UNC Athletics Scandal

[JasonEvans]

Boom goes the dynamite.

Former football player Michael McAdoo has filed suit claiming Carolina did not provide him with the education he was promised. He says he wanted to be a Criminal Justice major but was told upon arrival on campus that he could only pick from certain select majors (one of which happened to be AFAM) and that his courses were already selected for him, including several fake AFAM classes. The suit is being handled by both a NC firm and one in DC -- if there are a lot of lawyers involved, you can bet they are expecting a big money payout. Toward that end, the suit is filled as a class action on behalf of any of the 3100 athletes who want to join.

Of course, what really matters is this...

McAdoo's lawsuit could potentially uncover even more than the damning Wainstein investigation, which was by far the most thorough and provided a slew of information that had previously been discounted by UNC.

The difference is in the power of subpoena.

McAdoo's lawyers will be able to depose people who declined to talk to Wainstein -- potentially key participants whom Wainstein called out for refusing to cooperate, like the former director of football Cynthia Reynolds and the former interim head football coach Everett Withers.

-Jason "like I said, BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE" Evans

P.S. - Major new development, so I gave it a new thread. We will merge this with the other Wainstein thread in a few days

[moonpie23]

OK!!! Now we're talking...

Subpoena power!!!!!!! yeah....deposition....say it out loud...DEPOSITION...

discovery...



oath....


yeah....

popcorn ready...

[CameronBlue]

Boom goes the dynamite.

Former player James Michael McAdoo has filed suit claiming Carolina did not provide him with the education he was promised. He says he wanted to be a Criminal Justice major but was told upon arrival on campus that he could only pick from certain select majors (one of which happened to be AFAM) and that his courses were already selected for him, including several fake AFAM classes. The suit is being handled by both a NC firm and one in DC -- if there are a lot of lawyers involved, you can bet they are expecting a big money payout. Toward that end, the suit is filled as a class action on behalf of any of the 3100 athletes who want to join.

Of course, what really matters is this...



-Jason "like I said, BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE" Evans

P.S. - Major new development, so I gave it a new thread. We will merge this with the other Wainstein thread in a few days

Am I mistaken or are you confusing McAdoos?

[El_Diablo]

Wrong McAdoo. But still...YIKES.

[subzero02]

Wow... It'll be interesting to see which players from the various sports join the lawsuit. I honestly hope this scandal doesn't cast to large a shadow on this ACC basketball season in general.

[CameronBlue]

Rashad McCants COME ON DOWN!! Ironic. Usually legal action precedes time in prison.

[OldPhiKap]

i bet that Roy's not in the daggum deposition-giving spirit.

[martydoesntfoul]

Wow. This takes things to a whole other level. Told he could only select from three majors? And then this:

"When the coaches and academic staff came to my house all the way in Tennessee, you know they, they wasn't even talking football, they was talking academics," he told CNN earlier this year. "So they were saying, 'You know what, we can't promise your son that he's going to go to the NFL, but one thing that we can promise him is that he will get a college degree.'

Again, this is why Roy will likely not survive... you just can't have it both ways.

[OldPhiKap]

^^^ to be fair, that was Butch Davis's staff and not Roy's.

I would love to see a copy of the actual lawsuit, not logging on to get it from the Court at 3 in the am but I assume that someone will put it on the web.

[BigWayne]

Wow. This takes things to a whole other level. Told he could only select from three majors? And then this:

"When the coaches and academic staff came to my house all the way in Tennessee, you know they, they wasn't even talking football, they was talking academics," he told CNN earlier this year. "So they were saying, 'You know what, we can't promise your son that he's going to go to the NFL, but one thing that we can promise him is that he will get a college degree.'

Again, this is why Roy will likely not survive... you just can't have it both ways.

I'm pretty sure this was in the video shown about 6 months ago, but it will get a lot more notice and credibility now post-Wainstein.

He gives the NCAA the guideposts of where else to look besides the AFAM department. Exercise and Sport Science and Communications.

[OldPhiKap]

Three points during my period of insomnia:

1. The Willingham suit is probably more dangerous to UNC than this one. Class actions often settle; whistleblower cases have plaintiffs who are often fighting to restore their good names (such as here). Money cures the first kind of case, vindication the second. So she is much more likely to go to trial or at least summary judgment, where the relevant deposition transcripts and subpoenaed documents will be filed publicly. She WANTS her day in open court: that is the purpose of the lawsuit. Class actions by contrast typically just want relief of some sort, which may have a public component but then again may not.

2. Typically, in Federal Court, defendants can file a motion to dismiss in lieu of an answer. That raises the possibility that discovery may not even get off the ground for quite some time. Lots of discretion with the judge.

