

3 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Yeah it was only offensive plays.  The radio guy was giving out everything though, even some trick plays they were putting in at the end of the season.  The coaches and players were starting to get suspicious and then after a game against Louisville someone found a binder after the game on the Lousiville sideline that had their plays in it, including some they had never run before that game.  The coach launched an investigation and they eventually figured out who was doing it.

Exactly if there were D plays and/or signals in that binder, he directly betrayed his former and current boss Mike Elko

Another Aggie joke wrote itself.

[Bodacious Bevo 3584]

21 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Cross posting for the lulz (or when aggy begins to brag about the 2018 Broyles Award finalist).

Some are pointing to Bateman's results at Army during the 2017-2018.  He was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award due to Army's defensive improvement from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018.

Couple of things.

He had been the defensive coordinator at Army for the 4 years prior to 2017-2018.  So the shitty defense he fixed was his.

Secondly, Army's #'s are skewed due to its ball-control offense.  Army's defense only faced an avg of 56.2 plays a game.  The median was 72.3 that year so 16 fewer plays.  As far as yards per play, Army was 110th in the country on defense.  Army's defense faced 77% of the number of plays as the average team that year, but gave up a shitload of yards per play - a more accurate representation.

Sorry for the tl;dr.  I'm holed up in a Vegas hotel with a herniated disc in my back.

Service academies are also weird because their recruiting is so different. Just hard to take anything away on their coaches. 

[Vermin 3043]

22 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

I don't at all feel bad for Bjork, but if I am him and this hire goes sideways, he has the perfect out to point to. 

“I let myself get bullied by TexAgs” isn’t the defense you think.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Vermin

[Hagbard Celine 10853]

if this was already posted apologies but i haven't seen it yet.....

dominick mckinley at #33 nationally is disney highest ranked aggy this class, committed in june, mom says no sig forthcoming, committed to aggy in june, talked to sark tuesday night

Spoiler

Report: 'No chance' of Texas A&M 5-star DL commit Dominick McKinley signing this week

Texas A&M fans looking forward to seeing Dominick McKinley sign his letter of intent with the Aggies will have to wait a little bit longer.

According to a report from 247Sports director of recruiting Steve Wiltfong, the 2024 5-star defensive lineman commit will not be signing with Texas A&M — or anyone else for that matter — during the early signing period.

    “No chance of that,” McKinley’s mom Angie told 247Sports on Wednesday. “He’s just processing everything and that is why he’s not signing. He’s waiting for February.”

Per the report, McKinley plans to take official visits to LSU and Tennessee in January. He received an in-home visit from Oklahoma head coach Brett Venables and his staff this past Thursday.

McKinley had official visits with the Aggies, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Texas over the summer. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke with McKinley over FaceTime on Tuesday night, Wiltfong said.

According to TexAgs senior recruiting analyst Jason Howell, the McKinley “family has also been in communication with Texas A&M.” He has 27 total offers and has already taken a visit to LSU as well.

McKinley is 6-foot-5 1/2, 280 pounds and hails from Acadiana High School in Lafayette, La.

https://aggieswire.usatoday.com/2023/12/20/texas-aggies-football-commit-dominick-mckinley-not-signing/

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/254377/dominick-mckinley

 

[C-Man 27214]

15 minutes ago, BornOrange said:

 

 

You guys are terrible at this. The answer is:

MASTER BATEMAN

[DixonHur 11296]

4 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

if this was already posted apologies but i haven't seen it yet.....

dominick mckinley at #33 nationally is disney highest ranked aggy this class, committed in june, mom says no sig forthcoming, committed to aggy in june, talked to sark tuesday night

  Hide contents

Report: 'No chance' of Texas A&M 5-star DL commit Dominick McKinley signing this week

Texas A&M fans looking forward to seeing Dominick McKinley sign his letter of intent with the Aggies will have to wait a little bit longer.

According to a report from 247Sports director of recruiting Steve Wiltfong, the 2024 5-star defensive lineman commit will not be signing with Texas A&M — or anyone else for that matter — during the early signing period.

