Posted: 4:01 PM Jan 18, 2013
Reporter: Associated Press

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says star linebacker Manti Te'o and his family were planning to go public about him being the victim of a hoax before an online report scooped them.

Swarbrick says on his weekly radio show the Te'os had planned to go public Monday with the hoax involving a dead girlfriend who never existed. But Deadspin.com broke the news with a lengthy report Wednesday.

Swarbrick says, "Sometimes the best laid plans don't quite work." He says the family from Laie, Hawaii, lost the opportunity "to control the story."

Swarbrick says he hopes the family makes itself available "to explain and to take questions, because we think that's in everybody's interest."

Swarbrick says he believes Te'o has to explain exactly how he was duped and that school officials would rather see him talk about it "sooner rather than later." He says university officials understand there is more to be learned, but based on knowing Te'o he believes the linebacker a victim. He says he will continue to believe that until given "compelling evidence to the contrary."

Swarbrick also says he understands why some people are skeptical about Te'o's story.

Swarbrick's radio show airs regionally on Saturday but was posted online as a podcast on Friday.

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