Reports: NCAA investigating improper contact with agents

The North Carolina football team is under investigation by the NCAA to determine whether at least two rising seniors had improper involvement with sports agents, according to multiple reports by news outlets including ESPN and the (Raleigh) News & Observer.

The reports state that the association is interested in football players who might have made improper deals with agents during their junior year, which would be in violation of NCAA rules.

“We have a policy where we don’t comment on currently pending or potential investigations until their investigations are complete,” said Stacey Osburn, the associate director of public and media relations for the NCAA.

The UNC athletic department also declined to go into details of the investigation.

“I can acknowledge that representatives from the NCAA have been to Chapel Hill to speak with some of our student-athletes. However, they have instructed us to maintain the confidence of this review by not discussing it publicly,” athletic director Dick Baddour said.

ESPN reported that a number of players were interviewed by the NCAA about involvement with agents. The (Raleigh) News & Observer also reported that two players were being investigated, citing separate sources familiar with the investigation.

According to the NCAA Enforcement Process, the protocol for such an investigation would include the director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities and three investigators.

“The enforcement staff may initiate an investigation of a member institution’s athletics program only when it has reasonable cause to believe that the institution may have violated NCAA rules,” according to information on the enforcement process at NCAA.org.

The staff could do inquires through correspondence with the university or conduct in-person interviews like they are currently doing in Chapel Hill.

The NCAA’s notice of inquiry sent to UNC would have contained the following: the nature of potential violations (including the involved sport), the approximate time period that the violations occurred and the identities of the players involved.

Neither the enforcement staff nor UNC has to publicly release the notice of inquiry, which UNC has not done.

By the end of six months, the enforcement staff is required to inform UNC of the general status of the investigation.

“The average length of a case while we’re investigating is shorter than 12 months,” Osburn said. “Our goal is to finish within 12 months.”

The penalties for such infractions vary from case to case, Osburn said. At the close of the investigation, a hearing will be set for the university and the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Should the committee find UNC has been in violation of NCAA rules and punish the football program, the infractions report including the findings made and penalties dealt will be made public six to eight weeks after the hearing.

Recently, the NCAA closed an investigation into improper benefits given to Hesiman Trophy winner Reggie Bush while he was at the University of Southern California.

The Trojans are banned from bowl games for the next two years and were stripped of all wins during the time Bush played for USC.

UNC returns with its best team since the Mack Brown era more than a decade ago. The Tar Heels boasted the No. 6 total defense in the nation last year and returned nine starters, including five draft-ready juniors who returned for their senior year.

“We felt like collectively as a group that we all wanted to come back,” defensive tackle Marvin Austin said in a Jan. 11 issue of the Daily Tar Heel. “We felt like we didn’t accomplish everything we could.”

UNC finished with an 8-5 record last season after losing its second straight bowl game to end the year.

The Tar Heels are ranked in the top 25 in numerous national preseason polls and are expected to contend for the ACC championship.