Davidson assistant football coach implicated in ‘WakeyLeaks’ scandal

Davidson assistant head football coach Ray McCartney has been disciplined by the school for his part in receiving leaked Wake Forest game-plan information while he was an assistant coach at Army.

In December, Wake Forest announced that radio broadcaster Tommy Elrod, a former Deacons player and assistant coach, had provided or tried to provide confidential game-plan information to opponents including Army, Virginia Tech and Louisville since 2014.

In a statement released Tuesday, Davidson athletics director Jim Murphy said: “Davidson College holds its staff, faculty and students to high standards, and we expect our staff to lead by the example of their own conduct. We were made aware of West Point’s report on events that occurred while assistant coach Ray McCartney was on their staff. We conducted our own inquiry and took appropriate action.

“Even though this stems from events that occurred at another institution, outside our conference, our staff will take this opportunity to reinforce the foundational values of the college that have built a culture of trust and integrity.”

In a statement released Tuesday, Army said McCartney and Black Knights defensive coordinator Jay Bateman “obtained non-public information and took actions to conceal the information and its source.”

Bateman forfeited $25,000 in salary and has been suspended from football-related duties for two weeks. Army will use the forfeited $25,000 for ethics training for the athletics staff. Bateman will be required to attend the ethics training.

Wake Forest and Army have played each other in each of the past three seasons.

The Army investigation revealed that “Bateman, through McCartney ... received proprietary information in 2014 from Wake Forest's Tommy Elrod. Elrod was McCartney's former Wake Forest coaching colleague. Further, in 2016, Elrod sent his observations after watching Wake Forest practice film days before the 2016 game. The investigator found no evidence that the information was shared with any other coach, staff or player.”

Before going to Davidson in 2016, McCartney was Army’s defensive line coach in 2014-15. McCartney spent 13 seasons at Wake Forest from 2001-13, coaching the Deacons’ defensive line and serving as recruiting coordinator.

A 1980 graduate of Guilford, McCartney coached in high school at New Bern and Randleman before embarking on a college-coaching career that has also included stops at North Carolina, Bowling Green, Whittenberg (Ohio), Ball State and Ohio.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Davidson assistant football coach implicated in ‘WakeyLeaks’ scandal."