Army football has been contacted in Wakeyleaks scandal as a pattern is starting to emerge
The bizarre tale, in which a Wake Forest radio announcer, former player and coach Tommy Elrod, has been fired for passing (or attempting to pass) "confidential and proprietary game preparation" to opposing teams, still has many unanswered questions. Some of the biggest among them is figuring out which schools had received information, how many schools used the information, and why those schools never contacted Wake Forest or the Atlantic Coast Conference.
On Wednesday, the University of Louisville admitted to receiving "a few plays," but denied using the information, and scolded the public for bringing "undue attention" to their football staff as they prepare for a bowl game.
Another school that is now linked to the scandal is West Point and it suggests a pattern for which schools are involved - both Louisville and Army have assistant coaches that previously worked with Elrod.
Army athletic director Boo Corrigan confirmed to Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated that Wake Forest had contacted them during their investigation. Corrigan would only say that the academy is "looking into it."
According to the Charlotte News-Observer, the common link between Louisville and Army is that both have assistant coaches who worked with Elrod at Wake Forest. According to Louisville, it was their offensive coordinator, Lonnie Galloway, who received the information. He previously worked with Elrod at Wake Forest. At Army, defensive line coach Ray McCartney, who is now a coach at Davidson college, served as an assistant coach at Army in 2014 and 2015, after previously working with Elrod at Wake Forest.
The Charlotte News-Observer also reports that Indiana, who played Wake Forest in each of the past two seasons, has an assistant coach who previously worked with Elrod. Indiana has not been linked to the scandal.
There is no evidence that Army used information obtained from Elrod during any of their three games against Wake Forest the past three seasons. However, this does seemingly confirm that Army is one of the schools that Elrod tried to provide with information.
Wake Forest told Sports Illustrated that they have notified "all the schools identified in [their] investigation."
This also suggests that other schools Wake Forest have played in the last three years have already been cleared, including North Carolina, North Carolina State, Clemson, and Syracuse.
The Greenville News reported that Clemson was not contacted by Wake Forest, Syracuse.com reported that Syracuse was not contacted during the investigation, and the Charlotte News-Observer reported that neither North Carolina, not North Carolina State were contact. According to that last report, Duke "declined to comment."