Head coach search committees are dodging accountability

Hello and welcome to this week’s FOIAball.

In this edition, we’re revealing how head coach search committees try to circumvent public records laws. Spoiler: They’re literally putting those plans in writing.

And we’ve got the guestlists for Lane Kiffin’s luxury box last season. Not only do they show when superagent Jimmy Sexton went to Oxford, they pinpoint when Kiffin broke up with his girlfriend. What can we say? We like to be messy.

But that’s not all. In our weekly FOIAball Food, we make gumbo

So read on.

Hopefully, you don’t spend too much time perusing X. 

The site, once so essential, is now a fount of bot posts, engagement bait, and AI-generated drivel, driven by a chaotic and nonsensical algorithm designed to actively suppress useful information.

Recently, my timeline was hijacked, filled with baseless rumors, wishcasting, breaking “news,” and declarative claims about Virginia Tech’s courtship of James Franklin. 

That is something I care about, so I’ll give the site credit. 

But not one post there is remotely useful. Every other tweet is a breathless, confident declaration that Franklin and the Hokies are on the one-yard line. Or that he’s using Tech as leverage for other jobs. Or that Franklin is in, but Jimmy Sexton is mucking things up. 

If I am being at my most conspiratorial, I’d think it’s a CAA (the agency, not The Agency) bot farm, used to amp up chatter and spook other teams. 

I doubt it’s coming out of Blacksburg, because the Hokies want to keep a tight lid on the matter.

Members of the search committee agreed to a confidentiality clause in their contracts, which FOIAball obtained. 

It’s not airtight, but it’s certainly enough to keep a top former military official from dishing to @RaisingKane69.

But Tech is taking other steps to ensure the search stays away from prying eyes. Including laying out how they explicitly want to circumvent public records laws.

Which, ya know, they’re not supposed to do. 

There are a few ways a university can pick its next head football coach. 

An AD can singlehandedly push through a pick he already has in mind. The school can hire a pricey third-party to serve as a go-between. A governor can swoop in and declare he knows best. 

(Which we wish happened more, tbh.)

Or the school can put together a committee. A blue-ribbon commission.

It’s a time-honored government tradition, amassing a collection of prominent individuals to lend an air of authority and respectability while dispersing blame and giving cover if things go wrong.

After UCLA canned DeShaun Foster, it announced a search committee that included superagent Casey Wasserman and current GM of the Washington Commanders, Adam Peters (I’m also a D.C. sports fan and, boy, has that golden sheen washed off recently). 

When Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry after getting blown out at home by Old Dominion, the school’s passionate fans were adamant that the Hokies also fire the person behind the failed hire, Athletic Director Whit Babcock. 

He’d previously brought on Justin Fuente, who also flamed out. Many didn’t think he’d earned the right to pick a third. 

Initial reporting out of Blacksburg revealed that while Babcock wouldn’t be let go, the school seemed to understand concerns, and it was intimated that Babcock wouldn’t lead the search. 

But he’s still steering it. 

And he’s trying to ensure whichever way it goes remains hidden from view. 

On Friday, Oct. 3, three weeks after dismissing Pry, the Hokies revealed their committee. 

In an email to the group, Babcock called it, “An All Star Team!” 

“What a talented and complimentary group,” he added.

Not to be done, former beloved defensive coordinator Bud Foster gave the group the only moniker in football that matters. 

“Elite.”