Former Wake Forest assistant Tommy Elrod has been accused of leaking game plan information to opponents of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons since 2014. 

I can’t say I am surprised that former Wake Forest assistant coach Tommy Elrod was busted for giving away game plan information for the past two seasons. What Elrod did goes on more than you think.

Elroad was disgruntled after current Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson chose not to retain him after he was hired in 2014. Elrod was an assistant under former coach Jim Grobe and he played at Wake Forest. Elrod worked for Grobe for 11 seasons and was hired by the IMG Wake Forest Sports Radio Network as an analyst for Demon Deacons football.

When word came out yesterday that Elrod was giving away Wake Forest game plan information, the school immediately terminated him.

Here is my question. How the hell did Elrod have access to the game plans? I get he probably attended practice on a weekly basis but unless he was diagramming plays or the Wake Forest coaches were giving him the information, there is no way Elrod would have access to that information. Especially this day in age where playbooks and game plans are shared via email with each player having their own tablet. I doubt there are many hard copies of the Wake Forest offensive or defensive playbooks lying around their football offices.

I get the sense there was someone on the inside that was supplying Elrod with the information. I have been a football coach at the college and high school levels for over 20 years. I know how guarded football coaches are when it comes to playbooks and game plans. They don’t just leave them everywhere.

That being said, those things do make their way out of football offices. trust me, I have my fair share of playbooks and other materials from college and NFL teams at home.

I think the bigger question we should be asking is, did the other programs in the ACC benefit from this information. If coaches from the other programs willingly took the information from Elrod and used it, that could be a major problem for the ACC.

We’ll find out more in the coming weeks. This whole thing could blow up and get ugly, especially amongst the coaches in the ACC. If some coaches used the information to their advantage and others didn’t, there will be some real trust issues in the ACC and there will be animosity between the coaches. It’ll be interesting to watch it unfold.