Investigation: UNC Has Paper Classes That Are Paper Tigers

((HT: ABC11 Raleigh))

The HQ saw them and took part in them in our college days...

There was always the class that was an easy, athlete class that was supposed to be an easy "A."

For us it was things like Family and Child Development, Geology, Theatre, and Freshman-level Public Speaking in our senior year. We know of athletes that took correspondence classes to stay eligible. So, the idea that there is steering of athletes to easier classes to maintain their eligibility isn't all that new...

But the scope of what happened at the University of North Carolina might be the issue this time around. In the wake of the African-American Families major that was attached to a lot of Tarheels athletes and the idea that they were (gasp) given preferential treatment in those classes was the subject of an investigation that went back 18 years on campus.

What the former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein found was just "a lot..."


Here's the full report should you want to read it

Former department chairman Julius Nyang'oro and former student services manager Deborah Crowder were at the center of the investigation and, as the math tells, almost 48-percent of the students in the AFAM-major classes were athletes in the 18-year period.

Employees at UNC-CH were disciplined as a result of the investigation and, apparently, AD Dick Baddour and then-head football coach Butch Davis were aware of AFAM. Baddour allegedly didn't pry and Davis denied knowing of the steering.

The HQ thinks this is far from over in the long-term...

Butch Davis Understands...He Really Does...

((HT: WRALSportsfan.com))

So, we now know what Butch Davis is up to...

He is keeping up his end of the bargain with the University of North Carolina as a "consultant" with the Tamps Bay Bucs and their new head coach Greg Schiano...

That way, he keeps up with his buy-out clause and everything is cool...

He understands why the university made him the fall guy (his words) in the situation that had academic fraud and coaching improprieties that led to Davis being fired a week before the football season started in 2011.

The larger question was: "How could you NOT know what's going on, dude...?"

His answer from the interview:

“It's a question that I've asked and thought about a lot over the last several months. What I would tell you is I think that we knew, we worked extraordinarily hard to know a lot of things,” Davis said. “There were things that would happen with athletes that we would find out immediately. (And) yes, take care of it.”

Up until the firing, NC AD Dick Baddour was supportive of Davis, publicly, and Davis admits that problems even preceded him by two years that he felt compelled to take care of... by his numbers, Davis dismissed 18 players in his early days.

Davis also discusses the Jennifer Wiley situation and the impermissable benefits that were apparently given by her during the time she was a tutor- a situation created, according to Davis, by the school in a letter his wife received.

Here is the Jeff Gravely interview in its entirety...

It's good stuff and we commend Gravely for his get...

UNC Athletes Take Class That Has No Instructor

((HT: Raleigh News and Observer/Kane, Carter))

Not that this is a surprise in light of the whole Tarheels NCAA investigation that ended up decimating the football team and coaching staff...

BUT...

Kane and Carter have discovered that the "AFAM 280: Blacks in North Carolina" class was attended by 19 students- 18 of them players on the football team, the other a former player. Advisers helped the players enroll in the class, which is the subject of a criminal investigation.

The advisers also knew that there would be no instruction and the class itself ws added just days before the 2011 summer session.

So, this begs the HQ's question of: "Who knew what when and how far does the knowledge go in this case...?" The HQ would surmise pretty far up, and the end result of the investigation will be interesting...

54 UNC classes are in question over the full four years of the school investigation and center around the head of the department.

Here's the early word on the investigation in the Afro-American Studies Department before it involved the current enrollment involving football players...
((HT: WRAL-TV))


And here as well...

UNC AD Dick Baddour Stepping Down

At the morning press conference explaining the firing of head football coach Butch Davis a week before practice begins, Dick Baddour has asked Chancellor Holden Thorp to start a search for a successor.

The words Baddour used are "as soon as possible" serving out his contract, but will assume duties other than Athletic Director when a successor is named. Baddour wants to have the new AD start a seamless transition for the recruiting process with a new head football coach...

Interviews are this afternoon for the interim head football coach, but sources are telling OSG Sports that the Offensive Coordinator has the inside track for the sake of the athletes on the roster...

Here's coverage from our friends at WRAL-TV and wralsportsfan.com