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Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
Not long after the College Football Playoff national championship game, a grainy security-camera snapshot made news in Atlanta. A mystery man wearing a hat and coat walked through the Marriott Marquis hotel lobby a few days earlier with a backpack that wasn't his.
Alabama was finishing its game plan for Georgia when part of it walked right out the door. A playbook belonging to then-Crimson Tide defensive line coach Karl Dunbar was in the bag snatched from a meeting room in Alabama's team hotel.
Given today's heightened emphasis on cloak-and-dagger secrecy, the theft was not an insignificant breach. That other items from the backpack were recovered while the playbook remained at large only added to the story, though it didn't go public until two days after Alabama's overtime win over Georgia.
Still, it doesn't do much to temper the tin-foil hat mentality of football coaches who place a premium on keeping even minute details private.
The playbook heist is perhaps the most straight-forward crack in the fortress, though the guilty party was never found, nor were there any connections made between the assailant and Georgia's football program.
The exposed nature of modern play calling presents more anxiety than a third-rate burglary. Changes in the headset rule only increase the potential for information to get into the wrong hands.
"Well, it's definitely changed because back when I played," said Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt, a former Alabama player and defensive coordinator. "You used to have a wide receiver that you'd say, 'Hey, run 24 iso,' and he'd run out there and tell the quarterback because everybody was in the huddle. Nobody huddles up anymore so you have to get the information somehow."
And that -- among other things --is what can keep coaches awake at night.
One might even call them a little paranoid.
***
To be clear, this is hardly a new phenomenon in college football.
Coaches have been locking down practices for more than a decade. Early in Nick Saban's Alabama tenure, campus police patrolled soft spots in the practice field fencing in the week leading up to the Iron Bowl.
The proliferation of no-huddle offenses brought about the age of play cards and an army of hand signalers shrouded by protective white towels. They were all part of the communication relay from the booth to the sideline and onto the field.
That assembly line will change in 2018 after the NCAA limited the number of headsets a team can use on game day. What was once unlimited is down to 20 communication devices per team. Ole Miss coach Matt Luke said they were still examining how that will impact their operation but said it will no doubt have an impact on a Rebel offense known for its pre-snap efficiency.
"I think coaches are paranoid in general," former Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. "The game is such a fast-paced game. There are different ways to communicate with the quarterback. There are different signalers you can use. There are dummy signals. There are boards."
A few SEC coaches interviewed for this story were understandably apprehensive to talk too much about how the chain of communication works.
"They're all decoys," Missouri's Barry Odom said of the play cards held up on the sideline. "And then some of them aren't. So, it's weird how that works.".
Alabama offensive line coach Brent Key said there's a mix of staffers who hold up the cards for the Tide. There were two or three signs, and in the past, all of those holding them were wearing headsets. Now, only the 10 assistant coaches, four graduate assistants and four players are permitted to wear the headphones.
So, either that job moves to one of those permitted to wear the headgear or a new layer of communication will be added to the time-sensitive operation.
That also increases the chance of the initial message being lost in a game of telephone. Daboll said there was no excuse for something like that happening last season given the attention to detail with which it was practiced.
Nothing is perfect, however,
"I mean, yeah, I'd be lying if I said there's not a chance for you to get confused," Alabama running back Damien Harris said. "But that's what practice is for. You don't just practice the plays but you have to practice communication.
***
Within the logistics comes the need to keep the message from confusing the good guys while not making it easy on the others.
Key said there are too many variables in Alabama's play-card message relay for an opponent to steal them. That doesn't mean coaches are comfortable in the defense of the code.
Alabama running backs coach Joe Pannunzio remains woke to the threat of someone recognizing a pattern. That's why they change things up "from time to time" and use a number of signaling methods.
Pannunzio said any codebreaker would have to either be "really sharp" or "you'd have to have inside information, somebody coming out of our organization."
The mechanism for the communication "is probably the biggest area of secrecy," Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said.
"That's probably where you're going to see the biggest amount of change," Elliott said. "OK, let's make sure we protect the way we communicate by making sure our sequencing is not redundant and doesn't tip what we're doing."
It's also not uncommon to face an opposing coach familiar with Alabama's communication methods.
Kirby Smart qualifies there.
"Yeah, there are a lot of really paranoid coaches about that," Smart said. "You're not looking at one that's overly paranoid but maybe I should be because everywhere I've ever coached, people are freaking out a week before the game, day before the game ...
