Rewind: Butch instituted “sign-out sheet” policy last October (Updated 5/21)

UNC Scandal21

Given yesterday’s news, I thought this would be a good time to remember the “new policies” that UNC-CH put into place last fall.  The full N&O piece from last October is some of the funniest reading you will ever do.  Here are some particularly good excerpts.  The piece opens:

UNC athletic director Dick Baddour says that because of the compliance system the school has in place, he will fight the idea that there were institutional control issues in the Tar Heels football program.

At the same time, the school will tighten parts of that system in the wake of a double-barreled NCAA investigation that left three star players – defensive tackle Marvin Austin, defensive end Robert Quinn and wide receiver Greg Little – kicked permanently off the team Monday. The investigations have focused on improper agent benefits and possible academic misconduct.

The piece goes on to quote Baddour talking about institutional control.  Then it gets to the really funny part, especially given yesterday’s news:

As the investigation continues, Baddour and Davis said, new policies are already being put into place:

Football players will have to fill out a sign-out sheet if they leave campus for longer than 24 hours – detailing where they are going and for how long. They also must let a position coach know if their plans change.

“That’s critically important as to where they’re going, who’s going with them, who’s paying for the particular trips,” Davis said.

So, did Coples (and any other players possibly involved, if there are any more) provide the required information on the sign-out sheet?  Did Butch know where Coples was going, who was with him, and who paid for the trip?  Did Coples explain to anyone with UNC-CH that he was going to the party?  Fun fact: Per the IC database, Coples’ date of birth is 06/22/1990.  Which means he is not yet 21.  How did he even get into that great party?

Regarding the pictures that broke yesterday, here CBS Sports is reporting that

a man the NCAA has investigated as a possible runner for agents is also visible in some pictures.

UPDATED 5/21

This morning JP Giglio at the N&O followed up on UNC’s “sign out sheet”,
UNC plan still in Flux.

The University of North Carolina’s new policy to keep track of its football players is a work in progress, athletic director Dick Baddour said Friday. Despite the return of NCAA investigators to campus this week, Baddour said, it will benefit the Tar Heels program.

After losing stars Marvin Austin, Robert Quinn and Greg Little for the entire 2010 season for taking trips and accepting agent-related benefits, UNC instituted a “sign-out” policy to track the off-campus trips of its players.

But even with the new policy in place since the start of the spring semester, the NCAA questioned defensive lineman Quinton Coples this week about a trip to Washington, D.C., ESPN reported Thursday.

Shockingly Dicky B wouldn’t comment on whether or not Coples filled out this sheet. Though it is interesting how many people have to sign off on the sheet before it’s completed.

The policy requires players to fill out a short written form at the Kenan Football Center before they travel anywhere off campus for longer than 24 hours. The sheet needs to be signed by an assistant coach and approved by academic advisors before being completed, UNC spokesman Kevin Best said.

UNC Scandal

21 Responses to Rewind: Butch instituted “sign-out sheet” policy last October (Updated 5/21)

  1. swedish 05/20/2011 at 10:19 AM #

    Please send all your articles to the NCAA. They are damn good and proves LOIC to the fullest.

  2. ppack3 05/20/2011 at 10:28 AM #

    But, if they didn’t use, or lied on, the sign out sheet, won’t they just spin this as the kids’ fault again?

    You know the, “We told ’em not to do wrong things, but they did it anyway….” defense? Funny how fast they eat their own in order to save their own asses.

    I hope that this off-season is just as Twitter-filled and FaceBook-littered as last year.

  3. backnine 05/20/2011 at 10:38 AM #

    The sign-out sheet is funny business as its clearly been shown to be a sham and was used for PR damage control purposes at the time.

