UNC Receives Notice of Allegations

[Ironman8]

Finally, some movement in the UNC situation:

TarHeelFootball Carolina Football

North Carolina has received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA. Information to follow later today on TarHeelBlue.com.

 

[IrishLax]

/popcorn

 

[BestBIrish47]

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YKUOB8MN4Kc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Veer option]

 

[NDinL.A.]

It's funny, I was just about to post on the Oregon thread that I didn't want a THING done to them until North Carolina got their asses handed to them, because to me it would have smacked of major bias against the west coast had Oregon got investigated before those crooks at North Carolina, who to me are worst than everyone, USC included. Hell, they hired an assistant coach (who is at the heart of all this) whose nickname is Black Santa...

 

[Riddickulous]

Shame on you, Tarheels.

That 2008 loss still stings.

 

[IrishLax]

This school is the only one (so far) that I think deserves a TV ban and possibly even a death penalty. You hire guys known for running shady programs, then fire an assistant like you didn't know who you were hiring in the first place? When the rest of the football world knows he's crooked? And then don't do anything to police your players until they start getting themselves caught?

This is USC x10 + some.

 

[Riddickulous]

This school is the only one (so far) that I think deserves a TV ban and possibly even a death penalty. You hire guys known for running shady programs, then fire an assistant like you didn't know who you were hiring in the first place? When the rest of the football world knows he's crooked? And then don't do anything to police your players until they start getting themselves caught?

This is USC x10 + some.

...Huh.

 

[kmoose]

It's funny, I was just about to post on the Oregon thread that I didn't want a THING done to them until North Carolina got their asses handed to them, because to me it would have smacked of major bias against the west coast had Oregon got investigated before those crooks at North Carolina, who to me are worst than everyone, USC included. Hell, they hired an assistant coach (who is at the heart of all this) whose nickname is Black Santa...

I seriously doubt that there is any West Coast Bias in investigations. I'm sure that the NCAA looks at other factors, like how long an investigation is likely to take, before deciding which one to pursue first.

 

[NDinL.A.]

I seriously doubt that there is any West Coast Bias in investigations. I'm sure that the NCAA looks at other factors, like how long an investigation is likely to take, before deciding which one to pursue first.

I would like to agree. I was just saying, there was a ton of stuff out there on NC dating to last year when the NCAA suspended several of their players for improper benefits. So NC was on the radar of the NCAA for quite a while now, and the investigation was already under way. Oregon is waaaay behind them as far as timeline, so that's why I was saying, no way should Oregon be punished yet over NC. And obviously, they won't be.

 

[Buster Bluth]

 

[Woneone]

Per Bruce Feldman:

"UNC NOA is brutal: Academic scandal; lots of John Blake shenanigans; improper benefits; Failure to Monitor.. Think Butch survives this?"

Oh, I doubt it.

 

[BGIF]

Per Bruce Feldman:

"UNC NOA is brutal: Academic scandal; lots of John Blake shenanigans; improper benefits; Failure to Monitor.. Think Butch survives this?"

Oh, I doubt it.

Maybe he can join Tressel on the unemployment line. Then both schools can say they got tough.

Then UNC can hire Tressel and UNC can hire Butch. The alumni and boosters at both schools will be proud that their administrations acted quickly to hire a winning coach without a lengthy hiring process involving Jesse Jackson.

 

[IrishMoore1]

I didn't follow the UNC thing, so can someone explain what exactly happened. I just keep hearing how gross violations took place and that it's way worse than usc, etc.

 

[Riddickulous]

I didn't follow the UNC thing, so can someone explain what exactly happened. I just keep hearing how gross violations took place and that it's way worse than usc, etc.

A boatload of crap. That's what.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Time for Butchie to develop his nervous tick again, have a breakdown and everyone feels bad for him just like his exit from C-Town. Butch is a used car salesman. He deserves everything that comes his way.

 

[NDinL.A.]

I didn't follow the UNC thing, so can someone explain what exactly happened. I just keep hearing how gross violations took place and that it's way worse than usc, etc.

