This has been an active bye week. Your head is probably spinning from trying to keep up with all the info churning out after the Wainstein Report shows rampant, institutionalized fraud for (at least) 18 years over at The Flagship.
By definition, fraud is deliberate deception in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain. Forget the whole athletic component for a moment. Beyond the many ethical violations, UNC has admitted it has defrauded the state of North Carolina — scholarships are funded by taxes and/or tax-deductible donations, right? — and possibly the federal government — emails show possible misuse and/or manipulation of Pell Grants — and yet they continue to conduct their own self-reviews, and then expect us to just accept their version. Arrogant elitism.
UNC wants you to see the Wainstein Report as authoritative, when its clearly anything but. The scope was limited and didn’t stray from AFAM, and the 900 pages of emails included as an appendix show there are many questions unanswered and others that weren’t even asked. What Wainstein has done is give the NCAA a starting point.
And the “bed media” — Quinton Coples’ words — is sure piling on (New York Post). It’s a real shame — “constantly being interrogated and torn down” — when all UNC has done is admit to systemic criminal activity.
If you’ve missed any of it, here’s some of what’s happening:
*PBS’ Gwen Ifill interviews Wainstein, who talks of a “blind spot” as part of the cause (PBS).
*Friday night, Roy Williams said he was “dumbfounded” and feels “strongly — that we did things the right way” (WRAL). Keep in mind, both Doherty and Bunting admitted to knowing about the AFAM scheme, but not Roy Williams, the most powerful man at UNC.
*Al Sharpton calls this worse for blacks than Donald Sterling (here).
*Larry Fedora admits “I couldn’t tell you what one guy’s major is” (here).
*Dan Wetzel says this is NCAA’s and Emmert’s “chance to punch back” (here).
*The coaches should’ve known (here).
*Stewart Mandel calls the UNC fraud an NCAA problem (here).
*The Reckoning (here).
*UNC Baseball coach Mike Fox caught lying about his knowledge of the scheme (College Baseball Daily).
