NCAA back on UNC campus

[Cable Guy]

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina athletic director **** Baddour says NCAA investigators have returned to campus this week.

Baddour said investigators were in Chapel Hill on Wednesday and Thursday, though he would not reveal specifics of their visit. The NCAA is looking into whether defensive tackle Marvin Austin and receiver Greg Little received improper benefits from agents.

Baddour says the school is participating in the investigation and that both the NCAA and North Carolina are "all working as quickly as we can to get it resolved."

The Tar Heels open training camp Friday. Austin and Little are expected to practice with the team but likely won't talk to reporters.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

[NCFalconfan]

Just as long as none of the kids were selling their shoes and game tickets to earn extra money. That would call for the NCAA death penalty like Jim Valvano got at NC State back in the 1990's...

[VTCrunkler]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ys-agentcoach080910

Three sources close to an NCAA probe into the University of North Carolina football program told Yahoo! Sports that investigators are focusing on ties between assistant coach John Blake and prominent NFL agent Gary Wichard.

The sources said the NCAA’s inquiry into Blake has focused on his one-time position as vice president of football operations for Pro Tect Management – an agency founded and run by Wichard since 1979. Blake is now a defensive line coach for the Tar Heels, and oversees All-ACC tackle Marvin Austin, who is also facing NCAA scrutiny.

The sources said the NCAA is investigating trips Austin took to Florida, as well as his travel and training in California in the summer of 2009, when he worked out at Proactive Sports Performance with former Tar Heel and current Wichard client Kentwan Balmer.

North Carolina defensive tackle Marvin Austin.

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

The NCAA’s inquiry at North Carolina is one of multiple investigations underway at several institutions. The association’s enforcement staff has been in contact with at least nine Division I football programs since June, in what appears to be a more aggressive posture following major agent-related sanctions against the University of Southern California.

Since releasing its findings in the USC investigation on June 10, the NCAA has visited North Carolina, South Carolina, East Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Clemson while conducting various inquiries. Some, like the one involving Blake and North Carolina, have expanded into significant probes. Others – such as a visit to Clemson to inquire about football players’ Facebook pages – have been minor in stature.

A training firm for a wide array of athletes, Proactive Sports is located in Thousand Oaks, Calif., less than two miles from Pro Tect Management offices. The website for Proactive boasts 12 clients who are currently signed with Pro Tect Management, and has trained many of Wichard’s draft picks since 2005.

Reached by Yahoo! Sports last week, Wichard said he has not been contacted by the NCAA and described Blake as nothing more than a close friend. He also denied any impropriety involving Austin.

“If the center of this controversy is my relationship with John, there’s really no controversy,” Wichard said. “If that’s what [the NCAA] is investigating, I think it’s just absurd. … I hope – I really, truly hope – that Marvin Austin’s whole case is based on me and John Blake. I hope that for Marvin Austin’s sake. At the end of the day, there’s nothing to investigate.”

Email and telephone messages for Blake were not returned. An interview request for Austin was not returned. Messages left at Proactive Sports seeking comment were not returned. Messages seeking an interview with Balmer were not returned.

North Carolina athletic director **** Baddour issued the following statement: “NCAA representatives were on campus this week as we work with them on the review. The University of North Carolina continues to fully cooperate with the NCAA and we are working hard to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

In a 92-minute telephone interview, Wichard repeatedly questioned why the NCAA would be looking into his relationship with Blake. Asked if Blake had ever been a Pro Tect employee, Wichard repeatedly stated that he hadn’t.

“No, no, no, no,” Wichard said. “John lived [in California] after he was the head coach at Oklahoma. He lived out in [Los Angeles]. We’ve socialized. We’ve been friends. His son is my godson. It has nothing to do with that. He hasn’t worked for me at all. I don’t get where that is coming from.”

Asked if Blake had ever been the vice president of football operations for Pro Tect, Wichard replied, “No. When he left Oklahoma, all he ever did was work out some of my veteran guys. He had his own camp out here. He was doing his own thing.”

After being fired from his head coaching job at Oklahoma, Blake directed a part-time “Chance to Advance” football camp from 1999-2002. However, Wichard’s statements about Blake never having been employed by his agency appear to contradict a Pro Tect Management brochure obtained by Yahoo! Sports.

Prepared for prospective clients, the brochure contains multiple pictures of players, including a handful who were selected as recently as the 2001 draft. The inner cover features large photos of both Wichard and Blake. Under Blake’s picture, his title is listed as “Vice President/Football Operations.” The brochure goes on to detail Blake’s role in the company with several statements:

Blake

Wichard

Brochure

The inner cover (PDF) of a Pro Tect Management brochure details John Blake’s role in Gary Wichard’s agency.

• “Joining forces with Wichard, his close friend of nearly 20 years, John Blake heads Pro Tect’s football operations, bringing a most distinguished resume.”