"We played Alabama this year and I had so much other stuff to worry about, I wasn't worried about that. We didn't change anything we did and I don't know if they did or not. I had my hands full with other things. So, I think there is a paranoia out there for that and it's probably overdone in my opinion."
As the New Mexico head coach, current Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley faced a play calling dilemma facing UTEP in 2010. The Miners' new transfer quarterback, Tate Smith, had just left Locksley's program and the Lobos had to change all the signals for that game it lost 38.20.
Given Alabama's heavy rotation of signals, having recently transferred offensive lineman Brandon Kennedy and Pruitt at Tennessee next season shouldn't be a big issue.
Before leaving for Knoxville, Pruitt said he'd never been on a staff that stole signals.
"I think there are a lot of staffs out there that that's kinda how they operate," he said in December. "That's part of the game. If you don't want your signals stolen, then change them up. I don't blame them. Same thing happens in baseball. If you get the signals and you know a fastball is coming, it's easy to sit on a fastball. That's one thing you have to be conscious of as a signal caller."
***
There are any number of other communication factors in play on a Saturday afternoon.
Among them are the ball boys who are easily identified on sidelines. Since the offensive team is responsible for the balls, staffers in different-colored gear are often spotted on opposing sidelines.
It's possible they could overhear strategy talk when shuttling in dry balls to the referees.
Could the presence of an opposing ball boy make a coach suspicious?
"Yeah," Alabama's Pannunzio said frankly. "You just kinda deal with it."
Dunbar, who left Alabama for a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the 2017 season, said the ball boys are mostly equipment managers or "guys who wash clothes." On occasion, he said he's knock balls out of their hands in a moment of levity.
"So, I don't think there's a conspiracy theory to steal your signals or anything," he said.
Back in 2013, there were whispers in certain corners of the internet when Alabama's assistant director of football operations Tyler Siskey was caught with binoculars in the coaches' box. It was notable since he worked at Ole Miss the previous season and his role at Alabama didn't have on-field, game-day responsibilities.
Saban denied there were any dirty tricks involved and then-Rebel coach Hugh Freeze said he didn't report anything to the SEC on the matter. He did, however, spend a healthy part of the following spring practice rebuilding the entire play-signaling mechanism, the Clarion-Ledger reported in 2014.
Saban on his weekly radio show in 2015 was asked about the prevalence of signal stealing. Alabama doesn't do it, he said. A story came to mind, however, from his time as the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator in the early 1990s. A fellow coach in the booth told him he'd broken the opposing team's signal code to know if they were running or passing.
"'Look, I don't want to know,'" Saban recalled telling him. "'You're messing me up because I know what we planned to do based on their tendencies and what they've done and what we prepared our players to do. When I'm ready to call that and you say it's this, it messes me up.
"So, don't tell me.'"
***
Bottom line, none of the coaches interviewed accused anybody directly of stealing signals.
They also weren't ready to say it wasn't at least a small concern.
"Oh, absolutely," Missouri's Odom said. "Nobody is inventing new plays. You're getting information and trying to do it better than anybody else."
It's just a personality trait in this business. Clemson's Elliott said coaches are "probably the most paranoid people."
This is nothing new, though the internet age certainly ramped up suspicions.
Information can be transferred so easily and often without detection. Everybody's a suspect when something leaks from any given football facility.
Headlines like Wake Forest's playbook leak in 2016 doesn't help matters. Former coach and radio announcer Tommy Elrod provided opponents with game plan details for three seasons, an internal investigation revealed. It was only discovered when evidence was found on the Louisville sideline after a Demon Deacon loss late in the season.
Tennessee athletics director Phil Fulmer at the SEC Spring Meetings was trying to remember when he ended the open practice access to reporters in his time as Vols head coach.
"That probably comes from the Alabama model where it's having so much success," Fulmer said. "Coach Saban has his ways of doing things and these guys are all coming out and people are following suit."
When the 2018 season dawns, four SEC coaches will be alums of Saban staffs of the past. They carry both the knowledge of how Alabama operates and the urgency to protect their own proprietary variations.
It's all in the game of college football played at its highest level.
"Heck," Pannunzio said, "in baseball, there has been an unwritten rule forever about stealing signals so there's a multitude of ways that you signal and everybody has their way to signal and fake signal and all that. You just have to be smart in how you do it."
Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
What makes college football coaches paranoid, and how things are changing
Alabama was finishing its game plan for Georgia when part of it walked right out the door. A playbook belonging to then-Crimson Tide defensive line coach Karl Dunbar was in the bag snatched from a meeting room in Alabama's team hotel.
Given today's heightened emphasis on cloak-and-dagger secrecy, the theft was not an insignificant breach. That other items from the backpack were recovered while the playbook remained at large only added to the story, though it didn't go public until two days after Alabama's overtime win over Georgia.
Still, it doesn't do much to temper the tin-foil hat mentality of football coaches who place a premium on keeping even minute details private.
The playbook heist is perhaps the most straight-forward crack in the fortress, though the guilty party was never found, nor were there any connections made between the assailant and Georgia's football program.
The exposed nature of modern play calling presents more anxiety than a third-rate burglary. Changes in the headset rule only increase the potential for information to get into the wrong hands.
"Well, it's definitely changed because back when I played," said Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt, a former Alabama player and defensive coordinator. "You used to have a wide receiver that you'd say, 'Hey, run 24 iso,' and he'd run out there and tell the quarterback because everybody was in the huddle. Nobody huddles up anymore so you have to get the information somehow."
And that -- among other things --is what can keep coaches awake at night.
One might even call them a little paranoid.
***
To be clear, this is hardly a new phenomenon in college football.
Coaches have been locking down practices for more than a decade. Early in Nick Saban's Alabama tenure, campus police patrolled soft spots in the practice field fencing in the week leading up to the Iron Bowl.
The proliferation of no-huddle offenses brought about the age of play cards and an army of hand signalers shrouded by protective white towels. They were all part of the communication relay from the booth to the sideline and onto the field.
That assembly line will change in 2018 after the NCAA limited the number of headsets a team can use on game day. What was once unlimited is down to 20 communication devices per team. Ole Miss coach Matt Luke said they were still examining how that will impact their operation but said it will no doubt have an impact on a Rebel offense known for its pre-snap efficiency.
"I think coaches are paranoid in general," former Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. "The game is such a fast-paced game. There are different ways to communicate with the quarterback. There are different signalers you can use. There are dummy signals. There are boards."
A few SEC coaches interviewed for this story were understandably apprehensive to talk too much about how the chain of communication works.
"They're all decoys," Missouri's Barry Odom said of the play cards held up on the sideline. "And then some of them aren't. So, it's weird how that works.".
Alabama offensive line coach Brent Key said there's a mix of staffers who hold up the cards for the Tide. There were two or three signs, and in the past, all of those holding them were wearing headsets. Now, only the 10 assistant coaches, four graduate assistants and four players are permitted to wear the headphones.
So, either that job moves to one of those permitted to wear the headgear or a new layer of communication will be added to the time-sensitive operation.
That also increases the chance of the initial message being lost in a game of telephone. Daboll said there was no excuse for something like that happening last season given the attention to detail with which it was practiced.
Nothing is perfect, however,
"I mean, yeah, I'd be lying if I said there's not a chance for you to get confused," Alabama running back Damien Harris said. "But that's what practice is for. You don't just practice the plays but you have to practice communication.
***
Within the logistics comes the need to keep the message from confusing the good guys while not making it easy on the others.
Key said there are too many variables in Alabama's play-card message relay for an opponent to steal them. That doesn't mean coaches are comfortable in the defense of the code.
Alabama running backs coach Joe Pannunzio remains woke to the threat of someone recognizing a pattern. That's why they change things up "from time to time" and use a number of signaling methods.
Pannunzio said any codebreaker would have to either be "really sharp" or "you'd have to have inside information, somebody coming out of our organization."
The mechanism for the communication "is probably the biggest area of secrecy," Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said.
"That's probably where you're going to see the biggest amount of change," Elliott said. "OK, let's make sure we protect the way we communicate by making sure our sequencing is not redundant and doesn't tip what we're doing."
It's also not uncommon to face an opposing coach familiar with Alabama's communication methods.
Kirby Smart qualifies there.
"Yeah, there are a lot of really paranoid coaches about that," Smart said. "You're not looking at one that's overly paranoid but maybe I should be because everywhere I've ever coached, people are freaking out a week before the game, day before the game ...