    The problem with citing the sign-out sheet from our perspective is that it’s in UNC’s control. By that I mean, it would likely take all of five minutes for the sign-out sheet to be “ammended” behind closed doors to show that Coples followed the protocol. Of course, there’s a bit of risk to that as well. Since, should it ever leak out that it was doctored, that would look horrible. Then again, something tells me the players involved here are so deep down in the mud that they’ve gone all in on keeping everything hidden. And no one would go to jail for doctoring the sign in sheet. They’d just look bad – which they already do. So probably a risk worth taking.

  4. haze 05/20/2011 at 11:34 AM #

    Amended or not, the sign-out sheet can only confirm…

    1) Coples didn’t fill one out (control fails)
    2) Coples filled one out but lied (control fails)
    3) Coples filled one out AND told the truth about being with Marvin & runner (control fails)

    No good answers there.

  5. Pack Mentality 05/20/2011 at 11:36 AM #

    Given the hypothetical scenario that Butch keeps his job and they don’t get any punishment for a couple of years, aren’t they still going to pay. They just kicked 4 guys off the team last week. Who knows, but if they blame this all on this kid and Butch obviously plays dumb again, they may kick him off the team for at least part of the season.

    Butch’s strength is recruiting (yes, dirty but he still gets top talent). He is not a very good sideline coach but gets mediocre to good results from the athletic skills of the players alone. Last year his top players couldn’t play. This year they are already starting to kick people off the team and this guy sounds like a top talent and may get suspended. If they start blaming and suspending the individual kids to save Butch – and they probably will start to get tougher on players that are publicly called out in the media to save Butch – doesn’t that kind of neuter Butch’s effectiveness since he is losing all his talent and he can’t “coach up” average players? Let’s see how many baby blue “I Support Butch” shirts there are when he doesn’t have Yates, the thug talent that he gets is called out publicly on bad behavior and suspended, and he gets 5 to 6 wins a year.

  6. cornellpackfan 05/20/2011 at 11:37 AM #

    Ultrabar is unfortunately one of the few bars in DC that are 18 and up so we cannot add that to their problems

  7. Mike 05/20/2011 at 11:40 AM #

    Anyone know the DATE of this party? Did anyone miss class time? It seems to me that these fine young men should have also been studying for exams at this time.

    Wait, never mind, exams are not important. That is what tutors are for.

  8. State Fan 05/20/2011 at 11:49 AM #

    4/28 – Coach. Gone to DC with Mars Blackmon look-alike to hang with Marvin, Greg and agent-runner at draft party. QC.

  9. cornellpackfan 05/20/2011 at 11:54 AM #

    18-21 year olds, are listed as $25 admission. bottles of water [ha] are $4

  10. Lunatic Fringe 05/20/2011 at 12:06 PM #

    The only way this mess could happen this badly is: Butch is lying, Butch is incompetent, or both.

    Lying is still a very real option, but things like this make incompetence an absolutely certainty.

    …so to all the UNC fans – Enjoy your incompetent coach.

  11. cornellpackfan 05/20/2011 at 1:53 PM #

    let’s not forget that these players are not currently being paid by the team that drafted them. i read this as the players are using loaned money from their agency group, which is loaned against their prospective contract. this means that marvin austin is providing his friend with benefits from his agency group. any good time had by all would then indirectly be under the direction of said agency group, and an indirect ploy to gain the trust and preference of coples, et al. in future negotiations if they should make it to the “league.”

  12. packof81 05/20/2011 at 3:16 PM #

    That didn’t take very long, did it?

    It ain’t like their bogus sign-out sheet policy ever had a snowball’s chance in hell of working anyway.

    I suppose next they’ll require a sign-out sheet for the sign-out sheet.

  13. blpack 05/20/2011 at 10:12 PM #

    They should ‘sign out’ of the upcoming season now or just add it to the list of wins to vacate. Maybe 6 or 7 more this season.