3. I wonder whether the new suit is a verified complaint, which is tantamount to an affidavit. If there is essentially an affidavit from a former player about what he personally witnessed at UNC, that is something that neither the NCAA or SACS can ignore.

[OldPhiKap]

BTW, I was doing a little Internet research on "lack of institutional control" and found this 2011 TarHeel blog about haw they avoided it in 2011. I post it, because most of the things that it says would constitute LOIC have now been shown to be true:

http://www.tarheelblog.com/2011/06/h...control-charge

And a different blog related to Miami a few years ago, describing some situations and penalties:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foot...finition-miami


I'm going back to bed now.

[sagegrouse]

BTW, I was doing a little Internet research on "lack of institutional control" and found this 2011 TarHeel blog about haw they avoided it in 2011. I post it, because most of the things that it says would constitute LOIC have now been shown to be true:

http://www.tarheelblog.com/2011/06/h...control-charge

And a different blog related to Miami a few years ago, describing some situations and penalties:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foot...finition-miami


I'm going back to bed now.

Thanks OPK. THe blog re UNC offers up some money quotes -- the five reasons the author believes that Carolina escaped an LOIC charge in 2011.

With that in mind, here are a few specific reasons I suspect UNC did not receive a lack of institutional control charge:

1. UNC has a long history of NCAA compliance.

UNC's last - and only - major NCAA violation was over 50 years ago in a basketball point-shaving scandal that affected a number of schools.

2. UNC acted properly in regards to Jennifer Wiley

3. UNC was proactive, cooperating with the NCAA and withholding players

4. John Blake was vetted by UNC but apparently was lying to everybody.

Two often-forgotten facts as everyone seeks to pile on UNC and Butch Davis for hiring Blake in the first place are that A) UNC sought clearance from the NCAA before hiring Blake and B) Blake lied on his employment records to hide his association with Gary Wichard.

5. The academic issues and improper benefits are considered self-reported by the NCAA.

Oops! UNC in a world of hurt. For example, just substitute the name "Mary Willingham" for "Jennifer Wiley." Or, instead of "a long history of NCAA compliance," how about "18 years of documented NCAA violations?" And the last one is a killer -- "self-reported?" -- because of the Wainstein report? Hah!! Not after 18 years.

[Reilly]

i bet that Roy's not in the daggum deposition-giving spirit.

Mr. Williams: "Roy Williams is not talking about that bull crap."
Attorney: "Sir, answer the question."
Mr. Williams: "Roy Williams is not talking about that bull crap."
Attorney: "Sir, ..."

[devildeac]

Appears to be much more than just dynamite here. Maybe more like :


220px-Nagasakibomb.jpg

[MarkD83]

I know that in the older thread on this topic there was a discussion of the bank/loan analogy with UNC being too big to fail. However, in class action suits and whistleblower suits I don't imagine the courts care if the institution being sued is "too big to fail".

Would these suits prompt the NCAA to take action faster in order to get their penalty dollars first (pay us back the bowl and march madness money) or slow down their time frame to see what other information is revealed without them having to spend money on a new investigation?

I am thinking this slows down any NCAA action because the NCAA just has to wait for someone else to do their investigative work.

[CameronBlue]

Appears to be much more than just dynamite here. Maybe more like :


220px-Nagasakibomb.jpg

Well that's a heckuva smoking gun, which is what many at UNC still claim is missing like this guy...

"Stephen Leonard, a UNC-CH political science professor and chairman of the UNC system's Faculty Assembly, said the failures outlined in the Wainstein report were primarily on the academic side of the university and need to be addressed by academic officials." http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/11/...#storylink=cpy

We'll see if McAdoo's principal claim

"From selection of a major to selection of courses, the UNC football program controlled football student-athletes' academic track, with the sole purpose of ensuring that football student-athletes were eligible to participate in athletics, rather than actually educating them,"

can be substantiated during the deposition process. UNC really, really, REALLY doesn't want it to go that far. As OPK intimated up thread, it remains to be seen if anyone actually gets deposed. What will the judge decide? Do we have an affidavit from McAdoo?...still a long long way to go. The dumpster fire smolders on...

[CameronBornAndBred]

Lawsuits can be lengthy, especially class action suits. WTG, Carolina, your attempts at sweeping this under the rug in hopes of it quietly going away have backfired in the most beautiful way possible. This will now be in the public eye for a very long time.

Maybe we will see ads on tv asking if your education was a total sham, and if so YOU MAY BE ENTITLED to financial reparation! (Or maybe you just have mesothelioma, either way, the law firm of Ferguson, Chambers & Sumpter can help you!)

[hudlow]

University of Phoenix-CH.

[arnie]

i bet that Roy's not in the daggum deposition-giving spirit.

Again, the initial post is wrong. It's only a football player - we knew that program was totally corrupt. Roy skates on this one and in fact can brag how clean his program is compared toUNC football.