John Blake Focus of Investigation [Updated @ 7pm]

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In a 92-minute telephone interview, Wichard repeatedly questioned why the NCAA would be looking into his relationship with Blake. Asked if Blake had ever been a Pro Tect employee, Wichard repeatedly stated that he hadn’t.

“No, no, no, no,” Wichard said. “John lived [in California] after he was the head coach at Oklahoma. He lived out in [Los Angeles]. We’ve socialized. We’ve been friends. His son is my godson. It has nothing to do with that. He hasn’t worked for me at all. I don’t get where that is coming from.”

After being fired from his head coaching job at Oklahoma, Blake directed a part-time “Chance to Advance” football camp from 1999-2002. However, Wichard’s statements about Blake never having been employed by his agency appear to contradict a Pro Tect Management brochure obtained by Yahoo! Sports.

Prepared for prospective clients, the brochure contains multiple pictures of players, including a handful who were selected as recently as the 2001 draft. The inner cover features large photos of both Wichard and Blake. Under Blake’s picture, his title is listed as “Vice President/Football Operations.”

Click here for the inside cover of Pro Tect Management’s brochure obtained by Yahoo Sports.

Did UNC’s Kentwan Balmer pay for Austin to attend workouts in California in the summer of 2009? I know that “Curry Math” in Chapel Hill has found a way to suspend all reality; but the generally accepted calendar that the rest of the world uses would indicate that the ‘summer of 2009’ comes before the ‘football season of 2009.’ Uh-oh.

Maybe the Tarheels’ nightmare loss in the Meineke Car Care Bowl never actually happened? At the end of the day, perhaps Carolina didn’t win a single game in 2009 while using an ineligible player?

“I spoke to him once,” Wichard said. “I told him to go back to school when Kentwan Balmer put him on the phone in January. I said go back to school and be [like] Ndamukong Suh and make some money. … I’m not even recruiting the kid. I’ve never said one word to him about the business other than football – go back to school. Now, if I wanted to represent him in January, I could have said ‘Come on out, guy. Let’s roll. Let’s make some money.’ That’s not who I am.”

“I never even talked to Marvin,” Wichard said. “Kentwan met me [at Proactive Sports] and I gave him shoes and I saw these two guys with him. They were out on the field. A couple of guys who played with him. That’s all. How did [Marvin Austin] get out here? Kentwan Balmer paid for him. They were hanging together. I can’t tell you exactly what went on from that standpoint, but they were all together.”

Asked if he spoke to Balmer on other occasions while both Balmer and Austin were in California, Wichard said he had not.

“No. Heck no,” Wichard said. “Heck no. [Kentwan] knows that I’m not interested in that.”

Big Four Rivals College Football UNC Scandal

60 Responses to John Blake Focus of Investigation [Updated @ 7pm]

  1. coach13 08/10/2010 at 12:56 PM #

    It’s a sad state of affairs when so many of us are not optimistic that there will be justice simply because it’s UNC. The media’s willingness to forego a great story and ratings to help UNC’s cause is very disheartening and a sad statement of society.
    May UNC have a horrible season and crippling sanctions, lose recruits, and I hope every media outlet profits from this story with exception of the locals (UNC PR).

  2. Plz2BStateFan 08/10/2010 at 1:14 PM #

    UNC vs LSU drinking game! Take a sip every time Marvin Austin/Little/BlakeMiami or the NCAA investigation is mentioned.

    You will either get wasted or thirsty.

  3. choppack1 08/10/2010 at 1:17 PM #

    coach13 – well, an informed person would be skeptical. It’s a fact of life that these days the media is very partisan. You can be rest assured if we had to depend on the N&O (especially under old leadership), WRAL and the like to break this story – it would never be broken.

  4. TheAliasTroll 08/10/2010 at 1:28 PM #

    After reading the IC thread about this news I am 100% convinced that UNC fans live in an alternate reality. (That’s the nicest way I know how to phrase it)

  5. highstick 08/10/2010 at 1:33 PM #

    “Alternate” equals “Lala Land”! The funny thing is that the University puts out a PR line and they all fall in line and quote it verbatim! They have no abilities to think through anything in a logical manner!

  6. wufpup76 08/10/2010 at 1:49 PM #

    Please forgive me for going off topic real quick – but is anyone else having trouble loading the ‘Forums’ page?

    Has the format changed? I’m having trouble getting the page to load.

    Sorry for interrupting 🙁

  7. Alpha Wolf 08/10/2010 at 2:24 PM #

    ^ Format’s been changed.

  8. Bowlpack 08/10/2010 at 2:48 PM #

    Not sure if anyone has linked to the WRAL version of this:

    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/voices/blogpost/8108592/

    I am of the opinion that the Blake linkage may be too strong and that UNC is going to be without him as well as Marv Austin (hopefully more). A friend and UNC fan has made an argument that Blake’s involvement with ProTech Management was just a marketing ploy by Wichard that never really came to fruition. He states that only 7 players over a coaching career is not too good of a service, but I think that there is much more to this and it is my hope that the NCAA pounces.

    Once, again, I think that the message boards including this one have managed to usurp traditional media outlets in terms of viable coverage. Speaking of, I know that we’ve heard in the rumor mill that players other than #8 and #9 may be under investigation. Do these rumors have any legs or is it all too speculative to report out?

  9. bradleyb123 08/10/2010 at 4:27 PM #

    Someone posted on a WRAL blog that ESPN is now reporting that Little and Austin will not play (Butch’s decision) until they have been cleared by the NCAA.

  10. GoldenChain 08/10/2010 at 7:45 PM #

    From the beginning I’ve been saying that the blood is in the water regardless of what the local media does.

    The fact that one of their coaches…and head recruiter…is implicated can’t be anything but BAD NEWS for unx and GREAT NEWS for ABC Nation.

    unx is being set up to be the Judas NC2A Football Goat.

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