    “No chance of that,” McKinley’s mom Angie told 247Sports on Wednesday. “He’s just processing everything and that is why he’s not signing. He’s waiting for February.”

Per the report, McKinley plans to take official visits to LSU and Tennessee in January. He received an in-home visit from Oklahoma head coach Brett Venables and his staff this past Thursday.

McKinley had official visits with the Aggies, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Texas over the summer. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke with McKinley over FaceTime on Tuesday night, Wiltfong said.

According to TexAgs senior recruiting analyst Jason Howell, the McKinley “family has also been in communication with Texas A&M.” He has 27 total offers and has already taken a visit to LSU as well.

McKinley is 6-foot-5 1/2, 280 pounds and hails from Acadiana High School in Lafayette, La.

https://aggieswire.usatoday.com/2023/12/20/texas-aggies-football-commit-dominick-mckinley-not-signing/

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/254377/dominick-mckinley

 

Guessing the odds of him ending up in collie station took a major hit with this morning's announcement.  The negative recruiting pitches write themselves.

[Richter 2258]

How about Jail-Bate?

[Tex Pete 20342]

26 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

Has anyone put an APB out for Kayce? She was fired up about Elko three weeks ago. Wonder if buyers remorse has set in...

She probably still hasn’t realized they’re hiring such a shitty staff because they’re broke. They can’t buy a bunch of players because they’re broke.
 

When the lights don’t come on at Kyle some night next October, it will be because Bjork couldn’t pay the light bill. Meanwhile, Jimbo Fisher will be lighting his cigars with $100 bills for the rest of his life and Batboy will be driving a Gucci Batmobile. 

[RGBIII 22840]

1 hour ago, Tex Pete said:

I'm not sure Robinson was ever going to stay. I'm not sure the recruits were ever going to stay. That place has been a steaming pile of shit for years, spanning several coaches. For all the "WRTS!" bullshit, there have been lots and lots of red flags including a ton of transfers out. Even when people like Josh Pate have carried their water, a lot of people have seen through the veneer and surely recruits have heard lots of the warnings from different directions. This reminds me of Joseph Ossai waking up and bailing on them several years ago.

Painted on championships aren't real championships. Recruiting championships aren't real championships. 20__ trophies aren't real trophies. Air doesn't actually fill up a "Hall of Champions." Self-declared best fanbase in America and best alumni network in the world are not really the best fanbase or alumni network.

Tell that to @Bruh Man

[ClubWhatever 12129]

34 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

That's like 71-72 guys. That includes guys that haven't signed who may go elsewhere by February. Additionally, that's counting guys who are still likely to jump ship before the portal closes, of which there are rumored to be roughly 5 more of those. Wow. 

You do drive-bys like this somewhat regularly. You should post the examples in the future. 

In any event, are people ever allowed to, like, you know, learn? I don't remember having a thought about Bateman when Mack hired him, but he certainly didn't seem like an imbecile at Army so I probably thought the hire made sense.

I do remember watching Manny Diaz coach against Dick Rod in a bowl as the MSU DC and thought, "man, that guy's doing a good job containing Robinson (the mobile QB)." Then Texas hired him and I thought he was a solid hire. I was fine with him after year one, as well. By the time he was fired, I was volunteering to drive him to the city limits and drop him off myself. After watching him at Miami as DC and PSU this season, I'm kind of back to thinking he's, you know, learned some things and is an above average DC. It's super weird to gather new data points and then allow those to influence your point of view. I agree that should be something we continue to mock and make fun of on this board.

Your takes on football populate the hall of fame of rake steps for this board.  But nobody needs waste time digging up posts to demonstrate that this place generally has negative predictive value.  It is known. My post was wet water.   Anyway I'm glad you figured out that Manny was bad under Mack but better under other head coaches.  Will Bateman pull a Manny?   

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

Don't fucking fall for any of this propaganda. Wake the fuck up. This is an insidious plot to kill us all off via aggie misery overdose. Straight up Longhorn genocide. That's the only plausible explanation for what they have done to their program.  It's like the Holocaust, but Hitler using Three Stooges movies instead of gas chambers. 

