Davis 9/22 email asks “Dickie” to provide “counseling” for suspended players

I am not sure what to make of all of this, but a lot of new information is currently being released.  Nearly 1,000 emails were released by UNC-CH this week and some media members have apparently been combing through them.  WTVD continues its excellent coverage of the scandals.  This afternoon Derek Rowles posted this article.  I would also encourage people to follow Mark Armstrong’s Twitter feed, which has recently been the best source of new information.

There is lots of Twitter stuff to be digested.  Apparently before one of the dog-and-pony-show press conferences UNC threw, Bowles made it clear to Butch and/or Thorp that he “wanted a sense of outrage expressed on our part.”  That quote is from Armstrong’s Twitter.  I assume he got it from one of the yet-unreleased emails.  Isn’t it great that the head of the UNC system took the lead in attempting to spin public perception in order to minimize damage.  In 1989, when NC State had a fraction of this level of wrongdoing, the person in Bowles’ position called for an independent investigation two months after the first interviews.  But I digress.

Perhaps the biggest thing to be released publically as I write this is an email from Butch to “Dickie” dated September 22nd.  If you want to read it, go here.  As you can see, it is basically asking “Dickie” to provide “counseling” to the 16 (at that time) suspended players.  He makes a bizarre (to me ) reference to two recent suicides involving football players.  This reference seems very melodramatic if not inappropriate to me but I’ll leave the commentary to someone else.

I am sure more will be coming out soon.  I have some stuff to do tonight so I will leave you in the capable hands of the rest of the SFN author team to keep you informed.

UNC Scandal

28 Responses to Davis 9/22 email asks “Dickie” to provide “counseling” for suspended players

  1. LRM 12/08/2010 at 6:10 PM #

    I doubt that email to Dickie was any more original than anything else that group has done — could’ve been concocted in some meeting minutes before he sent it.

    If nothing else, it offers the institution an excuse for not being more public about it, for fear of how it could affect the players well-being.

  2. Master 12/08/2010 at 6:30 PM #

    If you are under 30, you have no idea how bad this investigation and University response REEKS of favoritism compared to what happened in the Valvano incident. This has cover-up written all over it and I bet the sanctions will pitiful when compared to what happened to State for much less offense. If UNC walks with minor sanctions, the public response by our university alumni should be unequivocally loud, steady and unending. Anything less is a black mark of shame against the memory of Jim Valvano.

  3. jwoerner89 12/08/2010 at 6:47 PM #

    “There is clearly a great deal of pent up anger..”

    That line right there tells me that the players are pissed because they feel they did nothing wrong and were possibly promised by Black Santa and coaching staff they would not get caught. With all of this they are extremely ticked off and Butch is scared for himself that his thugs will “bite the owner.” Also shows how much denial the players as well as the school is actually in.

  4. bradleyb123 12/08/2010 at 6:53 PM #

    Does anyone else find it interesting that so much info is coming out NOW, after the last regular season game? It would appear that Carolinx folks didn’t want to create any more distractions than they had to during the season. Looks like they just wanted to keep winning games.

  5. highstick 12/08/2010 at 6:59 PM #

    Bull, Kenny McKinley committed suicide cause in got in “too deep” gambling..Sad situation, but is Butch afraid his guys are “in too deep” with the agents and might be getting depressed!!

  6. old13 12/08/2010 at 7:48 PM #

    Was it written in September or in November!

  7. Wufpacker 12/08/2010 at 8:23 PM #

    “Good Morning Dickie:” ?????

    Seriously? Is that really how he addresses him? Maybe Baddour goes by Dickie, it wouldn’t be unheard of I suppose. But that just sounds comical to me.

    As far as the rest, it shows me three things. First, Ol’ Paul there did not, in all likelihood, get very good grades in English class.

    Second, he feels responsibility for what happened (very telling).

    Third, he seems to have some reason to think his players, or at least some of them, are unbalanced enough to get into a confrontation with someone on Franklin Street.

    On another note, what are the chances that “counseling” is a code word of sorts. Perhaps for “debriefing” and/or “compensation”?

  8. fullmoon1 12/08/2010 at 8:24 PM #

    I feel sure the timing of the release was no quinkydink. In some ways this whole mess is so carefully orchestrated and in other ways the arrogance and cavalier manor of the excecution of the cover up is so obviously a cover up it’s laughable. Surely they realize that no one buys that this is no big deal. It is almost comical thay teh only thread they can cling to is that they have not received a letter of inquiry. This could get uglier.

  9. fullmoon1 12/08/2010 at 8:31 PM #

    They need counseling for depressed fans lol.

