This discussion is great. I'll clear a couple of things up (as far as i know):
1) PhD is not necessarily the terminal degree in journalism. A great university would be happy to hire a journalism instructor without a PhD.
2) Wake Forest does not have a journalism department or a communications school. Nor do we have a journalism major. Our program in journalism offers a minor through the English Department. Affiliated faculty aren't available right now on the website, but i imagine it's one or two permanent faculty and then one or two visiting instructors on two or three year contracts.
3) Academic departments don't take kindly to having their hands forced. Spousal hires are the most frequent cases of this, and usually in these situations the department pushing for the additional hire (often with help from the Dean's office) will pay at least half of the hire's salary. Still on the department to find office space and other resources. Plus it severely impacts their chances of future searches where they could select somebody they actually wanted. Now, when the Dean asks (or tells) you to do it, you do it because they control your money. No department is taking orders from athletics. Who would pay her salary? What would she teach (our curriculum in journalism is probably set)?
3) Maya Angelou had an endowed professorship (meaning a department isn't paying her salary). She's also one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. Comparing her to a journalist -- possibly without any teaching experience -- is laughable. Smart's wife isn't going to draw students to journalism or make the school any money.
Bottom line, Wake could never have given her an Academic job. Blaming Hatch for that is kind of silly.
I'd be interested in seeing what she's up to now. Texas has an absolutely gigantic Communications School and a huge journalism major. Did they hire her?