UNC Athletics Scandal: SACS to announce June 11

[tux]

They haven't exactly handled the situation the best, have they?

Now that you mention it, I don't think they have handled it all that well...

[Skitzle]

Either of these are plausible. Its understanding if Ingram misheard. But its also understanding if UNC lied. They haven't exactly handled the situation the best, have they?

Lies! They've handled this academic scandal personally. People got fired, let's move on. Right chemistry department?

[bob blue devil]

Well, between Ingram, Williams and UNC, the only one not caught red handed lying about the scandal this far is Ingram... (tongue in cheek, obv Ingram could be confused here)

[ncexnyc]

I remember when Roy complained loudly that the NCAA was taking so long to make a ruling on PJ. Then weeks later it came out that UNC had never even applied for his reinstatement. Roy is a proven liar.

But, but it wasn't Roy's fault. The evil Bubba kept Roy out of the loop. Roy is like the proverbial mushroom.

[jv001]

Well, between Ingram, Williams and UNC, the only one not caught red handed lying about the scandal this far is Ingram... (tongue in cheek, obv Ingram could be confused here)

Ole roy is not the father of liars, that would be satan, but ole roy is a close second. GoDuke!

[Olympic Fan]

I was told today (by someone who should know) that UNC has NOT yet received the official NOA.

But Bubba Cunningham recently told the Raleigh Sports Club that UNC expects to receive a NOA sometime in the next six months.

There is no public notification when an NOA is issued, although the news often leaks. Usually the school has a long time to challenge the NOA and schedule a hearing with the infractions committee (which is publicized).

A school can shorten that time frame by accepting the charges, self-penalizing then asking the NCAA to expedite its ruling ... but as we've talked about before, UNC's strategy seems to be to string this out until after next basketball season -- which they can probably do.

[BigWayne]

Andrew Carter attempts to address the Ingram NOA comment and casually throws the Women's BB team under the bus.

And so the Ingram sound bite about UNC receiving “the allegations,” which quickly spread, was something like throwing a piece of raw but nutritionally-questionable meat to a starving pack of wolves....
Logically, it follows that the men's basketball program won't be punished as severely as, say, the women's basketball program, which was shown to have a direct link (Jan Boxill) between the team and the suspect classes.

[swood1000]

... but as we've talked about before, UNC's strategy seems to be to string this out until after next basketball season -- which they can probably do.

Is there any reason to hope that a resolution will come sooner than that?

[Olympic Fan]

Is there any reason to hope that a resolution will come sooner than that?

Well, you can always hope ... but realistically, I think there's little chance this gets resolved before next season is over (but I continue to believe that UNC will be hit HARD by the NCAA ... just not until the spring or summer of 2016).

[OldPhiKap]

Is there any reason to hope that a resolution will come sooner than that?

I am hoping it hangs over the program a bit longer.

[Henderson]

Is there any reason to hope that a resolution will come sooner than that?

Well, you can always hope ... but realistically, I think there's little chance this gets resolved before next season is over (but I continue to believe that UNC will be hit HARD by the NCAA ... just not until the spring or summer of 2016).

Way too much of that hopey stuff.

Lingering cloud followed by NCAA sanctions > NCAA sanctions

[sagegrouse]

Well, you can always hope ... but realistically, I think there's little chance this gets resolved before next season is over (but I continue to believe that UNC will be hit HARD by the NCAA ... just not until the spring or summer of 2016).

This is a UNC Board of Governors issue. I believe that the BOG wants this in the rear-view mirror, even at the cost of severe penalties. I mean, this whole mess is a reputation killer and a blight, not only on the school, but on the Board and its tenure in charge.

Therefore, I think there is a chance for a resolution sooner rather than later. "Sooner" is probably six months or less.

Yeah, I know, Bubba is mouthing off -- but it is totally for the benefit of the hard-core alumni and fans. He can be safely ignored.

OTOH, the UNC attorneys and PR consultants benefit by drawing this out for as long as possible. You know, "if you aren't part of the solution, you can make good money by prolonging the problem."

[Duvall]

This is a UNC Board of Governors issue. I believe that the BOG wants this in the rear-view mirror, even at the cost of severe penalties. I mean, this whole mess is a reputation killer and a blight, not only on the school, but on the Board and its tenure in charge.

Therefore, I think there is a chance for a resolution sooner rather than later. "Sooner" is probably six months or less.

That would be surprising. It seems like the UNC Board of Governors is more interested in turning the university into a two-bit trade school to concern themselves with a relatively minor issue like this. It would be surprising if Cunningham didn't have a free hand to continue his obfuscation and delays.

[MarkD83]

Way too much of that hopey stuff.

Lingering cloud followed by NCAA sanctions > NCAA sanctions

If we do a bit of recruiting math for the UNC men's bball team the lingering cloud may be > sanctions.

In 2015-16 (w/o Ingram) they have 11 scholarship players. Three will graduate next year and if one player leaves early that means 7 scholarship players in 2016-17 if no recruits come in. Even worse if Roy has to start filling in the roster with players low in the "rankings" (not that I believe these things all of the time) he may be left with mediocre teams for multiple years with very few options on being able to turn over the roster.