First they came for Jimbo, and I did not speak out because mother of god, they are actually going to pay a $76 million buyout.
Then they came for Stoops, and I did not speak out because Texags is running their program and humiliating their AD.
Then they came for Elko, and I did not speak out because holy shit that suit button is about to give up the ghost.
Then they came for the Duke assistants, and I did not speak out because even they were like, "WTF? No way I'm moving to College Station."
Then they came for E Rob, and I did not speak out because OMG he's actually recruiting guys to fucking Syracuse off their roster while he's the acting head coach.
Then they came for the "NIL", and I did not speak out because the BMAs had to allocate that cash to paying off Jimbo.
Then they came for the five stars, and I did not speak out because Lane Kiffin is trolling the hell out of them on twitter.
Then they came for the committed recruits, and I did not speak out because Flipmas!
Then they came for the no name comfort hire middling inside LB coach of a DOA Florida program who got shitcanned by Mack Brown and cheated at Army... and I just don't know how much more of this I can take.

My biggest fear, outside of OD, is that I'm forever going to be chasing the dragon. 

[Tex-19 2872]

Man I'm really starting to realize the value of a head coach's rolodex. We saw how much it hurt us with Herman, we see how valuable it's been with Sark, and now we're likely seeing it with Elko. 

[C-Man 27214]

39 minutes ago, linux said:

Exactly if there were D plays and/or signals in that binder, he directly betrayed his former and current boss Mike Elko

Another Aggie joke wrote itself.

In case anybody wants a reminder, here's The Athletic's 2022 article on "Wakeylinks": https://theathletic.com/3403878/2022/07/12/wakeyleaks-wake-forest-dave-clawson/

Quote

In November 2016, Ryan Anderson watched as one of Wake Forest’s coaches diagrammed a play on the whiteboard: a wide receiver screen in the flat. But there was a twist. Instead of three receivers split out to block, there would be three offensive linemen, including Anderson, Wake’s starting right tackle.

“You’re always in the trenches,” Anderson says. “To get out there near some of the pencil necks — linemen have a bunch of funny words for DBs — that’s the lineman’s dream.”

After the meeting, Anderson and the rest of the line retreated to their position room. “We were all going over how to line up like a receiver, which foot to have back, how to stand,” Anderson says. “No one had ever played receiver.”

Four days later, Wake Forest would play on the road against Lamar Jackson and the No. 6 Louisville Cardinals. A former Wake staffer said coaches wanted to keep players engaged late in the season, so the Demon Deacons installed about eight new and trick plays, including the three-linemen look and a double-pass to the tight end.

Anderson and the linemen took their roles seriously, drilling the new wrinkle day after day. “It was such a crazy, weird, diabolic play,” he says. The play was so new, in fact, that Wake offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero didn’t have old film to show his players how it should look; Ruggiero had never run it in more than 20 years of coaching.

Before the game, one of Wake’s equipment managers found a black binder sitting prominently atop a trash can inside Louisville’s stadium. The binder didn’t raise immediate red flags among the equipment staff; it’s not uncommon for teams to leave behind fake plays as a decoy. But just hours before kickoff, Wake’s coaches and players were stunned when they opened the binder for the first time and saw the trick play inside.

“Immediately we knew,” Anderson says. “They had stolen our plays.”

Wake Forest had an 11-win season and a No. 15 finish in the AP poll in 2021, both program-bests. But in 2014 and 2015, during arguably the apex of ACC football, coach Dave Clawson and the Deacons had one conference win apiece in Clawson’s first two seasons. Fortunes reversed during that 2016 season, when the Deacons went 7-6, capped by their first bowl win in eight seasons.

But as it turned out, the smallest Power 5 school in the country had played with one arm tied behind its back, in a scandal that came to be known as “WakeyLeaks.”

“It was really f—-d up and it went on for so long,” a Wake Forest assistant says. “If this involved Clemson or someplace like that, this would’ve been the biggest deal of all time — all of college football would’ve been paused to figure out what was going on.”

A’Lique Terry couldn’t believe what happened.