Enjoy:

In the Year of the Snake in college sports, other other high profile scandals have generated more sound and fury, and some cases of a newer vintage might turn out to be more furious still. But for sheer scale, the saga conceived in an early morning tweet by ex-North Carolina star Marvin Austin last summer remains unmatched. Within weeks, Carolina had put Austin and 13 other players on ice for allegedly accepting illegal benefits from agents, seven of whom — including three soon-to-be first and second-round draft picks — would miss the entire season. It forced out an assistant coach with suspicious ties to an NFL agent himself. It launched an internal investigation into academic fraud involving a former student employee who was once hired by the head coach as a private tutor.
Current NFL players admitted to footing the bill for cross-country trips, weekend apartment stays and balla pool parties. At least one player was blinged out by a South Beach jeweler. One of the few draft-worthy starters who managed to avoid the 2010 purge found himself in the crosshairs when he was spotted at a post-draft party with former teammates this spring. And did we mention the assistant coach who was allegedly recruiting clients for an NFL agent?
Most of those threads only saw the light of day as a result of media digging; from there, it was up to the NCAA — with some help from a contrite UNC, looking to mitigate potential damage with cooperation — to tie them all together into a coherent narrative of outlaw and disorder. The Association submitted its best shot today, in the form of an official notice of allegations to the university in a 42-page memorandum. Among the most interesting charges:
- - -
• Improper benefits (Agent Division). During 2009 and 2010, seven football players are accused of accepting more than $27,000 in improper benefits from three agents, five former Tar Heel players, a jeweler, "various financial advisers" and a guy named Willie [last name unknown]. Specifically, the cash and prizes break down like so:
• $7,216.20 from Todd Stewart, "financial advisor" with Pro Sports Financial.
• $5,082.37 from Gary Wichard, now-deceased NFL agent.
• $5,000 from A.J. Mosciato, South Beach jeweler.
• $3,189.20 from Hakeem Nicks, former UNC wide receiver and current New York Giant.
• $2,000 from Kentwan Balmer, former UNC defensive lineman and current Seattle Seahawk.
• $1,826.29 from Omar Brown, former UNC defensive back.
• $816 from Chris Hawkins, former UNC defensive back and alleged "runner" for various agents, also notable for purchasing the Independence Bowl jersey that helped land Georgia receiver A.J. Green on a four-game suspension last summer.
• $398 from Michael Katz, agent with Rosenhaus Sports.
• $323.92 from Willie.
• $200 from Mahlon Carey, former UNC defensive back.
• $120 from Various financial advisors.
• Employing an assistant coach who partnered with an agent. Ex-defensive line coach John Blake's relationship with Wichard has been well-chronicled by Yahoo! Sports on multiple occasions, leading to Blake's resignation last September. From the formal allegation:
It is alleged that from 2007 to 2010, then assistant football coach John Blake partnered with Gary Wichard, National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) certified agent, and Pro Tect Management to represent individuals in the marketing of their athletic abilities in violation of NCAA legislation. Specifically, Blake was employed and compensated by Pro Tect Management to influence football student-athletes to hire Wichard to represent them in marketing their athletic abilities and reputations.
The partnership is backed up by a second allegation that Blake failed to report $31,000 in outside income from Wichard's agency, Pro Tect Management, which Blake allegedly received in seven separate wire transfers from May 2007 to October 15. Blake also reportedly withheld information regarding a $45,000 he allegedly received from Wichard's agency on Dec. 27, 2007, and provided investigators with "false and misleading information" during interviews last year.
Please stop for a moment to allow the fact to sink in that the NCAA believes a major program was employing an assistant coach who was acting as a runner for an agent. The NFLPA seems to have been suitably convinced of the arrangement between Blake and Wichard, as well, having slapped the latter with a nine-month suspension last December prior to Wichard's death from cancer.
• Academic Fraud. An academic support center tutor and at least two unnamed football players "engaged in academic fraud" when the tutor wrote portions of papers and works-cited pages, conducted research and sent players significantly revised drafts of papers on multiple occasions in 2008 and 2009.
• Improper benefits (Academic Division). A former university tutor, Jennifer Wiley, is accused of supplying improper benefits to players in 2009 and 2010 by a) Providing 142 hours of free tutoring (valued at $1,562) to nine student-athletes throughout the 2009-10 term, when she was no longer employed by university, and b) Paying $150 for an airline ticket in May 2010 and a whopping $1,789 in parking fines in August 2010 for a then-football player. (At least three UNC players — Marvin Austin, draft-bound receiver Greg Little and running back Ryan Houston — may have owed that amount in fines at a given time, according to documents released last week that the university had fought to keep under wraps.)
Wiley is also accused of intentionally eluding the university's efforts to contact her for months after her name was drawn into the fray last fall, before finally responding (via attorney) in January that she wouldn't be responding to any further interview requests from the university or NCAA.
• Obstructing an investigation. An unnamed player is accused of "providing false and misleading information" about who paid for airfare and lodging on multiple trips he took in 2009 and 2010. This section is heavily redacted to omit all names and locations, but given the previous reporting in this case and the dates provided in the allegation, the player is almost certainly Marvin Austin, and the trips in question almost certainly include his well-chronicled visits to California in 2009 and South Beach in 2010.
- - -
Thus concludes what appears to be the perfect storm of NCAA death: Players got paid, agents were everywhere, players committed academic fraud, coaches, players and tutors alike misled or stonewalled investigators — and there was direct institutional knowledge via Blake, who (according to the NCAA) not only knew but was actively participating in flouting the rules in a way that the last guy the NCAA accused of being a rogue assistant coach, USC scapegoat Todd McNair, never dreamed.
If you've been following this case from the beginning, none of those charges are new. But it is eye-opening to see all of them exhaustively detailed in one place for the first time, and there is no escaping the conclusion that the Tar Heels are going to feel the maximum, USC-level pain in response — up to and including a postseason ban and heavy scholarship losses. Institutionally, North Carolina worked hard to distance itself from the worst offenders ingratiate itself as a collaborator in justice when it became aware of the violations, but if the NCAA can't throw the book at a school that employed an assistant coach it accuses of acting as a runner for an NFL agent, it might as well ditch the rulebook and badges and rename itself the "Basketball Tournament Deposit Association."
Now, the bureaucracy lurches into a state resembling action. Carolina will have 90 days to submit an official response to the allegations, at which point a date will be set for an appearance in front of the NCAA's all-powerful Committee on Infractions (probably in October). A few weeks after that (probably sometime in the new year), the COI will send its verdict down the mountain on a set of stone tablets, and the university will initiate an appeals process that extends the process another six months or so. By the NCAA's standards, if the Tar Heels know their fate by the start of the 2012 season, it will qualify as a properly speedy trial.