[sagegrouse]

That would be surprising. It seems like the UNC Board of Governors is more interested in turning the university into a two-bit trade school to concern themselves with a relatively minor issue like this. It would be surprising if Cunningham didn't have a free hand to continue his obfuscation and delays.

Well, the Board hired the Cadwallader Law Firm, which produced the Wainstein Report, and spared no expense. But, we'll see...

[rifraf]

More quotes from Emmert on UNC/. Calls back to previous comments about it not being the NCAA's job to enforce or determine the validity of coursework.

I really think the NCAA is going to wash their hands of this entire scandal and UNC will skate with no punishment.

[cbarry]

I agree 100%. UNC will skate without so much as a slap on the wrist. The info that came out showing UNC and the NCAA being in bed together does not bode well for UNC receiving any kind of punishment. The NCAA has truly become irrelevant if they can't dole out punishment for THIS severe of rules violations!

Unfortunately, because the NCAA is not going to punish UNC, I feel there is about a 99.9999% likelihood that Brandon Ingram will announce for UNC. Another big factor for Ingram declaring for UNC is Roy has the last meeting with Ingram. The recency bias is powerful and cannot be ignored.

I wish we could have landed Ingram, but I think we will still be pretty darn good next year, with the couple of late additions we got.

More quotes from Emmert on UNC/. Calls back to previous comments about it not being the NCAA's job to enforce or determine the validity of coursework.

I really think the NCAA is going to wash their hands of this entire scandal and UNC will skate with no punishment.

[MarkD83]

I agree 100%. UNC will skate without so much as a slap on the wrist. The info that came out showing UNC and the NCAA being in bed together does not bode well for UNC receiving any kind of punishment. The NCAA has truly become irrelevant if they can't dole out punishment for THIS severe of rules violations!

The difficulty is what do other schools do about this if the NCAA does not give any kind of punishment.

A school can't go out and blatantly cheat. A decision to not punish UNC is capricious and a school caught cheating in the future could capriciously get a death penalty punishment from the NCAA.

A school can protest by not participating in events versus UNC but that hurts the school that is protesting not UNC.

A school can protest by not participating in NCAA events but that also hurts the school and not the NCAA.

This all means that the NCAA can make any decision they want and still remain relevant.

[Olympic Fan]

It's amazing what people read into an obscure tweet.

UNC is going to get hammered, not because the NCAA is going to step in a determine which UNC classes are valid and which are not. They are going to get hammered because, according to UNC's own guidelines, hundreds of those classes are not valid -- as demonstrated by the Wainstein Retport. The report cites 169 student-athletes who would have been ineligible without the phony classes. The report includes e-mails showing administrators talking about ways to hide the phony classes and make them look legit. The report contains e-mails that prove these reports were set up for athletes -- and that the organizers were upset that "frat boys" had found out about them and had started enrolling.

In contrast to the vague comments from Emmert in the linked tweet, here are his comments when the Wainstein Report was released:

“Just based on the Wainstein report, this is a case that potentially strikes at the heart of what higher education is about,” Emmert told The Associated Press. “Universities are supposed to take absolutely most seriously the education of their students, right?
“I mean that’s why they exist; that’s their function in life. If the Wainstein report is accurate, then there was severe, severe compromising of all those issues, so it’s deeply troubling. … It’s absolutely disturbing that we find ourselves here right now.”

I repeat, UNC is going to get hammered.

And, cbarry, your pessimism about Ingram is astonishing. I still very good about our chances of getting him -- so do the majority of the nation's recruiting writers

[Duke95]

It's amazing what people read into an obscure tweet.

UNC is going to get hammered, not because the NCAA is going to step in a determine which UNC classes are valid and which are not. They are going to get hammered because, according to UNC's own guidelines, hundreds of those classes are not valid -- as demonstrated by the Wainstein Retport. The report cites 169 student-athletes who would have been ineligible without the phony classes. The report includes e-mails showing administrators talking about ways to hide the phony classes and make them look legit. The report contains e-mails that prove these reports were set up for athletes -- and that the organizers were upset that "frat boys" had found out about them and had started enrolling.

In contrast to the vague comments from Emmert in the linked tweet, here are his comments when the Wainstein Report was released:

“Just based on the Wainstein report, this is a case that potentially strikes at the heart of what higher education is about,” Emmert told The Associated Press. “Universities are supposed to take absolutely most seriously the education of their students, right?
“I mean that’s why they exist; that’s their function in life. If the Wainstein report is accurate, then there was severe, severe compromising of all those issues, so it’s deeply troubling. … It’s absolutely disturbing that we find ourselves here right now.”

I repeat, UNC is going to get hammered.

And, cbarry, your pessimism about Ingram is astonishing. I still very good about our chances of getting him -- so do the majority of the nation's recruiting writers

Well, I hope you're right, on both counts, Oly. I've been pessimistic about Ingram too, mostly because I know it's hard to pull an eastern NC kid out of UNC's clutches.