An interesting ESPN article on sign stealing. There are comments from several coaches (including Knowles) in the article:
Inside the sideline paranoia of a college football coach
COACHES TEND TO clam up when asked about paranoia among their ranks. Without fail, they'll start by saying they're too focused on the task at hand to worry about anyone pulling a fast one on them. Maybe they'll laugh and say they're naive. But eventually they'll admit to hearing cautionary tales through the years -- lip readers in the coaches box, parabolic microphones pointed where they shouldn't be, wild stuff that one Power 5 assistant says "would make [Bill] Belichick seem like a saint."
Everyone's a gossip, especially in the small world of college football. Share enough stories, and don't be surprised when those previously buttoned-up coaches start divulging experiences of their own -- accounts of malfunctioning headsets and former players who went turncoat.
Former Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said he never paid much attention to things like sign stealing until a few years ago, when television producers moved their cameras to the opposite side of the field. The reason was innocent enough; Niumatalolo said they wanted to get a shot of the Navy sideline with the brigade in the background. But then an assistant warned, "That's bad." Niumatalolo asked why and the assistant, whom he had recently hired, explained how the school he came from had spent three hours watching TV copy of Navy's games to match their signals to their plays. "We're the most paranoid people," Niumatalolo said. "And a lot of it there's good reason for."
North Carolina coach Mack Brown sees a healthy level of mistrust as being an essential requirement for the job. "It's why my hair is really gray, I look old and I haven't slept well for 30 years," he said.
The threat of subterfuge is so prevalent there's a shorthand for when it's believed to have happened: getting skunked. While stealing signals is as old as the sport itself, a source said it has become a "cottage industry" of late. Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles estimates 75% of teams steal signals. "It's bigger than most people know," he said. Technological advancements and expanding support staffs are fueling concerns. But analog methods aren't to be discounted, either. Just last week, Georgia coach Kirby Smart had to respond to an unsubstantiated rumor that his team had filmed Ohio State's practice. Smart brushed it off, calling it "ludicrous." Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops once said that he regretted practicing in the Superdome prior to the 2003 Sugar Bowl because there were too many prying eyes.
No place is safe, and no one is above suspicion. It turns out not even ball boys can be trusted to move freely on the opposing team's sideline over fears that they might hear (or record) sensitive information. The same goes for the seemingly innocuous members of the chain gang -- the crew that marks the line of scrimmage and line to gain, and holds the marker displaying what down it is.
A longtime head coach and coordinator warned, "Think about all the money, dude," before ruling out any theory as being too far-fetched.
"Think about it, and that's where it's at," he said. "When you got assistant coaches making $2 million a year -- assistant coaches! -- and you got position coaches making $600,000-800,000 a year, I mean, everybody gets used to a standard of living they want to maintain."
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Entire article:
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...side-sideline-paranoia-college-football-coach
Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles estimates 75% of teams steal signals.
Not only is Knowles convinced that opponents have filmed his signals, he believes some teams will then turn around and share what they've learned with others. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?" Knowles said.
Knowles said he doesn't like to talk about it because what can he really do to stop it? But since he was asked, he wasn't going to pretend it wasn't real. "It is a huge part of what goes on," he said, "and kind of a story behind the game."
"You know," he said, "if you can imagine it, it can be done when you have resources and people and time."
