The University of North Carolina has fired Head Football Coach Butch Davis nearly a week before practice starts on Aug. 5th.
(Source: ESPN)
ESPN.com News: NCAA Probing UNC Football
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said Thursday the NCAA is investigating a sports program at the school regarding possible rules violations.
A source at North Carolina told ESPN.com’s Joe Schad on Thursday that UNC football players were interviewed by the NCAA this week and asked questions about agents and whether anyone had received gifts or extra benefits.
Defensive tackle Marvin Austin, one of several Tar Heels who passed on the NFL draft this spring, was among the players interviewed, according to the source.
The source said the NCAA’s questions to players were intended to “make sure no Reggie Bush stuff is going on.”
Baddour declined to tell The Associated Press which sport was being probed.
“I was told that I could limit my comments to the fact that they had been here and they wanted me to say that we had indeed been cooperative,” said Baddour, adding that the inquiry “has our full attention.”
The investigation began with a phone call from the NCAA, Baddour said, though he declined to say when the call came or when investigators had visited the Chapel Hill campus.
“We work hard on our compliance program, a program of integrity,” Baddour said. “We’re proud of it. We are also proud that, or we think very strongly that, we get an inquiry from the NCAA that we would comply, we would do what they asked us to do and we would do it forthright and completely.”
A second source said that the NCAA asked all of UNC’s projected NFL draft picks to provide phone records so investigators could see which agents they had spoken with.
The players were also asked who paid for the travel, who paid their rent and which agents they had met with and when, according to the second source.
Austin recently tweeted about a trip to Miami.
Both sources used the word “hectic” to describe the agent activity surrounding North Carolina football since multiple players passed on the NFL draft.
A third source, with ties to North Carolina, said that Austin was asked about having been seen driving Kentwan Balmer’s vehicle.
Balmer is a former North Carolina defensive end who plays for the 49ers and worked out in Chapel Hill this offseason. Another source said Austin stayed at Balmer’s apartment at times this offseason as well.
Davis is preparing for his fourth season in Chapel Hill and has guided the program to consecutive eight-win seasons, including the program’s first back-to-back bowl seasons since the late 1990s, when Mack Brown left for Texas.
Davis has a 20-18 record with the Tar Heels, including 11-13 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. When Davis inherited the program from John Bunting, the Tar Heels had gone to just two bowl games in six seasons, during which they were a woeful 27-45.
The Tar Heels are expected to contend for the ACC’s Coastal Division title with a defense that returns nine starters from a unit that ranked among the nation’s best last year. North Carolina opens the season against LSU in Atlanta on Sept. 4.
ESPN.com’s Joe Schad and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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New TV contract good for ACC and its Commissioner
by Heather Dinch - ESPN.com’s ACC Blog
ACC commissioner John Swofford has done you and the ACC well.
While the rest of the college football world was dealing in expansion hypotheticals, Swofford was quietly dealing. He wound up with a 12-year, lucrative TV contract that “reaches new heights financially,” gives the ACC “unprecedented branding opportunities,” and gives each member school enough money that nobody should be looking to leave anytime soon. According to the Associated Press, the deal is worth $1.86 billion.
The stability of the ACC is the bottom line, and this contract provides plenty of incentive for the league to remain intact, despite the ever-changing college football landscape.
“In the ACC we look at our league as a very stable one,” Swofford said in a teleconference Thursday morning. “The financial and exposure aspects of this, as well as the opportunities with new media going forward, only increases that stability. … I think we’ve got a group of schools that are together for multiple reasons, not just financial — though financial is one of them. But they’re together because they’ve chosen to be together and believe in the same kinds of values they want within a conference – tangible and intangible — but it’s certainly important the business and financial aspects of institutional memberships in a conference is solid. This certainly solidifies that for this conference for the next 12 years.”
It also solidifies a positive, lasting impact on Swofford’s legacy as ACC commissioner. While ACC expansion has yet to produce the conference powerhouse league officials had once hoped it would, Swofford’s push to get it done and add the championship game has helped keep the conference on par with the rest of the BCS. Now, it’s the Big Ten that’s seeing the potential Swofford recognized in 2004 when Virginia Tech and Miami were added. (It’s certainly not his fault the Hurricanes tumbled out of the national spotlight.)
This TV contract is another move that will help the ACC stay competitive with the SEC and its other BCS counterparts. The SEC’s mega money television contract garnered a lot of attention (and for good reason), but this deal is unprecedented in that it takes over all of the broadcasting rights for the ACC. With the SEC’s contract, CBS retained a football package.
