Teams stealing opposing signals happen all the time. but when the signal have been acquired from a coach that was formerly on the staff it gets a little personal. Former Texas Tech defensive coordinator was fired earlier this season after his unit severely under performed, and now he is being accused by his former coworkers that he is giving away their signals.
Texas Tech interim defensive coordinator Mike Smith on Monday upped the rhetoric and hard feelings toward former defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt, saying the Red Raiders’ defensive signals have been given away to Tech opponents since some point after Wallerstedt left the staff on Sept. 18.
“They have,” Smith said. “They have been passed around. … I know other coaches have called and our signals have been passed around the whole time. All I know is karma’s a bad deal.
“I don’t want to get into what’s going on with all that, but it’s not right and, to me, it’s not fair to the kids. So if that’s how that person wants to handle business, they can handle business that way. I sure hope I don’t run into him anytime soon.”
The Red Raiders’ belief that their defensive tactics have been compromised first came to light during Saturday’s 42-30 loss to Oklahoma. The entire game, three staff members held towels around the defensive play caller to shield signals from Sooners coaches in the press box.
Asked about it after the game, Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said the signals had been “passed around” and it stemmed from “the situation we had earlier in the year.”
Wallerstedt resigned after the Red Raiders’ third game this season. He reached a settlement in which Tech agreed to give him six months’ pay for just less than two years remaining on his three-year contract.
A source said the person to whom Smith was alluding and the situation to which Kingsbury alluded was Wallerstedt and his resignation.
Smith said the Tech staff became aware something was amiss two or three weeks ago.
“That person knows. I know,” Smith said. “A lot of people know. Bad deal. Karma’s a bad deal. You don’t mess with that, especially in this profession.”
This is all bad. Usually something like this wouldn’t be addressed in such a public manner and since it is you can tell there is some bad blood between Wallerstedt and his former staff. It’s pretty petty on Wallerstedt’s part if he has indeed been doing this since being let go. As Smith said, this does more than just hurt the coaches, it hurts the kids trying to go out there and execute a game plan. If you have a problem with the staff, then don’t do something that will have an impact on the players.