John Blake speaks - StateFans Nation StateFans Nation

John Blake spoke to Andy Staples in an interview the other day. Staples, who works for SI.com, wrote an article around the ex-UNC coach detailing Blake’s thoughts about what has happened in the UNC scandal.

The Case against John Blake

John Blake couldn’t imagine a more brutal professional experience than getting fired from his dream job. In 1998, when Oklahoma dumped the former Sooner star after three miserable seasons (12-22) as its head football coach, the venom nearly overwhelmed Blake. He had failed, certainly, but the level of hatred from seemingly everyone in Norman shocked him.

“It was like I had committed murder,” Blake says.

Blake assumed his work life would never again inflict so much pain. Then NCAA investigators showed up in Chapel Hill, N.C., on a hot summer day in 2010. Someone told Blake, then North Carolina’s defensive line coach and assistant head coach, that the people from Indianapolis wanted a word. Getting fired at Oklahoma nearly crushed Blake mentally. Being the target of an NCAA investigation, he says, was even worse.

On Friday, Blake is scheduled to appear before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions (COI) to answer charges that he steered players to agent and longtime friend Gary Wichard. Blake adamantly denies the charges, some of the most serious the NCAA has handed down in years. He says he never steered a player to any agent and he wants to fight to clear his name.

Blake understands the COI can destroy his career if the members don’t believe him. He also understands he doesn’t have to endure another grilling. He doesn’t have to spend money on attorneys to defend him. He could always coach something other than college football, but Blake wants to clear his name.

“Careers come and go in football,” said Blake in an exclusive interview with SI.com this summer. “But your character …”

Blake’s case ultimately will hinge on how the members of the COI feel about his character. Do they believe him? Or do they believe the NCAA’s enforcement staff? The NCAA has a mountain of circumstantial evidence, including hundreds of calls between Wichard and Blake, wire transfers and a brochure that indicates Blake once served as a key lieutenant in Wichard’s company. Blake, meanwhile, has an explanation for almost everything.

Whatever Blake thinks, the truth will hopefully all come out when Friday arroves.

12 Responses to John Blake speaks

albunde6 10/26/2011 at 5:38 PM #

Remember the advice of a famous divorce attorney, who’s client had been caught cheating for the third time, “deny, deny, deny”. Don’t under estimate the power of the unx political machine.

No additional scholarship reduction.
No post season ban.
Additional fine.
61Packer 10/26/2011 at 6:24 PM #

Ditto the above.
tuckerdorm1983 10/26/2011 at 8:24 PM #

I have my dagger ready and am ready to commit hari kari if they give those unx bastards only a wrist slapping.

hari kari for veterans day
lush 10/26/2011 at 8:52 PM #

the only way he gets off is by hurting unc and davis. its a win win situation for me, and a lose lose for unc
runwiththepack 10/26/2011 at 10:01 PM #

Hopefully, Blake trying to clear his name will work about as well as it did for McAdoo, when McAdoo sued UNC and the NCAA.
redwolf87 10/26/2011 at 11:13 PM #

Why is everybody afraid of John Blake?
Wulfpack 10/27/2011 at 7:01 AM #

I’ll be interested to see the reports of what he has to say. He seems awfully confident.
TruthBKnown Returns 10/27/2011 at 9:40 AM #

Blake was already thrown under the bus and somewhat betrayed by his “friend”, Butch.

Blake wants to clear his name. He has no more love for Carolina, and maybe Butch, too. If he has to throw THEM under the bus in order to restore his own name (and career), I tend to think he might do it.

And I think it’s despicable that he’s using Wichard’s fatal illness as his excuse for calling him so much. Isn’t there a record of a lot of calls just before and just after the NFL draft? I suppose he was just checking in with him. Right.
wolfbuff 10/27/2011 at 10:23 AM #

If Blake truly wants to clear his name, and especially to coach again, he won’t be throwing BD under the proverbial bus. That would be the kiss of death for his college coaching career right there alone. Besides, he’s so tied at the hip to Butch, there will be no throwing. They’ll be rolling under the bus together, and he’d basically be admitting to the NCAA what he did. And he clearly has no intention of doing that. This is just more cover-up. Don’t expect to see anything come of Blake’s meeting with the NCAA.
RegularExpression 10/27/2011 at 10:39 AM #

I agree with WolfBuff. How does Blake throwing Butch under the bus clear his own name?

He has and will continue to deny any wrong doing. I will be shocked if he doesn’t receive a 3-5 year show-cause penalty from the committee though. His involvement with Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska is well documented and that alone should be enough to nail him to the wall.
lawful 10/27/2011 at 11:50 AM #

To coin a joke, how will they know if Blake is lieing… 🙂
Wolf74 10/27/2011 at 6:19 PM #

“lawful Says:
October 27th, 2011 at 11:50 am
To coin a joke, how will they know if Blake is lieing”

The same way you would know if BD, Thorpe or any other UNC-Cheats spokesman is lieing, look to see if their lips are moving!