"We played Alabama this year and I had so much other stuff to worry about, I wasn't worried about that. We didn't change anything we did and I don't know if they did or not. I had my hands full with other things. So, I think there is a paranoia out there for that and it's probably overdone in my opinion."
As the New Mexico head coach, current Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley faced a play calling dilemma facing UTEP in 2010. The Miners' new transfer quarterback, Tate Smith, had just left Locksley's program and the Lobos had to change all the signals for that game it lost 38.20.
Given Alabama's heavy rotation of signals, having recently transferred offensive lineman Brandon Kennedy and Pruitt at Tennessee next season shouldn't be a big issue.
Before leaving for Knoxville, Pruitt said he'd never been on a staff that stole signals.
"I think there are a lot of staffs out there that that's kinda how they operate," he said in December. "That's part of the game. If you don't want your signals stolen, then change them up. I don't blame them. Same thing happens in baseball. If you get the signals and you know a fastball is coming, it's easy to sit on a fastball. That's one thing you have to be conscious of as a signal caller."
***
There are any number of other communication factors in play on a Saturday afternoon.
Among them are the ball boys who are easily identified on sidelines. Since the offensive team is responsible for the balls, staffers in different-colored gear are often spotted on opposing sidelines.
It's possible they could overhear strategy talk when shuttling in dry balls to the referees.
Could the presence of an opposing ball boy make a coach suspicious?
"Yeah," Alabama's Pannunzio said frankly. "You just kinda deal with it."
Dunbar, who left Alabama for a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers after the 2017 season, said the ball boys are mostly equipment managers or "guys who wash clothes." On occasion, he said he's knock balls out of their hands in a moment of levity.
"So, I don't think there's a conspiracy theory to steal your signals or anything," he said.
Back in 2013, there were whispers in certain corners of the internet when Alabama's assistant director of football operations Tyler Siskey was caught with binoculars in the coaches' box. It was notable since he worked at Ole Miss the previous season and his role at Alabama didn't have on-field, game-day responsibilities.
Saban denied there were any dirty tricks involved and then-Rebel coach Hugh Freeze said he didn't report anything to the SEC on the matter. He did, however, spend a healthy part of the following spring practice rebuilding the entire play-signaling mechanism, the Clarion-Ledger reported in 2014.
Saban on his weekly radio show in 2015 was asked about the prevalence of signal stealing. Alabama doesn't do it, he said. A story came to mind, however, from his time as the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator in the early 1990s. A fellow coach in the booth told him he'd broken the opposing team's signal code to know if they were running or passing.
"'Look, I don't want to know,'" Saban recalled telling him. "'You're messing me up because I know what we planned to do based on their tendencies and what they've done and what we prepared our players to do. When I'm ready to call that and you say it's this, it messes me up.
"So, don't tell me.'"
***
Bottom line, none of the coaches interviewed accused anybody directly of stealing signals.
They also weren't ready to say it wasn't at least a small concern.
"Oh, absolutely," Missouri's Odom said. "Nobody is inventing new plays. You're getting information and trying to do it better than anybody else."
It's just a personality trait in this business. Clemson's Elliott said coaches are "probably the most paranoid people."
This is nothing new, though the internet age certainly ramped up suspicions.
Information can be transferred so easily and often without detection. Everybody's a suspect when something leaks from any given football facility.
Headlines like Wake Forest's playbook leak in 2016 doesn't help matters. Former coach and radio announcer Tommy Elrod provided opponents with game plan details for three seasons, an internal investigation revealed. It was only discovered when evidence was found on the Louisville sideline after a Demon Deacon loss late in the season.
Tennessee athletics director Phil Fulmer at the SEC Spring Meetings was trying to remember when he ended the open practice access to reporters in his time as Vols head coach.
"That probably comes from the Alabama model where it's having so much success," Fulmer said. "Coach Saban has his ways of doing things and these guys are all coming out and people are following suit."
When the 2018 season dawns, four SEC coaches will be alums of Saban staffs of the past. They carry both the knowledge of how Alabama operates and the urgency to protect their own proprietary variations.
It's all in the game of college football played at its highest level.
"Heck," Pannunzio said, "in baseball, there has been an unwritten rule forever about stealing signals so there's a multitude of ways that you signal and everybody has their way to signal and fake signal and all that. You just have to be smart in how you do it."
Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
What makes college football coaches paranoid, and how things are changing