Wake Forest had installed a new play before a September 2014 game against Louisville that called for the quarterback to run a speed option with the running back to one side, while simultaneously, a receiver would peel back across the line for a misdirection shovel pass.

“We had never run that play, ever,” Anderson says.

During the game, Terry squared off against Sheldon Rankins, a future first-round defensive tackle and one of the toughest assignments Terry drew in his career. Late in the third quarter, with Wake Forest leading 10-7, Ruggiero decided it was time for the new play — Terry thinks the play call had “chuck” in the name — and quarterback John Wolford yelled it at the line.

Terry says Rankins took a knee and hollered, “Shovel pass is coming! Shovel pass is coming!” Terry was stunned. “I had Sheldon Rankins that play — I had to block him,” Terry says. “So when he said that, it’s like going into war and someone knowing where your bunker is. What the hell do I do?”

Just a true freshman, Terry wondered: “Can I call a timeout right now and still be on scholarship?”

He decided to snap the ball. Rankins blew past Terry’s right shoulder, ignoring Wolford and the running back headed left. Rankins settled in front of the receiver peeling back and picked off the shovel pass as if he was the target all along.

Louisville scored a touchdown a few plays later and held on for a 20-10 win.

Terry always believed he was a smart player. He wasn’t the biggest, and couldn’t dominate simply with raw power and force, so he had to be more prepared than his opponent. The son of a longtime high school coach, Terry started watching film when he was in sixth grade, and he knew it was the reason he was at Wake Forest.

“It wasn’t because of my skill set,” he says. “It was because of my football IQ. That was always how I gave myself an advantage.”

That’s what made the play against Louisville so jarring. Terry didn’t know how to process what had happened. “Maybe I’m not doing enough,” he thought. “Maybe I don’t know enough.”

Later that season, Wake Forest played Virginia Tech in a touchdown-less game infamous for the Frank Beamer meme it spawned. But Tyler Hayworth, a guard at Wake Forest, remembers that day for different reasons.

It was the strangest sensation, he says. The Demon Deacons would call a play at the line and Virginia Tech’s defense would counter with the perfect check or the perfect blitz, seemingly always one step ahead. After another stalled drive, Hayworth walked off the field in frustration.

“They know what the hell we’re doing!” he said on the sideline. “They know everything we’re doing as we’re doing it!”

Other players echoed Hayworth during the game. Receivers came back to the sideline, saying, “Hey, Coach, they’re calling out our routes before the play. They know what we’re running!”

But Wake’s coaches dismissed the complaints.

“We were like, ‘Yeah, whatever, that’s definitely not the case,'” a former Wake staffer says.

But the eerie sensation remained for Hayworth and his teammates. Over the next two years, in conversations among themselves, players would joke about it: the feeling that defenses knew what they were going to do before they did it. Even Ruggiero was known around the football office to say it felt like certain teams knew his plays.

“Do people think I’m crazy?” he would ask.

“We might have been skunked.”

That’s what a coach told Anderson and the offensive line in 2016, less than 30 minutes before kickoff at Louisville.

In a moment of chaos, coaches huddled in the back of the locker room. Anderson and players waited in full pads, having finished their pregame routine. The black binder had been brought to the coaching staff’s attention. Inside were play cards diagrammed with Wake’s new trick plays. The assistant coach told Anderson and the offensive line they might not run the trick play they had practiced all week.

“I was devastated,” Anderson says.

Wake’s coaches changed everything: who signaled in signs, what those signs meant — something that never happens so close to kickoff. Clawson wanted to test the binder’s authenticity, so with 12:19 left in the first quarter, he called a tight end double-pass to Cam Serigne, which had appeared on one of the binder’s play cards, scribbled in silver Sharpie, with Serigne’s No. 85 written next to it.

Serigne was supposed to block for two or three seconds, then break out and catch a pass. Right when he was about to slip out, he lifted his head.

“The entire defense is literally all staring at me,” Serigne says. “It was crazy.”