“I think it’s clear that this will cement John’s stewardship of the Atlantic Coast Conference as a preeminent academic and athletic conference,” said John Skipper, ESPN Executive Vice President/Content. “… I think John secured a very important financial deal for his institutions to ensure that they are able to keep up with what is clearly a landscape of growing fans. I would think this is a deal that cements what he’s done for the ACC. It’s also great for his fans, and I think it’s a fan-friendly conference and that’s an important fact as well.”
Under the new contract, ACC sports will be televised more regionally and nationally than any time in conference history. The distribution of revenue will continue to be equally shared.
Should conference realignment occur, there is a provision in the contract that would allow for further negotiations. But neither party seems to expect it to be necessary anytime soon.
“It’s clear the ACC is a very sound conference, not likely to change,” Skipper said. “In most of the discussions about conference realignment, there was very little discussion of ACC schools.”
And thanks to Swofford and this new deal, there’s unlikely to be much more.
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Video: Dinich of ESPN previews UNC-LSU game
Heather Dinich says UNC will have the edge of LSU to kick off the 2010 season.
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Bruce Carter driven by his opportunities
When North Carolina linebacker Bruce Carter is running up the Kenan Stadium steps while carrying 60-pound cement bags, or sprinting his 300s with 30 seconds rest in between, it’s not a potential NFL contract or a Coastal Division title he’s thinking about to push him one step further, one rep harder.
“I’m just thinking about everybody who has helped me get to the point I am now, and to represent what I stand for and where I came from,” he said. “I came from somewhere where not a lot of people make it. I’m the first person in my family to go to college. I’m about to graduate. I’m doing a lot of things that a lot of people wish they could have, and wish they could do. It’s very important. It means the world to me to see everyone happy for me, saying keep doing what I’m doing. My mom, dad and sister are very supportive of what I’m doing.”
What’s he’s doing is impressive.
Carter, who has started 31 straight games for the Tar Heels, will graduate in December, and he is taking his off-season conditioning a little more seriously now because of his decision to return to North Carolina for a final year instead of entering the NFL draft. His dedication in the weight room has paid off, as he was recently ranked the No. 1 workout warrior by ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman.
“It’s a grind,” Carter said. “It’s my last go-around. I’ve got to go as hard as I can, because you never know what can happen. I don’t want to look back and say I could have did more.”
It’s hard to believe there’s still more for Carter to do. He has already set UNC linebacker records in the power clean at 376 (he just broke his own record) and the vertical jump (40.5 inches). He has also been clocked at 4.39 in the 40 and bench-presses 440.
He finished the season ranked third on the team with 67 tackles, and had 7.5 tackles for losses, two sacks, one interception return for a touchdown, two pass breakups and four quarterback pressures.
Carter said he’s gained about 10 pounds (which isn’t a surprise, considering he’s eating McDonald’s double cheeseburgers and fries every day), but he said it’s not a problem as long as he’s able to make his runs. He is in the weight room by 8 a.m. Monday through Friday.
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Carolina players highlight first '11 Big Board ESPN
ESPN.com’s Mel Kiper recently released his first 2011 Big Board Insider, and there are plenty of Tar Heels represented. That’s good for North Carolina this season, but a scary thought for next year…
No. 3 UNC DE Robert Quinn
No. 8 BC OT Anthony Castonzo
No. 13 UNC DT Marvin Austin
No. 15 VT RB Ryan Williams
No. 16 Miami DE Allen Bailey
No. 18 UNC LB Bruce Carter
No. 21 Virginia CB Ras-I Dowling
Tar Heels 2010 Recruiting Class Ranked 24 by ESPN
ESPN ranked the University of North Carolina’s 2010 football recruiting class 24th in the country, and 4th in the ACC behind 1) Florida State 2) Miami Hurricanes 3) Clemson Tigers.
ESPNU 150 Watch List:
QB Everett Golson picks North Carolina for 2011 Class
ESPN.com - Junior signal-caller Everett Golson (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) committed to sign as part of North Carolina’s Class of 2011 on Friday. South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Duke were among his other written scholarship offers.
“It was always my dream to be a North Carolina Tar Heel,” Everett Golson told the Sun News. “Right now I feel like I can seize the opportunity to do that.”
He has thrown for 9,872 yards and 126 touchdowns entering his senior season. As a junior, Golson completed 63-percent of his attempts for 3,558 yards, 47 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Golson, a point guard on Myrtle Beach’s basketball team, was been promised an opportunity to try out for North Carolina’s basketball team.
North Carolina Tar Heels Football Video:
ACC Conference Preview by ESPN’s Heather Dinich on ESPN.com’s College Football Preview show. For more, visit www.ESPN.com/NCF
ESPN Video Story: Tar Heels on Track Heading into the 2009 Football Season.
Head Coach Butch Davis talks about his upcoming third season with the Tar Heels.
