The Atlantic Coast Conference has issued institutional fines of $25,000 to the University of Louisville and Virginia Tech following its review of the internal investigation conducted by Wake Forest University and the subsequent appropriate discussions. The funds received from the two fines, which are the highest allowed by the league’s bylaws, will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship account.
In addition to the respective institutional fines, the Atlantic Coast Conference is fully supportive of the actions taken by the University of Louisville in issuing its suspension.
Following the league’s review of the internal investigation by Wake Forest, and subsequent discussions between the conference office and schools, it was determined that game plan information for four games was provided to three institutions over the span of three seasons. The three schools involved are Virginia Tech (2014), Louisville (2016) and Army (2014, 2016).
“I am deeply disturbed something like this would occur, and regardless of the degree of involvement, the protection of the competitive integrity of our games is fundamental to any athletic contest,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “Sportsmanship and ethical values are at the core of competitive integrity and in these instances, those were missing. The expectation, regardless of the sport, is that any athletics department staff members would immediately communicate with their supervisor if they are approached by someone from another institution with proprietary information.”
The ACC will have no further comment surrounding this matter.