Move over Mike Krzyzewski, Christian Laettner, J.J. Redick and Greg Paulus. Terps fans have a new reason to hate Duke. And it has nothing to do with the Dukies’ storied basketball history.
Before last weekend’s game, Duke’s football staff sent films of the Terps to Rutgers – a clear violation of ACC policy. Conference schools are supposed to notify a team if they were asked for tapes of it, but unlike Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, the Blue Devils did not comply.
“Yes, I was disappointed, especially when I know two other people in the league turned them down,” coach Ralph Friedgen said. “I felt like if you are in the league, you should abide by league rules.”
Friedgen said he learned of the foul play from his “video guy.” The Terps then filed an oral complaint to the league.
Just when I thought we would stop hearing about the “Cameragate” scandal of my beloved New England Patriots, Duke had to bring the situation back into the limelight. It was nothing new to the Terps’ head coach though.
“That stuff with New England, they were doing that when I was in the NFL,” Friedgen said. “At least three or four clubs were doing it then too.”
Unlike the Patriots’ coach, Duke head coach Ted Roof will not be fined an outlandish amount of money. Roof, who reportedly had no involvement in the situation, will not be penalized, and neither will the Duke program.
“There are no penalties,” said Mike Finn, the ACC’s associate commissioner for media relations. “There’s not any kind of a bylaw or rule. The film exchange agreement is an agreement amongst 12 schools. No real guidelines. They just get reminded not to do it again.”
The real penalty is that Duke’s dishonorable act will likely be frowned upon by more than just the Terps. The struggling football program, which has won just four games in the last four seasons, lost whatever small amount of credibility it previously had.
How Duke had tapes of the Terps in the first place is a question mark. The Terps have not played Duke since the 2004 season and will not play them again until 2009.
Friedgen said the teams within the conference pass tapes on to each other based off who plays who next. For instance, after Wake Forest played the Terps, they sent a game video to Georgia Tech because the Yellow Jackets are the next conference team on the Terps’ schedule.
Giving tapes to Rutgers was not on the agenda.
“I don’t think that’s ethical at all,” Friedgen said. “What are you saying to your players? There’s a right way and a wrong way.”
Regardless of the ethics, the Terps didn’t let a matter of dishonestly acquired film prevent them from upsetting Rutgers.
Instead, they left Piscataway with a huge win and a heightened awareness of the video-sharing situation.
“I don’t trust anyone,” Friedgen said. “When they put Adele’s in, I went to Dr. Mote and said, ‘Now they can eat lunch and watch us practice.’ He said you’re always worried about everything.”
At least he doesn’t have to worry about last weekend’s final result.
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