On the Wake radio broadcast, play-by-play man Stan Cotten described the play for listeners: “Wake to the line, second down-and-8 at the Louisville 13. From the pistol, rolling right with the ball is Wolford. Wants to throw, being pursued from behind, throws the ball downfield and out of bounds…”

“Yeah, that’s the tight end delay play,” color analyst Tommy Elrod interjected. “They actually took Cam Serigne, had him delay on the line of scrimmage. Louisville was all over it.”

Receiver Cortez Lewis couldn’t comprehend any of it. Every time he ran a route, it seemed as if a defensive back was waiting for him. “Exactly where I was supposed to stop at,” Lewis says, “you’ve got a corner or safety sitting right there.” Defensive lineman Josh Banks says players asked Clawson: “Are we playing against your big brother or something? Because they’re calling perfect calls — like perfect calls — for everything we’re doing.”

Lamar Jackson would win the Heisman that year, but heading into the fourth quarter, it was Wake, not Louisville, with the 12-10 lead. “We were in it,” Hayworth says. “We had a chance to win.”

Louisville turned the final score into a deceiving 44-12 blowout, but Wake’s players experienced at least a measure of consolation. After the game, Serigne and several teammates sat around and connected the dots over the years. “All those times where we thought we were crazy,” he said, “maybe we weren’t.”

But that only led to another question: How did Louisville get Wake Forest’s plays?

The next day, Clawson stood in front of his players.

There had been a security breach, he told them. He ordered players to change their passwords, coaches to turn in their phones and warned everyone, according to one player, “not to lie to him because he would find out the truth.”

Most troubling of all, he implied that the breach had come from within the program.

“We were skunked,” he said.

Clawson was in his third season after taking over for longtime coach Jim Grobe. His first two teams had shown pluck, but both seasons ended in 3-9 records.

He tried to limit the distraction, rarely talking about the leak, even once the story broke four days after the Louisville game. Still, a sense of paranoia set in. Some players were hesitant to watch film inside the building for fear they might become suspects. “Believe me,” one staffer says, “everybody was a suspect at the time.” Another staffer was spooked by the sound of shutting doors, an audible reminder of all the meetings taking place.

“You sat there and knew you didn’t do anything wrong,” the staffer says. “But then you start thinking, ‘Did I say something that somebody was able to take advantage of?'”

After spending the evening with the Wake broadcast crew, Tommy Elrod texted Lonnie Galloway the night before the Louisville game. The two had worked together at Wake Forest for two seasons under Grobe. Elrod, a former longtime Wake assistant coach, was now the team’s color commentator on the school’s radio broadcast; Galloway was the receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator at Louisville. It was a crisp fall evening, with a gentle breeze and passing clouds.

“On way now,” Elrod wrote.

“OK,” Galloway texted back. “Sitting by fire pit.”

Elrod came to Wake Forest in 1993 as a walk-on quarterback from Florida; his dad, Tom, was a marketing executive at The Walt Disney Company credited with the “I’m going to Disney World!” ad campaign. Post graduation, Elrod spent two years as a business analyst for a bank in Charlotte before returning to Wake Forest as a graduate assistant. When Grobe hired him as a full-time coach in 2003, he called it an “easy decision.”

“He’s very loyal,” Grobe said at the time. “He loves Wake Forest.”

Elrod had been a well-liked assistant who players described as mellow, cerebral and quiet. “He was awesome,” Hayworth says. “He was awesome to be around as a coach.” One former Wake player who played for Elrod when he was on the coaching staff says that “nobody in the building ever had a bad word to say about him.”

But as the “WakeyLeaks” scandal deepened, there were two conflicting narratives developing around Elrod.

The first worked in his favor: He was a Wake Forest lifer. “You couldn’t find someone more of a Demon Deacon than him,” Serigne says.

The second did not: He had a clear motive.

What exactly Elrod and Galloway discussed around the fire pit is unclear. But over the coming days, the mystery began to unravel.

Wake Forest hired an investigative firm to dig into the leak. The firm uncovered oddities in Elrod’s computer habits. Like many team color commentators, he had access to Wake’s practice tape to prepare for that week’s game. But a source said investigators found that Elrod logged in at strange hours.

