Saturday Shortcuts
AUGUST 6, 2011
WOLFPACK FOOTBALL
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
K’Hadree Hooker Commits To NC State
Hooker is a 6-2, 280 pound defensive tackle and a longtime NC State lean. He made his college choice official tonight:
GoPack.com
Opening STATEment: Episode 2
DAY 3
Thursday saw the Wolfpack don shoulder pads for the first time this season, lending the practice some added intensity. Oppressive heat ruled the day, however, as each break in the action sent players scrambling to the shade, the ice buckets, and elsewhere.
For most players, the rust from summer break has been shaken off as attention turns to the Pack’s first scrimmage scheduled for Monday.
Heather Dinich (ESPN)
Friday Mailblog
Ryan in Devine writes: Heather, I saw in the chat that you said NCST has a chance at beating FSU at Doak this year if Glennon plays well. I think you’re severely underestimating FSU’s home field advantage this year. As of Wednesday the 3rd, FSU has sold all 40,000 season tickets and the Oklahoma game is already sold out. There’s a pulse in Tallahassee this year, and when there’s a pulse in Tally, Doak comes alive.
HD: You make a great point, Ryan, and I expect the Noles to win that game — especially considering how disappointing the end of that game in Raleigh last year was for them. However, another intangible is involved. I counter your home-field advantage with momentum. As shocking as it might seem, NC State has a decent chance of heading into that game undefeated. Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech and Virginia are their toughest opponents heading into that game. You mean to tell me that if NC State goes into Tally undefeated that game isn’t going down to the fourth quarter again? Either way, gonna be a good one.
CharlotteObserver.com
Video: Russell Wilson helps Wisconsin gets high preseason ranking
The Sports Network
Samford adds N.C. State transfer
Former North Carolina State linebacker Hans Rice has transferred to Samford, Bulldogs head coach Pat Sullivan announced Thursday.
WOLFPACK BASKETBALL
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
Mark Gottfried Invested In Jim Donnan’s Alleged Ponzi Scheme
Jim Donnan has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme at the expense of a company called Global Liquidation Center Ltd, and the company recently filed a suit against Donnan alleging “fiduciary fraud, embezzlement, and larceny.” Sports by Brooks obtained some documents from the filing.
UNC FALLOUT
JAN BOXILL AND JIM KETCH (N&O):
Point of View: The faculty backs Thorp
We appreciate that Thorp did not rush to judgment; that he allowed time for information to be gathered and carefully examined. While the administration and athletics program must await the outcome of the October meeting with the NCAA, the faculty is ready to engage actively in reviewing the Honor Code and the Honor Court. We have always held academic integrity as a priority, and we will use recent events to consider improvements in already strong academic integrity policies and systems.
We also must recommit ourselves to emphasizing academic honesty when students arrive at Carolina and again in every one of our classes. Academic integrity and the ethics of scholarship speak directly to the mission of our university. We must be sure that faculty and students have the resources and support to understand and uphold the Honor Code.
Lorenzo Perez (N&O):
UNC chancellor self-reports violation for discussing Davis’ son’s recruitment
University of North Carolina chancellor Holden Thorp apologized today for expressing his disappointment over former football coach Butch Davis offering a team scholarship to his son, acknowledging that discussing a specific recruit is an NCAA violation.
Brett Friedlander (WilmingtonStar)
Advice to Holden Thorp: ‘Just say no’ … comment
The violation isn’t anything to be concerned about, especially by comparison to the nine major infractions of which the Tar Heels had previously been accused of by the NCAA.
But it further illustrates the haphazard manner with which Thorp continues to handle the scandal involving his school’s football program.
Erin Summers (WRALSportsfan.com)
Thorp walking a fine line
On Thursday North Carolina chancellor Holden Thorp commented on a scholarship offer given to former head coach Butch Davis’ son, East Chapel Hill High quarterback Drew Davis.
Thorp told the News and Observer that he did not know about the offer, but by talking about the offer at all did Thorp throw more wood on an already blazing fire?
Robbi Pickeral (N&O):
Two Tar Heels out, three others awarded football scholarships
Erin Hartness, Aaron Schoonmaker (WRAL)
Task force: UNC System must improve academic oversight of student-athletes
A report released Friday by the University of North Carolina Task Force on Athletics and Academics defined specific prohibited behaviors such as lying, cheating, plagiarism and bribery and outlined ethical standards for student-athletes across the UNC System.