 

[NCDomer]

Any hope that UNC's basketball program did similar things?

I think the baby blue makes their violations cuter, and so it's more difficult to come down hard on them. They're just a baby! They don't know what they're doing!

 

[Rocket89]

They hired Butch Davis and allowed John Blake to be on their staff. North Carolina deserves everything they will get and more.

The best part is Davis being only 28-23 at Chapel Hill.

Losing record in the ACC.

Never finished higher than third IN THEIR DIVISION.

Hope it was worth it.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Despite breathtaking NCAA allegations, UNC's Butch Davis may survive - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

The biggest question: Will Davis keep his job? That one will be entirely up to the school.

North Carolina brought in the former Miami savior and Cleveland Browns head coach to elevate the Tar Heels into a national contender. True to form, he (with help from Blake) reeled in and developed a bevy of NFL-caliber players unlike any the program had seen, which then completely backfired. Four years later, he's got one Music City Bowl win and nine alleged major violations to his name.

And yet, both school officials and fans remain highly supportive of him. If he's the guy they want to keep leading them in the future, there's nothing in Tuesday's document that would prevent them from doing so.

"I feel terrible that these allegations occurred under my watch," Davis said in a statement Tuesday night. " ... The responsibility for correcting any problems that put us in this position is mine, and I take that responsibility very seriously. ... I will continue to focus on improving every aspect of our football program."