There were records of phone calls to opposing coaches: a 25-minute call with Galloway the Wednesday before the Louisville game; another with Shane Beamer, then an assistant at Virginia Tech, the night before Wake played the Hokies in 2014.

There were records of emails and faxes, according to sources, including a lengthy one to Jay Bateman, another former Wake coach who was then the defensive coordinator at Army. Elrod, according to a source, diagrammed Wake’s plays and sent them off to opposing coaches.

It’s still unclear how the binder ended up on top of the trash can for the Deacons to find. But Wake Forest did determine that Elrod leaked information to three schools dating back to Clawson’s first season in 2014: Virginia Tech, Army and Louisville. Many players and some coaches believe more schools were involved. Galloway and Bateman either declined or did not respond to requests for comment from The Athletic.

The impact of the scandal is still a topic of debate. Wolford was sacked seven times and suffered a shoulder injury in that 2016 Louisville game. Days after news broke about Elrod’s involvement, Wolford’s father, Robert, told USA Today the scandal had “put John potentially in danger of getting hurt.” Three years earlier, Elrod had recruited Wolford to Wake Forest.

The before-and-after numbers are suggestive. In 2016, Wake scored 20.4 points per game, which ranked 119th out of 128 teams. The next season, with virtually the same players back, the Demon Deacons averaged 35.3 points, 21st in the country. Against Louisville in 2016, they scored 12 points. In 2017, they scored 42. In 2018, they put up 56.

“Is it a coincidence or not?” Serigne says. “I don’t know.”

Elrod (left) in 2010. Photo: Brian A. Westerholt / Getty

The irony of WakeyLeaks is that it sparked Wake Forest to unprecedented success.

Ruggiero, the offensive coordinator whose handiwork was victimized, brainstormed a new scheme now known as the “Slow Mesh,” a fast-paced option attack combined with the run-pass option (RPO). In the three seasons before Ruggiero developed the Slow Mesh, Wake averaged 17 points. In the five seasons since, the Demon Deacons are averaging 36 points.

Every innovation gets copied, but no one else in college football runs anything like the Slow Mesh. Rival coaches have tried unsuccessfully to reverse engineer Wake’s offense. “Nobody quite knows our rules,” Clawson told The Athletic in May, because the program has become so tight-lipped. “We don’t share. Before WakeyLeaks, I was probably as open as any coach in the country.”

Clawson previously said he struggles being so guarded, but, “I saw that hurt our kids and cost us games. It wasn’t worth it. Go back and watch some of those films after it happened, it was more than got out there.”

Just about everyone interviewed agreed on Elrod’s motive: Revenge. When Clawson replaced Grobe ahead of the 2014 season, he didn’t retain Elrod. But no one knows for sure. Elrod has never publicly spoken about the scandal and declined comment to The Athletic. The coaches who were found to have received information from him are all still coaching college football.

As for Elrod, he still lives in Winston-Salem but is banned from Wake Forest’s campus and football games.

 

[Texasrocks 2133]

1 hour ago, Tex Pete said:

Air doesn't actually fill up a "Hall of Champions."

It does in this case. Both literally and figuratively.

[Saint Tacky 1614]

1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

It needs to mention the Caden Sterns recruitment/video.

Nevermind. @NoName caught it. Good times.

[Gil Bang 25944]

9 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Man I'm really starting to realize the value of a head coach's rolodex. We saw how much it hurt us with Herman, we see how valuable it's been with Sark, and now we're likely seeing it with Elko. 

I wonder how many young folks on this board will have to google "rolodex"?

[Reese Bennett 3609]

2 hours ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Football coach head shot or pastor who diddles kids mugshot?

[Deej 76759]

52 minutes ago, BigHornedLurker said:

This makes sense as a fit for the OC he (maybe?) hired , Klein is definitely a ball control type coordinator 

It does seem like a general miss from what I understand the fans want out of their offense, but i do think what kansas state has put out the past few years is light years beyond jimbo 

I still have my doubts they have the QB battering ram , or the O Line to run that style of offense but hey im just an internet football fan  

Just enough to keep the number of plays per game down by the other team to hopefully avoid blowout losses, so Looch and crew can crow about how close they were to being great. 