• “Blake made the move into athletic representation because he feels he can have a greater on-going positive impact on the careers of athletes than merely coaching them in college for four years.”

• A quote from Blake: “Together with Gary, I can utilize what I’ve learned and be there for our clients to help lead them down the road to NFL prominence.”

• A quote from Wichard: “John brings the knowledge of someone who has actually evaluated players as a coach at college All-Star games, the Combine and individual player workouts. He will be able to pass along firsthand to our clients his experiences so they can benefit and be better prepared to maximize their value through the draft process and beyond.”

When informed that Yahoo! Sports had a copy of the brochure, Wichard said that although Blake had worked with some of his players, the brochure was “meaningless.”

“The brochure is [from] like 1997 or whatever,” Wichard said. “He was on the brochure for whatever, dealing with football-related situations. But it has nothing to do with anything. He was not working as a coach at that time. The relevance to me is ridiculous.”

“I don’t care what the brochure says. That brochure is so old. He worked with some of my players. He got Dwight Freeney ready for the combine when he was coming out. That’s kind of what the situation was. Then he went back into coaching.”

” [The brochure] doesn’t prove a thing. It’s absolutely meaningless. John coached my guys in between coaching jobs.”

John Blake was Oklahoma’s head coach from 1996-98. He is the current defensive line coach at North Carolina.

(Getty Images)

But sources say the NCAA has taken great interest in the brochure, and it may have triggered a second visit by investigators to North Carolina last week. The school has not detailed why the NCAA was on campus again, after investigators previously visited in July. The NCAA’s probe has also prompted North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall to launch an investigation into potential agent impropriety.

While sources said the NCAA is investigating whether Wichard and Austin have had improper contact, Wichard said he never spoke to Austin while he was in California working out at Proactive Sports.

“I spoke to him once,” Wichard said. “I told him to go back to school when Kentwan Balmer put him on the phone in January. I said go back to school and be [like] Ndamukong Suh and make some money. … I’m not even recruiting the kid. I’ve never said one word to him about the business other than football – go back to school. Now, if I wanted to represent him in January, I could have said ‘Come on out, guy. Let’s roll. Let’s make some money.’ That’s not who I am.”

Wichard said he assumed Balmer had paid for Austin to travel to California, and also to work out at Proactive.

“I never even talked to Marvin,” Wichard said. “Kentwan met me [at Proactive Sports] and I gave him shoes and I saw these two guys with him. They were out on the field. A couple of guys who played with him. That’s all. How did [Marvin Austin] get out here? Kentwan Balmer paid for him. They were hanging together. I can’t tell you exactly what went on from that standpoint, but they were all together.”

Asked if he spoke to Balmer on other occasions while both Balmer and Austin were in California, Wichard said he had not.

“No. Heck no,” Wichard said. “Heck no. [Kentwan] knows that I’m not interested in that.”

Messages requesting an interview with Balmer were not returned. But if Balmer paid for Austin or other former teammates at North Carolina to travel and train at Proactive, it would likely constitute an NCAA violation. According to a bylaw on “Preferential Treatment, Benefits or Services” an athlete can’t receive travel and training benefits that are derived because of their athletic skill. Under precedent in previous cases, Balmer having been Austin’s teammate and friend would not constitute enough of a pre-existing relationship for the benefit to be allowed.

As for Blake, Wichard told Yahoo! Sports he met the coach in 1985 during a pickup basketball game, and that their friendship has grown over the years. An accomplished agent with many big-name clients, Wichard said he signed only one player – Oklahoma tight end Stephen Alexander – while Blake was a head coach with the Sooners.

But a review of NFLPA records show Wichard signed multiple players whose college careers overlapped with Blake’s coaching journey. Among them:

• Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth. Blake was a graduate assistant for the Sooners during Bosworth’s final season at Oklahoma. Bosworth signed with Wichard and was a first-round pick in the NFL’s 1987 supplemental draft.

• Oklahoma linebacker Aubrey Beavers. While serving as linebackers coach for the Sooners, Blake coached Beavers from 1990-1992. Beavers signed with Wichard and was a second-round pick in 1994.

• Alexander. Blake overlapped with Alexander while serving as the Sooners head coach from 1996-1998. Alexander signed with Wichard and was a second-round pick in 1998.

• Oklahoma defensive back William Bartee. Blake oversaw all but Bartee’s final college season while serving as the Sooners head coach. Bartee signed with Wichard and was a second-round pick in 2000.

• Mississippi State defensive lineman Tommy Kelly. Blake coached the Bulldogs’ defensive line in 2003. After that season, Wichard signed Kelly, who was picked up by the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent.

• Nebraska running back Brandon Jackson. Blake never coached Jackson directly, handling Nebraska’s defensive line from 2004-2006. Jackson signed with Wichard after Blake’s final season with the Cornhuskers and was a second-round pick in 2007.