The 13-member task force, which has been at work since March, will present its findings to the Board of Governors next Thursday.
JOHN DRESCHER – Executive Editor N&O
Drescher: N&O hits hard but fair
“Because of the unfairly speculative and one-sided coverage of UNC’s recent football issues,” wrote one UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, “I will not read your paper or visit your website again.”
Some N.C. State fans have a different view: The News & Observer has not been aggressive enough in reporting about the NCAA investigation into UNC football. “It seems (and I am an NC State alum) … that the hard questions have stopped,” one reader wrote.
Tar Heel Fan (Tarheelfanblog.com)
UNC Football At The Crossroads
As we look to the opening of the 2011 football season, UNC faces a similar path as the one ultimately taken by NC State. The head football coach has been fired, a new athletic director will be hired and the unfinished business of NCAA penalties due UNC still needs to be resolved. This moment constitutes the critical juncture during which UNC will decide what direction to take the football program. Does the administration turn back the clock to John Bunting and surrender to the notion that winning is not important as long as the program is clean? I am sure that sentiment is filling Chancellor Holden Thorp’s ear more and more. In some respects you might call that the easy road since it is the one involving the least risk. On the flip side you have furthering the ambition for football success.
23 Responses to “Saturday Shortcuts”
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I like how the N&O pats itself on the back. What was it Bob Lee said when Butch talked about how he was ethical and a man of integrity? Same applies here.
Funny – I haven’t really seen them being bulldogs about the 216 record or calling for an independent investigation.
Here’s a tip – when a message board scoops you w/ when they have the same access you do (or worse)…don’t toot your own horn. You’ve failed.
Granted – the coverage has been OK – but it certainly hasn’t been aggressive and they’ve broken ZERO major stories. And I’m sorry – anyone can see the difference between the way the State investigation was handled in the late 80s early 90s and the way this one has been handled.
In one story – the paper aggressively tried to find and exposure wrongdoing. They acted like they were dealing w/ an adversary. In the other, quite frankly, the paper has acted like they were breaking a story on someone they admired and trusted…basically being dragged into the fray when their “friend” finally forced them into a corner.
You think the N&O would be negotiating w/ NC State for the records??? Hell no, they’d accuse us of stonewalling, go straight to the Editorial page and call for an independent investigation.
Even the added focus on academics is going to have a major impact on unc-ch’s ability to field a football team with the level of raw talent they have over the past few years. Even if they continue to get guys into school who shouldn’t qualify (which is less likely than it was), they will fall out as academically ineligible far more often than they have in the past.
Every bit of scrutiny is another weak link in the chain… beyond the obvious penalties that are coming, and the recruiting impact this will have for a few years.
Every day is Friday…
And the video of Hooker on BTP is sick… hard to tell how good he’ll be in college based on watching him against high school kids, but he’s big and VERY fast. A little coaching & fundamentals, and I’d expect him to be a force on the D-line.
1.21-Nice alliteration in your update titles-we teach English at State as well as educate engineers…
@wolfonthehill, that’s an excellent point. I had considered recruiting impact, transfers, extra vulnerability to injuries, vacating wins, scholarship reductions, potential difficulty finding a capable coach/AD, and post-season bans. I hadn’t even thought of current players wanting to play but no longer qualifying academically. The thinner their ranks are, the better it is, even if it’s not their superstars who fail to qualify. Unfortunately academics or injury are the only things that’ll keep their senior leadership off the field. They won’t risk transferring this late in their careers.
This really is a turd with all the facets of a diamond ring.
Hooker is great news. Hope to see him redshirt and give us several years of great d line play!
to date, the N&O put more in depth reporting into the great 2008 College Inn expose’ as they have into any prongs of the UNX fiasco. ….oh, I forgot, they’ve had to cut resources.
“This really is a turd with all the facets of a diamond ring.”
I’ve been searching for the perfect summation. And, there it is.
“You think the N&O would be negotiating w/ NC State for the records??? Hell no, they’d accuse us of stonewalling, go straight to the Editorial page and call for ANOTHER independent investigation.”
