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WFU Volleyball Coach Resigns To Focus On Federal Case

Bill Ferguson, former Wake Forest volleyball coach, arrives at federal court in Boston on Monday, March 25, 2019, to face charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. Ferguson had been on leave but resigned Thursday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Wake Forest's volleyball coach Bill Ferguson has resigned.

Ferguson had been on leave from the school since March when allegations tied him to a national college admissions scandal.

In a statement released by the university, Ferguson said it was time for him to step aside so he can focus on the case. He pleaded not guilty in March.

"I loved our time at Wake, and I believe the volleyball program is in great shape for the future," he said. "Wake is a wonderful place."

Ferguson joined the staff in 2016. He had previously been the head coach at the University of Southern California. Randi Smart is the interim coach.

An investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” led to charges against several coaches and athletic officials at elite universities across the country.

Federal prosecutors said parents paid an admissions consultant to bribe coaches and administrators to label their children as recruited athletes, to alter test scores, and to have others take online classes to boost their children's chances of getting admitted.

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.

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