◊◊◊
His first full day on the job would be interesting. Drew was scheduled to talk to the FBI in the morning and to Coach Clayton in the afternoon. He still wasn’t sure what to do about the coach but hoped that he could come to a decision by the end of the day.
He was disappointed that Jaxson Pettis, his predecessor, hadn’t agreed to meet with him and do a handoff. But he couldn’t really fault him because he hadn’t offered to help the new Baylor AD, either. It might be better to have a clean slate and bring his own ideas about how to handle his job.
At ten a.m. on the nose, his assistant buzzed his office phone.
“Your ten o’clock is here.”
“Send them in.”
His office door opened, and a severe-looking woman in her late fifties entered. He stood up and went around his desk to greet her.
“Drew Langford.”
She introduced herself as Susan—not Sue—Vargas. Susan was the Assistant Director, Los Angeles Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Drew hadn’t expected the head of the Los Angeles FBI to be standing in his office. They took their seats, and Susan took charge of the meeting.
“Before I say anything, I’m unable to comment on an ongoing investigation. As such, I cannot give you names or what they might have done regarding what we are calling Operation Varsity Blues. As I’m sure you are aware, some information has leaked, which we are looking into.
“Because of those leaks, the Director asked me to meet with you personally since Jaxson Pettis had been most cooperative in providing us with information. It is our hope that you’ll continue doing the same.”
“I guess that depends on what you need and what I’m at liberty to provide,” Drew said to show that he wasn’t about to be taken advantage of.
The FBI wasn’t beyond taking advantage of transitions. They counted on the new people in positions like his to gain access or an edge that someone experienced would have put the brakes on. It sounded like Jaxson had pulled his pants down and bent over to give the FBI whatever they wanted.
She simply stared at him, which became unnerving after a few minutes, but Drew held his ground.
“If that’s the case, I would suggest that you bring counsel to our next meeting,” Ms. Vargas pressed.
“Thanks for the advice,” Drew said. “May I ask if any information on our football team was leaked?”
“It might be possible a kicker was enrolled with aid from an outside source, but I’m not comfortable saying more. If you do an Internet search, you might discover a sister who was helped with her acceptance at another school.”
“Was there a list of the files you looked at?” Drew tried.
“I can’t tell you that. Now, if there is nothing else, I need to return to my office.”
Drew had a hundred questions he wanted to be answered but could see he would get nothing else from Ms. Vargas.
◊◊◊
After Ms. Vargas had dropped her bombshell that all but confirmed the football team’s involvement, his talk to Coach Clayton took on a more ominous feel.
Drew was irritated with Coach Clayton when he was informed that the coach was too busy to leave his office. If the athletic director wanted to talk, he would have to come to the coach. Drew let it slide because he didn’t have time to play dominance games. It was an obvious power play that normally wouldn’t have worked.
When he reached the football offices, no one was at the reception desk, so he walked on back. Coach Clayton’s office door was open, so Drew knocked.
“Come in!” Coach Clayton called out.
When he saw it was the AD, he said, “Oh, it’s you. Like I said, I’m busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Planning fall practice. The position coaches submitted their training timelines, and I have to fix them.”
Drew had never heard of that before.
“Training timelines?”
“The NCAA only gives us so many hours to prepare for the season. Every team on our schedule has the exact same amount. It’s my job to maximize that time. The timelines lay out minute-by-minute what we’ll be doing in practice. This way, we don’t waste any valuable opportunities to work with our young men,” Coach Clayton explained.
“And your assistants have messed them up?”
“Not exactly. They don’t have the full picture of what we want to accomplish. I’m making tweaks to better align with our goals.”
“I can see that you are detail-oriented,” Drew said in the politest way since this sounded like a case of micromanagement. It told him that the head coach didn’t trust his assistants. “I won’t take up much of your valuable time. I just have two questions.”
“I appreciate that you respect my process.”
“Who is the kicker the FBI is looking at?”
“Jeffrey Quaker,” Coach Clayton said without hesitation.
Drew hadn’t expected the coach to tell him because that meant Dylan knew what was going on and had approved it.
“Are you planning to suspend him?”
“Absolutely not. The FBI is not the NCAA. Plus, Quaker is our starter, and we don’t have a backup that we can count on.”
“Sorry, one more. Did the special teams coach know about this?”
“Of course he did. He was the one who told me that the admissions department was requesting that we take him. If they want something, I’m inclined to give it to them because they can help me with borderline cases. To be honest, if they asked again, I would work with them,” Coach Clayton acknowledged.
“Did you and/or your special teams coach receive money?”
“We sure did.”
Drew sighed.
“Come with me,” Drew said.
“I don’t have time for any of this. Please get out of my office,” Coach Clayton said.
“Either you come with me, or I’ll have to call security.”
For the first time, Coach Clayton had an inkling he might have done something wrong.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m firing you.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Listen, Dylan. This can be done quietly, and you get a portion of your buyout. Or I’ll fire you for cause, and we potentially sue you for breach of contract.”
“You can’t do that!” Coach Clayton said again.
“I would suggest that if that is your belief, you exit now and go talk to a lawyer.”
“You’re serious.”
“I am. I need you to surrender your keys. You can make arrangements tomorrow or later in the week to gather your personal belongings.”
Coach Clayton looked stunned. He stood up, pulled his keys off his keyring, and laid them on the desk. Without a further word, he walked out. Drew followed him to the parking lot. Then Drew called security to keep an eye out and human resources to lock him out of his email, phone, and the USC computer network.
Now he had to go fire the special teams coach. It was a hell of a full first day.
◊◊◊
LeVar Mitchell wasn’t surprised when he was let go.
“Are you going to ask Jeffery to leave the program?” LeVar asked about the kicker in the middle of all this.
“We’ll have to.”
“Can I do it? It’ll come better from me.”
Drew thought about it, and against his better judgment, agreed.
◊◊◊
Coach Clayton did get a lawyer, so it was decided that until an agreement could be reached, USC would keep quiet about his and Coach Mitchell’s firing.
In the meantime, he had to find new head coaches for football, rowing, and soccer. The football opening couldn’t have come at a worse time. Fall practice would begin in a week, and the quality coaches wouldn’t want to make a move. That meant he would need to find an interim coach.
As far as he could see, that left him with two choices: either promote someone from within or look for a coach he could lure out of retirement. He was in the process of making a short list of candidates when he received a call. Two of their boosters wanted to have a word.