From the Indy Star. 3,100 students involved.
An investigation commissioned by the University of North Carolina found 18 years of academic fraud involving athletes guided to no-show classes and receiving high grades.
But the report released Wednesday might be notable in Indianapolis for one of the people who declined to be interviewed.
Colts coach Chuck Pagano, North Carolina's defensive coordinator in 2007, was named in the report as being among "five notable exceptions who refused to speak with us, four of whom were associated with the football program."
Investigators, led by a former high-ranking official at the U.S. Justice Department, listed 126 people as having been interviewed and 1.6 million emails and other electronic documents as having been searched.
A letter in July to Pagano from Kenneth L. Wainstein, who led the investigation, said, "Given our review of documents and information to this point, we understand that you may have important relevant information."
Investigators also wanted to talk with Colts receivers coach Charlie Williams, who was North Carolina's receivers coach from 2007 to 2011. Williams also declined.
Besides Pagano, the other four "notables" who refused to be interviewed were: former head football academic counselor Cynthia Reynolds; former football academic counselor Octavus Barnes; former assistant football coach and interim head coach Everett Withers; and former associate dean of academic advising Carolyn Cannon.
One of the 126 people who were interviewed by investigators was Purdue offensive coordinator John Shoop, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at North Carolina from 2007 to 2011.
The Colts did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Pagano and Williams.
In emails from July and this month that were included in the report, Dan Emerson, the Colts' vice president and general counsel, said he communicated with Pagano and Williams about the North Carolina investigation.
The email this month said both coaches "reconfirmed they were aware of no facts which might have a bearing on your investigation. I take them both at face value and wouldn't characterize them as being uncooperative."
Emerson reiterated that point in an email to The Star on Wednesday.
"When they were advised of the interview requests on the eve of training camp, neither Coach Pagano nor Coach Williams 'refused to speak' with Mr. Wainstein," Emerson wrote. "Instead, they both simply confirmed they were aware of no information that might have had any bearing on the investigation."
Current Colts receiver Hakeem Nicks played at North Carolina from 2006 to 2008. The Raleigh News & Observer reported in 2012 that Nicks, who entered the NFL in 2009, should have been ineligible to play for the Tar Heels in 2008 because a tutor wrote part of five papers for Nicks for an education course. The NCAA called it "academic fraud."
From 1993 to 2011, the report said, North Carolina's African-American Studies department offered "paper classes" with no interaction with faculty, no class attendance and no work other than one paper. That paper routinely received a high grade from a non-faculty member who graded without reading or evaluating its quality.
North Carolina probe: 3,100 students involved in 'shadow curriculum'
Over 18 years, North Carolina offered 188 such classes for more than 3,100 students.
The report said the classes were popular with football and men's basketball players. But some athletic department staff members "made a conscious decision not to ask questions even though they had suspicions about the educational content of those classes."
Shoop said he reviewed class schedules and spoke with players about their classes.
"Shoop recalled that his players were taking independent studies," the report said, "and explained that his understanding was that the players would meet with a professor and turn in a 10-15 page research paper, which he thought was standard for independent study."
