Texas Tech audio demonstrates how it is possible to obtain helmet communications. Why did NFL technology have problems in the CFB?

An audio clip obtained and reviewed by The athlete shows how it is possible to intercept the new communication technology between college football's coach and helmet. During Texas Tech's game against TCU on October 26, a person identified as Texas Tech defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter can be heard relaying a series of defensive play calls and in-game calls.

The 31-second clip is somewhat muted and, at least for staff or non-football employees, provides little context to the play calls and terminology. But the recorded clip suggests a larger concern among some college football coaches about potential benefits that could be gained from intercepted signals.

The audio was recorded by a third party during Texas Tech's game at TCU and shared this week with Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire to illustrate how an outside company could hack into a team's unencrypted coach-to-helmet communications, said sources familiar with the situation.

The revelation this week that Power 4 conferences have been using new coach-to-helmet communications technology over unencrypted frequencies this season has sparked concern and frustration, and Texas Tech has been the primary source of those feelings.

On Tuesday — the same day Tech said McGuire received the audio recording — Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt raised the issue of unencrypted headset communications during a meeting between Big 12 athletic directors and conference officials, sources said Report knowledge of the call. Hocutt expressed concern that these communications could be intercepted by opposing teams or outside parties and called on the conference to review Texas Tech's recent games against Baylor and TCU to ensure their integrity. Tech lost at home to Baylor and on the road to TCU.

In a statement released this week, the Big 12 said the league's review found no direct evidence that the integrity of conference games was compromised by these security vulnerabilities. The Big 12 conducted a thorough review that included interviews with coaches and staff at multiple institutions and a breakdown of the time frame of the incident, according to sources close to the helmet communications matter.

All schools participating in the conference had to recall their coach-to-helmet equipment this week in order to receive an encryption update. Each of the Power 4 conferences started the season with equipment from a company called GSC, which also supplies the NFL's helmet communications. Group of 5 conferences use CoachComm, which provides the coaching headsets for almost all of Division I. The trainer-to-helmet equipment uses a frequency “hopping” system that changes throughout the game to make access more difficult for an outside entity.

Go deeper

Power Four schools send helmet communication systems for technical repair due to safety issues

There is no evidence that the Texas Tech audio was used in a compromising manner. Still, the lack of encryption and evidence that a team's in-game calls could be intercepted casts an unfortunate spotlight on the new technology in its first season of use in college football. It also comes a season after Michigan's sign-stealing scandal involving former recruiter Connor Stalions, which is still under investigation by the NCAA.

Multiple teams and coaches have pointed to various (and less concerning) issues with helmet communications stalling or failing during games this season, including during Georgia at Texas, West Virginia at Pitt and Penn State at Wisconsin. If only one team's communications fail during a game, neither team will be allowed to use the technology until both have access again.

In a sport often criticized for its lack of cohesion, leadership and enforcement, the issue of helmet communication will do nothing to assuage those feelings.

Go deeper

What you should know about college football's new helmet communication rules

The encryption issue was discovered during the Arkansas vs. Texas A&M game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (home of the Dallas Cowboys) on September 28th and could have been fixed much sooner. All four energy conferences were subsequently notified by the stadium's frequency coordinator, and the conferences subsequently notified select football and athletic department personnel at each of their member schools.

But multiple coaching staffs and athletic directors from every power conference said they only learned of the encryption problem this week and may have been vulnerable for nearly a month.

In a memo to Big 12 ADs and head coaches sent Tuesday and received by The athleteConference chair Scott Draper wrote that following the discovery in September, GSC and frequency experts described the risk of someone accessing trainer-helmet communications as “very low.” The league notified senior equipment managers and changed frequencies as an interim measure while a GSC software update was completed.

“In hindsight, the conference should have shared this information with each of you,” Draper wrote in the memo.

Several sources in the power conference said this The athlete This week they later discovered that it wasn't too difficult for an external entity to access the helmet communications.

“It's pretty easy to learn,” said a Big 12 school administrator. “You have to have a little bit of technical knowledge, but you don't have to be a tech expert.”

As with the Big 12, none of the other power conferences are known to have had games compromised due to a lack of encrypted communication between coach and helmet.

“The Big Ten reached out to schools about the software update because they were very cautious about something coming from another conference,” Iowa football spokesman Matt Weitzel said. “Nothing happened in the Big Ten, and it wasn’t necessary.”

There have been no reports of stolen signals, Weitzel added.

Among coaches and administrators The athlete When I spoke with them this week, one of the biggest frustrations and criticisms was the fact that the highest level of college football – now a multi-billion dollar industry – was left in this position in the first place.

“We use a system that is not encrypted. And it's the same company that provides the NFL. And the NFL is encrypted. So I ask, “Why the hell isn't our system encrypted?” Whose miss is that?” said a Big 12 school administrator. “Why would we even consider using a system that isn't encrypted?”

Multiple messages left at GSC by The athlete were not returned.

The NCAA passed a rule this year allowing schools to use coach-to-helmet communications and tablets with video playback on the sidelines during games.

Don't let a half-dozen egregious calls and blatant deceptions by officials distract you from the fact that Mike called Bobo on a walkie-talkie because communication on her headset randomly stopped working pic.twitter.com/9mWAE758Lk

– Skinny (@skinnydawg10) October 20, 2024

If it were possible for a team to intercept an opponent's play calls in real time, it is unclear what advantage this might provide. Some trainers The athlete The interviewee compared the ability to access these communications to the Michigan sign-stealing controversy last season. Others thought this was overkill and said it would be virtually impossible to implement in real time.

If a defense can hear the opposing offense's play call, that could be enough to detect whether it's a run or a pass and quickly relay that information via the helmet microphone to the defensive player, who can quickly alert their teammates. Conversely, an attacker listening to defensive play calls could get a sense of whether the opposing team is applying pressure or obfuscating coverage of a particular play.

“If you know if it's a run or a pass … a few quick pointers (from the coach to the defensive player), it only takes a few seconds,” said a power conference head coach. “You still have to stop the other team, get out of deadlocks and so on, but you get that indicator… if it helps you a few times or even on one play, that could be a big play.”

Regardless, updating Coach-to-Helm encryption should address these specific concerns in the future. Texas Tech accepted the Big 12's conclusion that no games were compromised and said it would have no further comment on the matter.

And everyone wonders why college football used unencrypted technology at all when the same company supplied the NFL and there were no public problems.

Manny Navarro and Scott Dochterman contributed reporting.

(Photo: Matthew Visinsky / Icon Sportswire via Getty)