Yes, Butch Davis brought in and trusted John Blake, who was at the center of the NCAA football investigation. And yes, Butch Davis recruited Marvin Austin, who seems to be the biggest violator among the players of NCAA rules. the And yes, Butch Davis was responsible for the football program. But how about the responsibility being on those who committed the violations.

Former Carolina linebacker Mark Paschal said that Coach Davis stressed the importance of academics, getting a good education, going to class and generally doin things the right way. He always talked about representing the University well, Paschal said.

“A select few chose not to listen to Coach Davis and those few caused a lot of pain,” he said. “It’s a reflection not on Coach Davis but on a handful of guys who chose not to do it the right way.”

I generally agree with that. Coach Davis was a bad judge of character but a good motivator who led the team through the turmoil of last season. He won’t be there this time to do that and it remains to be seen if interim head coach Everett Withers can do it. Probably not because most everyone believes the interim label will not change to permanent.

August 4, 2011
Dear Carolina Colleagues and Students:

My decision last week to ask head football coach Butch Davis to step down was difficult. I think it was the right decision, and I wanted to let you know why I made that call.

Throughout the NCAA investigation of our football program, I said that we would take all accusations seriously and that we would face issues head on. We apologized, and we pledged that the athletic department and the University would be stronger as a result of the investigation. We have cooperated fully with the NCAA and we have moved deliberately, resisting the urge and pressure to make snap judgments.

Early on, I thought that it was important to support Coach Davis and to allow time for improvements in the football program. But in the past few months, I became increasingly concerned about the damage being done to our University’s integrity. When we received the NCAA letter of allegations a month ago, I began to think about the need to make a change. After 50 years without any major violations, we are now facing nine allegations. And there are persistent questions about our commitment to academic integrity. In the final analysis, there wasn’t any one thing that tipped my decision. It was the cumulative effect of the football-related events of the past year on the University’s reputation. The only way to move forward and put this behind us was to make a coaching change to restore confidence in the University as well as our football program.

The difficulty of my decision was compounded by cost (up to $2.7 million under the terms of Coach Davis’ contract – all of which will come from the athletic department) and timing (just before the start of training camp for the team). But the reputation of this University and the integrity of our football program have a value beyond any dollar figure or any timeline disruption. I am committed to maintaining our standing as one of the top public universities in the nation – both in academics and in athletics.

Athletic Director Dick Baddour and I named Everett Withers, a member of the current staff, as the interim head football coach. His top priority is to help our student-athletes succeed on and off the field and in the classroom. Dick also announced his decision to step down as athletic director before his planned retirement later this year. He offered to leave his job sooner because he feels strongly that our ability to recruit a new head coach depends on having a new athletic director in place to make that hire. I agree with that and reluctantly accepted Dick’s offer. He will serve out his contract through next June, but will step aside and assume other duties when a new athletic director arrives. Right now, we’re putting together our response to the NCAA that’s due on September 19. Then we’ll go before the NCAA infractions committee on October 28. We need Dick Baddour with us when we go to Indianapolis to meet with the NCAA. There is no other person I would rather have by my side than Dick.

One additional issue requires attention this year. I’ve talked to several faculty members recently, including new Faculty Chair Jan Boxill, about the role of the Honor Court. Jan has agreed to pull together a group of respected faculty members who will help us consider changes or improvements to the honor system. We have a long tradition of a strong student-run Honor Court, and of course, we’ll involve students and Student Government representatives in our analysis. Regardless of the situation with football, it just makes good sense to seek ways to improve our commitment to honor and integrity.

I hope you’ll continue to support our student-athletes and the Tar Heel football team. They will play their hearts out, just like last year.

Thanks to those of you I’ve heard from on this issue since it began. I’ll share more updates as developments warrant. In the meantime, best wishes for a great fall semester.

Sincerely,

Holden Thorp

I’m probably in the minority but I liked UNC coach Butch Davis more after the academic controversy surrounding the football team than I did before.

Before the controversy, I thought of Davis as someone who’d really rather be coaching in the pros. After all, every press conference seemed to have some reference to the NFL – whether it was comparing someone on the opposing team with a pro bowl player or just relaying stories from his earlier career.

Those who follow college football or the ACC or the Tar Heels don’t want to be minimized – and constantly comparing players and the college game to the pro game does just that. Davis also ditched Carolina Blue pants for pants that looked more like the Dallas Cowboys, whom he coached with.

But I thought Davis, who by all accounts did not know about the improprieties, handled the stress and strain of the investigation very well and had his depleted team ready to play each game. To go to a bowl game and win it under those circumstances was amazing.

He inspired his players. Now, those same players were notified eight days before practice was to begin that their coach had been fired. I could understand if some new revelations have emerged but UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp says that’s not the case.

Thorp claims that the University needs to get past all this negativity and get back the academic integrity.

Maybe if Davis had been fired back in January, I could also understand his thinking but I don’t see how getting rid of Davis now – after Davis represented UNC at ACC media day, after being given a vote of confidence from Thorp and UNC AD Dick Baddour (who has announced his resignation), after people have committed to their season tickets, and after recruits have committed to UNC and will have to sit out a year if they go somewhere else – does anything positive.

There are calls for Thorp to be fired himself (most notably the www.fireholdenthorp.com website). I suspect that the new board of trustees members, including leader Wade Hargrove, felt more strongly about Davis being fired than the previous members. That could be the reason for the timing but the timing leads to speculation and if Thorp, or anyone else, thinks the situation has improved now that Davis is gone and that the media stories will go away and that it’s the beginning of the end of the problem, he’s wrong.

Should Thorp be fired? Probably not but the situation does stain his reputation. Yes, academics should come first and maybe Davis being oblivious should be enough to get him ousted. But the way it was handled, especially the timing, was atrocious and will harm Carolina football and I believe the University’s reputation even more.

At this stage, Carolina should have just gotten through this season, dealt with the issues head on like it did last season and then made a coaching decision after the season. The University would still be a great academic institution and the football team would have won more games.

Miami came from a 5-0 deficit to score seven two-out runs and defeat North Carolina 7-5 this afternoon in the ACC baseball tournament in Durham.

The Tar Heels scored three in the first and two in the fifth. A three-run double by Miami’s Zeke DeVoss drew the Hurricanes to within 5-4 in the sixth. In the seventh inning, Miami’s Stephen Perez drove in a pair to give the Hurricanes a 6-5 lead and they would never trail again.

For more on the game, please click here.

The Tar Heels will look to bounce back on Friday when they take on Wake Forest at 7 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are bringing on another backup point guard as Luke Davis of Gardner-Webb is transferring to Carolina as a walk-on.

The six-footer who averaged 7 points and 4 assists as a freshman starter last year decided he’d rather follow his dream of playing for the Tar Heels. Davis, who attended both Broughton and Ravenscroft, will have to sit out next season per NCAA rules and will have three years of eligibility left starting in 2012-13.

“I’m going in to work as hard as I can possibly work and to be the best teammate I can possibly be,” Davis said. “I don’t have any expect any expectations as far as what I’m going to do. I just know that I’m going to work as hard as I can and do anything to help the team in any way I can — no matter what that means.”

To read more on the story, please click here.