Friday, October 8, 2010

UNC official refutes rumors on Butch Davis' future

The chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors refuted message-board rumors that the board had instructed UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp this week to fire Tar Heels football coach Butch Davis.

"None of that happened. None, none, none," said Hannah Gage, the board's chairwoman. "I can assure that none of that happened. That hasn't been part of any discussion we've had."

The system board rarely, if ever, gets involved athletics oversight, a function delegated to individual campuses, Gage said.

"The only reason we'd get involved is if we lacked the confidence in a campus's ability to sort through something," Gage said. "That simply isn't the case here."

Speaking to a faculty group Friday afternoon, Thorp reiterated concerns about Davis' handling of the situation regarding former UNC associate head coach John Blake and Blake's relationship with a sports agent.

An NCAA investigation into the situation, as well as into potential cases of academic misconduct involving UNC football players, is continuing.

As he did earlier in the week, Thorp said Davis should have had a better grasp of what Blake was doing.

"We've had a lot of long talks about that," Thorp told UNC's Faculty Council. "We have a lot of work to do to understand why the head coach didn't know about that contact [with agent Gary Wichard]."

-- Eric Ferreri, The News & Observer

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The lightbulb finally lit up in Thorp's head. Now does he have the balls to do what's right, or will he bow to the donors and continue the charade?

Anonymous said...

This just goes to show that the media are reporting mostly message-board fabrications instead of news on this story. We all know the Wuffie's point of view on the issue, there's no excuse to take what you don't know and just make stuff up just to incite our retarded little brothers in Raleigh.

Anonymous said...

"We have a lot of work to do to understand why the head coach didn't know about that contact [with agent Gary Wichard]."

Reads more like "How do we lie our way out of this one?" What will they come up with next to justify keeping BMFD around.

He personally hired the cheating tutor. When will they pull their heads out of the sand?

Anonymous said...

Hey dumbass, the "cheating tutor" was recommended by the university when Davis asked for a recommendation to tutor his son. Thorp was in charge of the College of Arts and Sciences, which oversees the tutoring/academic support program. He's now backtracking to cover up his own poor oversight, when in fact he should fire himself. But let's not let any facts get in the way of a good witch hunt. You're right, though, there are definitely some heads in the sand...

Anonymous said...

Does anyone believe there is not a coach anywhere in the USA that doesn't know an agent or many agents for that matter? Down the road in Durham Coach K is friends with a powerful well known agent who sits behind the Duke bench and has access to the Duke locker room and the players. Why no outrage about this? It is ludicrous to suggest that no coach has had contact or even friendship with an agent. As far as the internet rumor,it has been linked to the son with close ties to NCSU of a BOG member who supplies this family member with information discussed at BOG meetings. If this is true then that BOG member should be dismissed and severely reprimanded. This is a despicable practice and shows a lack of integrity on the part of the BOG member. I think an investigation is in order of the BOG members.

Anonymous said...

All this fuss, why can't we emphasize academics at the flagship university in NC? The BOT is spending entirely too much time with this "mess" with football. They need to petition the ACC to allow a year long hiatus to get the program and attitudes in order. Some times, we need to cut our short term losses for the good to be percieved as the Ivy League School of the South! Let's hope Roy Williams has no skeletons and Greg Little doesn't cause us to forfeit Basketball games and ruin that year he played.

Anonymous said...

Anus Protectus is the new motto in Chapel Hill, watch them cover up and deny, deny, deny until the severance package is offered to Davis, Baddour and Thorp

Anonymous said...

More lies than a 4th grade classroom.

You know the story about liars that lie so much they forget what they first lied about? That's UNC's admin.