[Tex Pete 20342]

12 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

My biggest fear, outside of OD, is that I'm forever going to be chasing the dragon. 

I'm already there.

I have "There She Goes" on permanent repeat. Just F5 "Tell Me About Texas A&M" every hour or so. Non-stop boot-goofing.

My soul is dead. I'm high 24/7... WHOOP!

[Vermin 3043]

aggy: I want some of that!

[Hank Kingsley 20919]

 

 

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

1 hour ago, NoName said:

that was Brandon Jones heh

https://texags.com/s/19482/on-an-island-being-brandon-jones

TexAgs did a documentary (above) then he ended up at Texas

it isn't working on their website, but is here lol

https://vimeo.com/blog/post/staff-pick-premiere-five-star/

Thanks.  You are correct - Brandon Jones.

[Alot 80]

Since he worked at Dunder Mifflin and is useless perhaps he is a Paper Bate

[Texasrocks 2133]

21 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Don't fucking fall for any of this propaganda. Wake the fuck up. This is an insidious plot to kill us all off via aggie misery overdose. Straight up Longhorn genocide. That's the only plausible explanation for what they have done to their program.  It's like the Holocaust, but Hitler using Three Stooges movies instead of gas chambers. 

First they came for Jimbo, and I did not speak out because mother of god, they are actually going to pay a $76 million buyout.
Then they came for Stoops, and I did not speak out because Texags is running their program and humiliating their AD.
Then they came for Elko, and I did not speak out because holy shit that suit button is about to give up the ghost.
Then they came for the Duke assistants, and I did not speak out because even they were like, "WTF? No way I'm moving to College Station."
Then they came for E Rob, and I did not speak out because OMG he's actually recruiting guys to fucking Syracuse off their roster while he's the acting head coach.
Then they came for the "NIL", and I did not speak out because the BMAs had to allocate that cash to paying off Jimbo.
Then they came for the five stars, and I did not speak out because Lane Kiffin is trolling the hell out of them on twitter.
Then they came for the committed recruits, and I did not speak out because Flipmas!
Then they came for the no name comfort hire middling inside LB coach of a DOA Florida program who got shitcanned by Mack Brown and cheated at Army... and I just don't know how much more of this I can take.

My biggest fear, outside of OD, is that I'm forever going to be chasing the dragon. 

"Listen, years ago I rode with Franchione against Mack Brown. I lost many sheep but I thought it was worth it to be free. When Sherman became President, I supported him – but he stole my sheep. Then came Rumlin and he stole my sheep. Then it was Jimbo's term, and he stole my sheep too. Now comes Mike Elko to liberate me and the first thing he does is steal my sheep. What makes one different from the others? My sheep don’t know. All over College Station coaches come and go. Coaches rise and fall. They all stole your sheep. The only thing to change is the name of the man who takes them." - Old Army in what appears to be a Soviet bunker.

[Boss Hogg 808]

17 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Don't worry guys. It's not a flip. 

 

 

[Hank Kingsley 20919]

We are only 2-3 years away from this team being nothing but 12th men.

 

[Bevo14 8304]

3 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

We are only 2-3 years away from this team being nothing but 12th men.

 

I suppose 25 D3 offers still counts as 25 offers

[Fud 9552]

4 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

Updated after yesterday's mess

Are Russell Jr and DeBerry returning as 6th year seniors?

Also, supposedly Loochi said something on his radio show about Raikes being a possibility to follow Robinson to Syracuse 

I haven' seen anything on Shemar Turner staying or leaving for the draft. I guess that's TBD? Seems like he's gone from a 1-2 rounder to a 3-5?

[WBT 20561]

1 hour ago, NoName said:

that was Brandon Jones heh

https://texags.com/s/19482/on-an-island-being-brandon-jones

TexAgs did a documentary (above) then he ended up at Texas

it isn't working on their website, but is here lol

https://vimeo.com/blog/post/staff-pick-premiere-five-star/

And they clarified that it wasn't a recruiting violation because texags is an independent media company