Carolina Gets Postseason Ban,
Loss of 15 Football Scholarships
The National Collegiate Athletic Association ruled in March that UNC was responsible for multiple
rules violations in its football program —
including academic fraud, impermissible
agent benefits, ineligible participation and a
failure to monitor the program.
Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham
said, “It’s time for us to move Carolina
athletics forward to help restore that repu-
tation of integrity and respect for which
the University has been known. We can’t
guarantee people won’t make mistakes in
the future, but we can give our collective
best effort to prevent a repeat of what
brought us to this day.”
The NCAA hit Carolina with a ban on
postseason play for next season — which
covers a bowl game and the ACC champi-
onship game — and a reduction of five
scholarships in each of the next three years,
three years’ probation and a $50,000 fine.
The NCAA’s Division I Committee on
Infractions said that over three seasons six
football players competed while ineligible
and that multiple players received impermissible benefits totaling more than $31,000.
It ordered Carolina to vacate its eight wins
in 2008 and eight in
It said that Blake was compensated by a
2009 because ineligible players participated, and ordered
the school to vacate
the individual
records of those
who played while
ineligible. A former
assistant coach who
was not named in
the report received
a three-year show-cause penalty
restricting any
recruiting activity. Details of the report
describe previously revealed activities of
former Associate Head Coach John Blake,
who resigned shortly after the investigation
began in July 2010.
ROBERT WILLETT/THE NEWS & OBSERVER
The fine was self-imposed by the Uni-
versity, as was disassociation of a tutor and a
student who served as an “agent runner.”
sports agent for the access he provided to
athletes and failed to disclose the income
to the University, and that both he and an
unidentified tutor “committed unethical
conduct” and failed to cooperate with the
investigation. The University has identified
the tutor, Jennifer Wiley ’09.
But the harshest penalties were more
severe than UNC had self-imposed: two
years’ probation, loss of three scholarships
for each of three years and vacating the vic-tories. It did not propose a postseason ban.
UNC will not appeal. Chancellor
Holden Thorp ’ 86 said, “Given the timing
and the record that other schools have had
with appeals, as well as the fact that penalties are suspended during an appeal, we’ve
decided it’s best to accept our sanctions
and move forward.
“This case should serve as a cautionary
tale to all institutions to vigilantly monitor
the activities of those student-athletes who
possess the potential to be top professional
prospects,” the report said. “It should also
serve to warn student-athletes that if they
choose to accept benefits from agents or
their associates, they risk losing their eligibility.” The NCAA credited UNC with
taking decisive action after discovering the
academic fraud violations and when
Blake’s violations came to light.
“We approached this investigation the
way that you would expect of Carolina —
thoughtfully, thoroughly and with full
cooperation.”
ONLINE: The Review’s coverage
includes “A Flag Is Down,” from
November/December 2010, and news stories
throughout 2011, available online at
alumni.unc.edu/news.
Water continued from page 3
ing new thinking and making major breakthroughs in water research, with results
that might help communities, governments
and businesses address issues such as the
sustainable use, development and protection of water systems; protection against
natural hazards; and ensuring access to
clean, safe water.
Thorp encouraged the campus community to respond to a call from a campus
steering committee to submit ideas and
suggestions for “Water in Our World” via
email to watertheme@unc.edu.
The committee envisions the water
theme as spurring new courses, events and
programs across the arts, sciences, professions, humanities and in the community.
Examples include film screenings, featured
lectures or speaker series, panel discussions
and symposia, an annual interdisciplinary
conference, speaker series or scholar- or
artist-in-residence, as well as performing
arts pieces. The campus plans to host an
international water and health conference
on science, policy and innovation implications of drinking-water supply, sanitation,
hygiene and water resources in developing
and developed nations.
Steering committee co-chairs are Jamie
Bartram, professor of environmental sciences and engineering in the Gillings
School of Global Public Health and director of the Water Institute and formerly the
World Health Organization’s coordinator
for work on water sanitation and hygiene;
and Terry Rhodes, professor and chair of
the music department and the next senior
associate dean of fine arts and humanities.
On the same day as the launch of
“Water in Our World,” UNC announced
that Don and Jennifer Holzworth of
Chapel Hill had donated $666,000 to establish a fund to retain or recruit a professor
who is a global leader in research and policies for improving the world’s access to
clean water and sanitation. The donation
will create the Don and Jennifer Holzworth
Distinguished Professorship in UNC’s
Gillings School of Global Public Health.
INSIDE: Two alumni started organizations
that work to bring clean water to people in
India, Ethiopia and other countries. They are
profiled in this issue in “Change Agents” on
pages 44 and 45.