  10. StateFans 12/08/2010 at 9:18 PM #

    “In light of the fact that is is probably going to be more weeks before we get any resolution, we should talk about this issue”

    Can’t help but wonder how this compares to the media parades at the time constantly telling everyone that ‘this will be over by the end of the week’.

  11. LRM 12/08/2010 at 9:27 PM #

    There is NO way I believe that Butch Davis would have sent a public-record email regarding anything around this scandal unless it was orchestrated.

  12. redwolf87 12/08/2010 at 9:30 PM #

    Butch is Bob Winston’s boy. He can call Baddour whatever he wants.

    This is an interesting email. Could have been a couple of different motivations for that. Was there really some animosity behind the scenes amongst the “Chapel Hill 16”? Or is this just a smoke screen for what they knew eventually had to come out? As noted, Bowles the Political Pro was in on this thing early.

    Just had to note: there are some really bad punctuation mistakes in that email.

  13. packalum44 12/08/2010 at 9:41 PM #

    Doubt they truly released all the emails.

  14. Old MacDonald 12/08/2010 at 10:11 PM #

    ^ The one where Bowles tells Butch and Thorp to act outraged should be entertaining.

  15. choppack1 12/08/2010 at 10:36 PM #

    Wonder why the media hasn’t picked up on Erskine’s comments. I imagine it’s scary for them to fathom.

    Does anyone know what duty Erskine owes the people of North Carolina in this situation. He appears to be practicing spin control, focusing on how it’s perceived rather than getting to the bottom of this. Can anyone imagine Bruce Poulton telling V to do the same?

  16. turfpack 12/08/2010 at 10:57 PM #

    As I was told and believe #1 rule…DON’T EVER BELIEVE ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM UN-CHEAT…..and that has been my thought process for years and years….it started before I was born(50’s)and until the present…..OK.. wasn’t I train properly by my NCSTATE grad Mom(rest her soul).Yes…. she forgave me for marrying a UNC grad(local farm girl went to nursing school)

  17. newt 12/08/2010 at 11:06 PM #

    He should have had his tutor edit the email before it went out.

  18. pantherpack98 12/08/2010 at 11:16 PM #

    Thank God we beat them in football or all this would be for naught. I can’t wait for the next nugget of crap to poop from one of their mouths…meaning tomorrow when Dick speaks to the media again…spewing forth nonsense and basically reiterating the fact that “Everybody Does It”. We need to make up bumper stickers or shirts that say just that in Red & White. That’s all I hear from the cheating fanbase that is now known as the tarhole toe cheese support group…….screw them all to the abyss of NCAA sanctions.

  19. 61Packer 12/08/2010 at 11:24 PM #

    I’ve been telling you for months that NOTHING is going to happen to UNC. And we might even be apologizing to them before it’s all over.

  20. VaWolf82 12/08/2010 at 11:47 PM #

    I’ve never seen someone so proud of being wrong for such a long period of time. 😉

  21. GAWolf 12/09/2010 at 1:33 AM #

    Apologizing for what? For hoping the truth will set them free? All we want to see is the truth.

  22. wufpup76 12/09/2010 at 6:30 AM #

    “My coaches call me ‘Dickie’. Don’t ask why.”

    Importance: High

    ^Isn’t it always when you’re dealing with Unx?

  23. foz 12/09/2010 at 10:05 AM #

    This was just the start of the “we’re victims here” mantra.

  24. packof81 12/09/2010 at 10:54 AM #

    Old MacDonald: “He makes a bizarre (to me ) reference to two recent suicides involving football players.”

    So Butch worried that the football players might commit suicide because of this scandal?

    61Packer: “And we might even be apologizing to them before it’s all over.”

    Why? For reporting on and discussing the developments of this scandal?

    Your assertion that nothing will happen to them may indeed turn out to be true. And so will mine, that this thing stinks as high as it goes. And so far, it stinks pretty high. Apparently, the UNC system is unwilling to do the right thing. So now we’re waiting to see whether the NCAA will.

  25. section2chuck 12/09/2010 at 11:13 AM #

    I am also old enough to remember the whole Jimmy V saga that went on in 1990. We ran out of town a coach who in the end had done NOTHING wrong..but the powers that be were pressured….The NCAA, under Valvano’s request, investigated the matter and found nothing more serious than athletes selling sneakers. Allegations of grade fixing were also investigated by the NC State faculty senate and were found to be false. Allegations of point shaving were investigated by the North Carolina and New Jersey Attorneys General and found to be false. Nevertheless, due in part to the publication of Personal Fouls and the stigma thus attached to the program, Valvano was fired on April 7, 1990…..it makes me sick to see how this is being handled especially by the local media compared to how Valvano was painted as a crook, who was running a dirty program..

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