  14. Wolfy__79 05/20/2011 at 10:22 PM #

    having a sign out sheet for players is CRAZY! a coach that relies on a sheet of paper is out of touch with his players. there is or should be a tight leash of trust with players-coaches. it doesn’t appear to be much trust b/t the two parties.. and i don’t think either cares what the others are doing in their spare time.

    i played college soccer while in school.. there was no sign out sheet. there were, however, meetings.. study halls, PRACTICE, team activities aside from sports.. there are alot of things that could be done. there are alot of measures that can be taken aside from a cheesy sign out sheet. the coach is the players parent/mentor throughout the process, some are better than others and in this case there’s nothing there. as far as the players weekend personal time, there shouldn’t be too much control needed if the mentor relationship is in the works. this whole thing in chapel hill just appears chaotic and yes out of institutional control.

    i get tired of hearing about this story w/out any cold hard facts. it is pretty pitiful to keep reading about the happenings whilst nothing is actually happening.. speed it up NCAA!!!

  15. packhammer 05/21/2011 at 9:55 AM #

    Would you really want to participate in a program where you have to sign in and out everytime you decide to travel home for a few days? What an insult. As a recruit wouldn’t you be a lot put off by such required childish treatment? These young men should be treated like adults. Either you play by the rules or not and you suffer the consequences. What is next, assigned baby-sitters? Oh wait they already did that with the “tutor” program. On the other hand, I trust that Baddour is right, this is just a “glitch” in the new procedures and everything is now fine.

  16. backnine 05/21/2011 at 10:48 AM #

    “Glitches” happen with software and hardware. They don’t happen with pieces of paper. At least not in the real world. Baddour saying they are having glitches with their sign-out sheet NINE MONTHS after putting it in place equates to WE HAVE NO CONTROL.

    My frustration this morning however is directed at the N&O who allowed Baddour to use them as a mouthpiece for his latest spin but saw fit to ask no meaningful questions challenging any of it.

    The shennanigans coming out of Chapel Hill, both with the players and the administration, is getting ridiculous. I have been amused to this point but am now increasingly annoyed and dismayed at the level of corruption and deception that is being allowed to go on and on and on over there and no one in authority will take the reigns – media included.

  17. State Fan 05/21/2011 at 12:13 PM #

    “There aren’t any standard guidelines for what steps would be taken when the policy’s rules are broken.” How many Tar Heels does it take to write a sign-out policy? It that’s not an admission of lack of institutional control, it certainly is an admission of lack of institutional sense.

  18. choppack1 05/21/2011 at 12:26 PM #

    So – if I’m the NCAA here’s what I’m looking at:
    1) Was this self-reported by UNC-Ch?
    2) Did Coples sign-out on sheet?
    3) a) Was sign-out accurate AND b) did proper UNC-Ch personell sign-off?
    4) If answer to #2 is NO – how is Coples being punished?
    5) If answer is no to 3A – see Question #4
    6) If answer to 3b is NO – who is responsible and what will punishment be?
    7) Did Coples follow NCAA guidelines on this trip.

    There’s no guarantee that Coples did anything wrong here. For all we know – he and UNC did exactly what they were supposed to do. The good news for him and the Heels is that in the pics I’ve seen, he doesn’t have a drink in his hand – and aside from what looks like a really nice watch – I don’t see any evidence of him doing anything wrong.

    However – if the answer to any of the questions are “NO” – I think UNC should look really bad to the NCAA for this.

  19. TheCOWDOG 05/21/2011 at 2:25 PM #

    So, on one account, the policy was in play last October. Yet today, we are told it was put into place at the beginning of the spring semester.

    What is it Dickie? October of ’10 like you said, or Jan of ’11?
    Considering the kinks that need to be worked out, that’s important.

  20. choppack1 05/21/2011 at 9:29 PM #

    Cow – it would be a nice if a “reporter” actually asked a question like that.

  21. newt 05/23/2011 at 8:57 AM #

    –Would you really want to participate in a program where you have to sign in and out everytime you decide to travel home for a few days?–

    “I would hope not.” – TOB

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