There, Choppack, IFI.
So what is the deal with the Donnan Ponzi scheme? There seems to be some implication that the coaches involved knew something was not on the up and up but invested anyways. Does anyone know yet if these coaches were victims of the scheme or participants? Armstrong seemed to be implicating that Gottfried (in particular) needed to respond to this stuff ASAP, but I haven’t seen a reason why. Confusing, to say the least…
And here we go:
“In fact, the group would like to see each campus do an academic integrity review and would also like for each campus to update the Board of Governors annually on how its athletes are doing academically.”
-http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/9960368/
This has got to be one of most outrageous outcomes yet from this whole affair. Really smells like more obfuscation and misdirection. First of all, why have I never heard of the “Task Force on Athletics and Academics”? Where the hell have they been throughout this scandal? Any why, after all this time, are they poking their heads above the surface to say “Let’s look at the ENTIRE SYSTEM”? Really? Really? Why not take this eminent group and let them investigate and help out the one program where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s smoke and fire?
More fodder for the “everybody does it” crowd, and just one more misdirection “prong” in the Flagship defense strategy.
Unfreakin-believable…
What irritates the piss out of me is how the UNC System BoG decides that the entire UNC System must pay the price for the hubris and misdeeds of UNX. Thanks, buttwipes.
Okay guys I am ready for some “Wolfpack” football. Screw the UNC scandal, we all knew it was coming. Let’s move on to bigger and better things like the upcoming season, with optimisim.
that’s right. The first game is less than a month away. We take on Wake the next weekend of the 10th. This should be a good measure of Glennon and Company. Wake is down this year, but they are tough at home and always play disciplined football.
The Thur night game at Cincinnati should portend the rest of the season.
I can’t recall who exactly, but one of our authors here called the “make everyone pay for UNC’s sins” shtick that they will undoubtedly spew and possibly enforce very early on on the scandal. I can’t recall who it was….anyone want to take credit? Fricking soothsayers is what we have here at SFN.
I remember thinking it but never said it because I didn’t think they’d be that obvious in this situation. Guess I was proven wrong.
I am so ready for some football that today I watched the Tom O’Brien show from last season after the UNC-Cheat game WITHOUT SOUND (DVR screwed up when I recorded it) and it was GREAT.
I wish I had DVR’ed the game so I could watch it again, but that always seems to be a jinx when I do. Anyone know of a “Netflix” like site out there to watch last year’s games? I got the jones really bad.
We all knew that this ‘investigate the whole system’ crap would rear up again; I trust that Debbie and Randy will do what they can (and they already have) to tell these obfuscating a$$holes what they can do with their ‘concern’ for academic and athetic integrity…
Tickets came today–READY
Tickets came today–READY … starting a countdown!
Will the Chargers please sign Jerricho and reunite him and Rivers? How freaking epic would that be?
“Will the Chargers please sign Jerricho and reunite him and Rivers?”
I don’t see this happening.
1. The Chargers franchised Vincent Jackson, and he signed the tender.
2. The Chargers already re-signed Malcom Floyd, who started last year, and Kelly Washington.
3. The Chargers still have Seyi Ajirotutu and Patrick Crayton under contract.
4. The Chargers signed free agent Laurent Robinson, who played for the Rams last season.
5. The Chargers drafted Vincent Brown in the third round.
With all that, it is already likely that Washington and Robinson will not make the final roster. If they sign Cotchery, they would have to let go of Ajirotutu or Crayton, and they both played well last season.
Agree, Tau.
Zero chance they let Crayton go. Near-zero on Ajirotutu. I’d love to see PR hook up with Jerrico, but they’re just loaded at WR right now. Timing’s not right.
whitefang (and anyone else interested),
You can certainly get the game. I am indebted to Noah who made a reference to this site several years ago.
http://tenyardtorrents.com/forums/ (and you have to register on http://tenyardtracker.com/). I think that open sign-ups are closed presently, but monitor it regularly until football season starts in case they open it up again. I download all Redskins games here and any NC State game that gets put up. Also you can get stuff from previous seasons. I know the UNC game is still available b/c I still have it and I’ve seen some people downloading it. If you’re really desperate, I could put the game on dropbox and let you get it that way. It’s 1.86 GB