N&O: NCAA’s Wilson should not be involved in UNC probe

It appears the local media has taken off the gloves…finally.

From Luke Decock of the N&O:

No matter whether the NCAA eventually uncovers wrongdoing within the North Carolina football program – agent-related, academic or otherwise – there’s one conclusion that can be drawn right now about the investigation of the North Carolina football program. The NCAA messed it up.

A scathing column from the Fayetteville Observer:

A large contingent of UNC fans wants to believe all the transgressions found so far are insignificant. To those backers – call them optimistic or delusional or whatever – the ambiguity of the past six weeks indicates that the NCAA doesn’t have a strong enough case to throw at the Tar Heels. Until concrete damning evidence is presented, many fans will assume the purity of the Carolina program is intact.

The rest of us, however, know better.

If no significant violations had occurred, the chancellor would not be apologizing, the athletic director would not be in full discovery mode and the head coach would not be wide-eyed and pale, looking as if he had just seen Tom O’Brien jump out of his closet.

If nothing major happened, we would not be entering Week 7 of an investigation with no end in sight and so few details surfacing as to how widespread and how inappropriate the misconduct has been.

Out of control?

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

Big Four Rivals UNC Scandal

16 Responses to N&O: NCAA’s Wilson should not be involved in UNC probe

  1. Phang 08/29/2010 at 9:03 AM #

    Nice article in the N&O, but….

    Didn’t we hear it here first?

  2. Clarksa 08/29/2010 at 9:05 AM #

    Welcome to the party N&O, why are you so late?

  3. Daily Update 08/29/2010 at 10:51 AM #

    The gloves are coming off from the local media…

  4. packalum44 08/29/2010 at 12:59 PM #

    At the worst, Butch Davis is out the door. At best, this is worse than USC and they begin investigating other sports (i.e. basketball!). Roy’s already got his bipolar disorder to deal with the last thing he needs is an investigation.

  5. graywolf 08/29/2010 at 1:13 PM #

    “If nothing major happened, we would not be entering Week 7 of an investigation with no end in sight and so few details surfacing as to how widespread and how inappropriate the misconduct has been.
    Out of control?”…………

    Yes, and lets hope that the unc board of governors gives the UNC-CH football program and staff the same respect that they gave Jim Valvano, staff and basketball program.

    Something near if not the death penalty!

  6. Primewolf 08/29/2010 at 5:57 PM #

    DeCock is not the deepest thinker, but I am glad he did the story. What was missed as a major theme is that Wilson is a grad of the UNC law school (I believe). Wouldn’t a properly educated attorney know that he was conflicted in such an interview with Saunders. That is, this seems to reflect on both Wilson and the law school he attended.

    Even if Wilson’s supervisors had somehow forgotten he was a UNC guy, he should have had enough ethics to let them know he couldn’t participate due to conflict of interest.

    Someone did into this and write a book or two on how UNC has broken the rules for 50 years. Starting with Frank Mcquire bb program.

  7. rtpack24 08/29/2010 at 7:25 PM #

    Saunders stated from the beginning he went to Miami with Marvin Austin. Under the NCAA guidelines there is no way Wilson should have been involved in the South Carolina or Alabama investigations since both were known from the beginning their connection was the one and only Marvin Austin. Balhmer(sp) leaving the 49ers after story broke about his involvement, Ellis transfering after NCAA goes to Tenn campus for interviews. Wichard lying to yahoo sports reporter and numberous other points of interest that has been ignored by the media up until now with some still being ignored this is turning into quite a show.

  8. highstick 08/29/2010 at 10:05 PM #

    “Cheater, Cheater, Where’d You Meet That No Good White Trash Ho”!!! The new alma mater for those who live beneath the pines!

  9. blpack 08/29/2010 at 11:04 PM #

    It only took 7 weeks, but the media may finally be smelling the coffee and other smells coming from CH. There is a lot of damning information there if they will do a little investigative journalism.

  10. wolfbuff 08/30/2010 at 7:48 AM #

    “Even if Wilson’s supervisors had somehow forgotten he was a UNC guy, he should have had enough ethics to let them know he couldn’t participate due to conflict of interest. ”

    Since when have lawyers had ethics?

  11. packof81 08/30/2010 at 8:15 AM #

    Yep, the NCAA “messed it up” alright. The conflict of interest stinks to blue heaven. UNC’s won’t be only tarnished reputation.

    It sure would be interesting to see the basketball program over there come under some scrutiny. I’ll bet Roy already has a pucker factor.

  12. NCStatePride 08/30/2010 at 9:48 AM #

    The only thing I disagree with is the Fayetteville Observer’s comment:

    “the ambiguity of the past six weeks indicates that the NCAA doesn’t have a strong enough case to throw at the Tar Heels.”

    Wrong. What it means is that they have solid evidence that something is going on, but they are uncertain of how deep this well goes.
    1) Initially it looked like a couple players would be suspended.
    2) Then it looked like several players would be suspended.
    3) Then it looked like several players would be suspended and some retro-actively disqualified from their games they played.
    4) Then it looked like UNC might get penalized for having some knowledge of the violations.
    5) Then it looked like UNC might have known everything about these violations.
    6) Then it looked like UNC might have knwon everything about these violations and been involved in academic misconduct.

    The reason the NCAA hasn’t wrapped anything up is because every time you turn your head, something else comes out of the wood work. I’m on the edge of my seat because honestly, I don’t think it’s over…

  13. WolftownVA81 08/30/2010 at 12:27 PM #

    If I were the AD of one of the other schools being investigated, I’d be calling foul on Wilson’s involvement. They are right to be concerned that he may deflect attention away from UNC to their school. The NCAA has now put itself in a compromising position.

  14. stejen 08/30/2010 at 1:14 PM #

    Remember the “we know somebody high up and know that nothing will come of this talk”. Even with the latest developments I will believe sanctions will be taken against UNC when I see it. They are already saying all players are probably going to the LSU game regardless of whether or not they play. That should tell you how serious UNC is about cleaning this up.

  15. TAEdisonHokie 08/30/2010 at 1:30 PM #

    NCStatePride – Nice step-by-step analysis. The only “ambiguity” in this UNC fiasco is the complete lack of an honest response coming out of Chapel Hill.

    Look at it this way…if the NCAA had a weak case, UNC would have released their depth chart today to include the players being investigated in their normal starting positions.

  16. bradleyb123 08/30/2010 at 3:10 PM #

    If no significant violations had occurred, the chancellor would not be apologizing, the athletic director would not be in full discovery mode and the head coach would not be wide-eyed and pale, looking as if he had just seen Tom O’Brien jump out of his closet.

    That’s good stuff!

Leave a Reply