That task could get a whole lot harder once the Committee gets done nuking his program sometime after its October hearing, and perhaps by then the school will be shamed into making a change. As of today, however, the official stance, as articulated by Chancellor Holden Thorp, is: "We made mistakes, and we have to face that."

Tressel made one huge mistake and it cost him his career. USC had one star player go rogue and it cost the school 30 scholarships. North Carolina is accused of nine major violations involving at least 14 different adults and roughly half its starting lineup, and yet its case may wind up causing the smallest ripple of the three.

Clearly, Davis' work is not done. His program has yet to achieve the level of notoriety needed to truly anger people with its indiscretions.

 

[NDbrbkny]

Crap My classMate plays at unc. John Blake isnt he the same one who ran OU into the dirt and dragged it through the mud?

 

[BGIF]

Crap My classMate plays at unc. John Blake isnt he the same one who ran OU into the dirt and dragged it through the mud?

Blake was the HC at OU in the late 90's. He later was DLine coach at MS St, NU, and UNC.

According to UNC officals when Blake applied for the UNC gig he note he worked as consultant to Lemming after he left OU but omitted portions of his resume where he worked for a sports agent company.

Blake's UNC resumé in question | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

 

[DANsanity15]

the only thing I'm still wondering about it who gets busted next? USC, UNC, OSU and now Oregon, theres obviously about to be a lot to go down within the NCAA

 

[IrishLax]

Can't find the up-to-date thread on the UNC academic fraud case... the search function on this site really sucks.... so here goes:

Did the Agent for Julius Peppers Create a Website to Smear a Reporter Covering the UNC Academic Scandal? | The Big Lead

 

[ndfi78]

Nice!

 

[ohara831]

Peppers’ transcript points to broader academic problems at UNC | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

Peppers played both football and basketball at the NCAA level. So both sports may be swallowed up in this mess.

 

[NDinFL]

Excellent

 

[irishpat183]

This is gonna be good......

Dwarfs USC's problems.

And nothing like a coach saying "I feel terrible that this happened under my watch"...Really? Yet you did nothing to stop it? And if you ddin't know, then you deserve the penalty for being ignorant of what goes on in your program!

 

[BGIF]

This is gonna be good......

Dwarfs USC's problems.

And nothing like a coach saying "I feel terrible that this happened under my watch"...Really? Yet you did nothing to stop it? And if you ddin't know, then you deserve the penalty for being ignorant of what goes on in your program!

Pat,

If ND (or anywhere) had a rogue professor giving inflated grades for work not done wouldn't that be the Department Chairman's responsibility and not the coach?

And if it was a Department Chair doing the phony grading wouldn't it be his supervisor, be it Dean, or President, again and not the coach? How is a coach supposed to know the validity of courses?

It seems to come under Lack of Institutional Control from the academic side not the coach. And that is a more tenuous spot for UNC. It speaks to their core academic standards - and their accreditation.



I don't know how the NCAA handles the Pepper Transcript going public but it raises the question of how far did this go back.

Peppers: Transcript posted on UNC's site his - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com News, Scores, Stats, Schedule and BCS Rankings

Nine of the 10 classes in which Peppers earned a B-plus, B or B-minus that could've helped ensure his eligibility came in the AFAM department where he was majoring, according to the transcript. Three were listed as independent study classes, another problem area cited in the school's probe for a lack of supervision of work -- often a research paper -- performed by students.

The transcript lists a 1.824 GPA, beginning with classes during the summer of 1998 and finishing in the fall of 2001 during Peppers' last year on the football field for the Tar Heels under first-year coach John Bunting. The link lacked grades for five classes in summer and fall 2001 terms

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING

@InsideCarolina: UNC notified NCAA on Aug24, 2011 of AFAM issues. UNC & NCAA "concluded there were no violations of current NCAA rules."

@DanWolken
So UNC has years of documented, institutionalized academic fraud and no NCAA rules were broken? Got it.

@awfulannouncing: You know where else there wasn't NCAA rules broken? Penn State. Glad the NCAA is such a beacon of consistency