Football investigation hits UNC

This story appeared as part of the 2010 Year In Review issue. The Daily Tar Heel resumes publication Jan. 10.

Speaking at a Raleigh Sports Club banquet on Sept. 29, North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said there was “a light at the end of the tunnel.”

For the previous two months, all talk regarding UNC football centered on the NCAA investigation that had two prongs — impermissible agent relations and possible academic misconduct.

Baddour, now more than two months separated from his banquet talk, said he doesn’t know when UNC will hear from the NCAA.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Baddour said. “We don’t know when the NCAA will make an assessment of the situation and give us a reading on what the next step if there is another step.”

The steps leading to now have been steep for UNC. Five players have been dismissed from the football team, including four ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA. Associate coach John Blake resigned amid speculation of his involvement in the investigation and his relationship with agents.

NCAA investigators first visited campus on July 12 for their first round of interviews with players and coaches. Their initial trip was to talk with individuals about their involvement in possible misconduct regarding agents.
The NCAA review zeroed in on senior defensive tackle Marvin Austin. He would be dismissed from the football team on Oct. 11 after UNC had gathered enough information to make a decision.

Baddour said Austin received between $10,000 and $13,000 in impermissible benefits. Since that ruling, Austin is no longer enrolled at UNC.

Also that day, wide receiver Greg Little and defensive end Robert Quinn were ruled permanently ineligible for competition by the NCAA. The two received $10,594 in extra benefits, including travels expenses and diamond jewelry.

Little and Quinn are still enrolled at UNC, but Little has hired sports agency Octagon Sports as his representation as he continues his football career.

What sprung from that investigation was a separate branch that saw possible academic misconduct between players and a former tutor, Jennifer Wiley.

Wiley, along with giving inappropriate academic assistance, also contributed financial assistance in excess of $2,000 to players in 2010.

In all, 16 players were held out at least one game due to their involvement with one or both prongs of the NCAA review.

Players like Kendric Burney were involved with both parts of the investigation. Burney received $1,333 in extra benefits for travel expenses and initially had to sit out the first six games of the season.

Before he was slated to return, UNC withheld him longer to further determine his eligibility after an issue with his academics came to light. Burney received a failing grade in a core class and must retake the course next semester.

Although Baddour has referred to some of the NCAA’s rulings on individual players as harsh, he said Monday that overall the NCAA has been fair.
“They’ve been very fair in their approach,” Baddour said. “They’ve been responsive and open and I don’t have any issues.”

With the NCAA ruling that five players can no longer compete in intercollegiate athletics and a former associate coach waist-deep in investigations, Baddour knows that he’ll be hearing from the NCAA.

“There will be a response from the NCAA based on the facts as found through the investigation,” he said. “I do not know when they will respond.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.