TO THE EDITOR:
As Director of Athletics, I hired Butch Davis to lead our football program because he was an outstanding coach who shared the core values that we try to uphold at the University of North Carolina. Those include academic excellence, integrity and fair play. He taught those values as head coach at the University of Miami and key administrators at that school saluted him for raising the standards and positively changing the culture within their program.
We are currently faced with several issues, which we deeply regret. Monday’s editorial (“Davis should go,” Oct. 4) stated that Coach Davis should have or could have known of alleged misconduct, but there is no information that says he knew and I believe that to be the case.
Butch Davis deeply regrets what has happened and has accepted responsibility for the circumstances we are dealing with. He also regrets not knowing and is changing his management practices to help him become better aware of what is happening in and around the program. He understands that regardless of his knowledge or approval, players and coaches are operating under his watch as the head coach.
He, like all of us in the athletic department, is committed to finding long-term solutions so we can move our program forward in a way that can make everyone who loves this University proud. Winning games is important, but representing the University of North Carolina in a first-class manner is unquestionably greater. Coach Davis wants to be part of those solutions and I feel strongly that he will do that as our football coach.
Dick Baddour
Director of athletics