• Balmer. Blake became coach of the Tar Heels’ defensive line in 2007. After Blake’s first season, Wichard signed Balmer, who was a first-round pick in 2008.

Wichard reiterated several times that signing players who crossed paths with Blake was irrelevant, and that many other agencies represent both coaches and players from the same schools.

“If somebody wants to accuse me of something, bring it on,” Wichard said. “But don’t sit here and ask me about John Blake. He’s my best friend and that’s all I can say about it. Whether he worked out my players or didn’t, it doesn’t matter. Tell me what’s wrong and we’ll go from there.”

DeMaurice Smith

NCAA investigations have triggered a condemnation of agents from several high-profile football coaches. Among them, Florida’s Urban Meyer labeled unscrupulous agents “predators” and suggested that defending against them was becoming “an epidemic” for schools. UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel said rogue agents should be banned permanently by the NFL’s licensing body, while Alabama’s Nick Saban went as far as suggesting the college game should shun the NFL until the league begins punishing offenders more seriously.

“I don’t think it’s anything but greed that’s creating it right now on behalf of the agents,” Saban told reporters. “The agents that do this – and I hate to say this, but how are they any better than a pimp?”

The NFLPA’s own executive director, DeMaurice Smith, promised the union would sanction offending agents heavily, and in some cases, would consider pursuing prosecution.

“I think that any agent or contract adviser who [engages in rule-breaking], and preys upon kids like that in college, is something that we’re going to deal with extremely aggressively,” Smith told ESPN radio. “Frankly, God help those agents if they’re found to be in violation, because I’ve given our [licensing body] the green light to take the most aggressive steps that they want to take. … If those steps include me or someone else in our office making a criminal referral under certain circumstances, that’s what we’ll do. “

Just as long as none of the kids were selling their shoes and game tickets to earn extra money. That would call for the NCAA death penalty like Jim Valvano got at NC State back in the 1990's...

[SacFalcFan]

that is pretty interesting..

[NCFalconfan]

UNC has too many "friends in high places" for them to ever get busted on anything. Anything sort of a coach on video handing money to a recruit will get brushed under the carpet.

[Xnex]

Following are a couple of Tweets regarding things Spurrier supposedly said. I must say, if the statements are accurate, I'm suprised he spoke so strongly.

http://twitter.com/josephperson

S. Carolina coach Steve Spurrier says he's not surprised by article connecting UNC asst. John Blake to Calif. agent.

"When you’ve been in coaching as long as I have, we know the reputation of almost all the coaches that have been around a long time. ...

"...We all have a reputation, especially guys who’ve coached 20 years or so. It’s hard to hide whatever your reputation is."

Those are some pretty strong words right there. ^^^^^

[SacFalcFan]

anyone who knows anything about college football knows blake is a cheat and shouldn't be coaching.. it's coaches like that where the ncaa is a joke allowing them to even coach at this level..

[NCFalconfan]

anyone who knows anything about college football knows blake is a cheat and shouldn't be coaching.. it's coaches like that where the ncaa is a joke allowing them to even coach at this level..

The North Carolina Agent Fiasco & The John Blake Stain

A man is known by the company he keeps, but also by the company from which he is kept out.

– Grover Cleveland

Butch Davis and the North Carolina Carolina Tar Heels made a statement to the college football world when they hired John Blake to head their football recruiting operations.

And now they’re learning just what that statement was.

Allegations about Blake’s possible role in the North Carolina agent scandals are only Blake’s most recent headlines. I’ve followed John Blake’s career with a combination of morbid fascination and interest since his days in the 1990s wrecking the Dallas Cowboy locker room and then the Oklahoma Sooner football program.

And as a Longhorn and Cowboy fan, I confess that I was bothered by only one of those offenses.

One has to wonder what North Carolina – one of the nation’s most respected public universities and a school one does not generally associate with scandal – could have been possibly thinking?

Consider this your John Blake primer:

1979-1982 Blake is an All-Big 8 nose tackle for Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma Sooners. Let me suggest that this may have been a formative experience for him. I AM INSINUATING NOTHING.

1985 – 1988 Blake coaches at OU, proving himself early to be a dynamic staff member and a fantastic recruiter. He also finds himself further steeped in the culture of one of college football’s great cheating moral/ethical wastelands recruiting machines.

As the Switzer era wraps up and the major felonies start rolling in…gang rape, shootings, cocaine trafficking etc – Blake reads the graffiti on the wall.

1989 Blake leaves OU For Tulsa as Switzer is pushed out as head coach.

1990 – 1992 Amazingly, Blake is brought back to Oklahoma to serve under Gary Gibbs after only one year at Tulsa despite his association with the previous regime. Gibbs, by all accounts, runs a clean program under massive NCAA penalties (no television for a year, reduced ‘ships, bowl ban) and is eventually shown the door because he’s not winning enough, going 44-23-2 in his tenure.

The Sooners go with Howard Schnellenberger, who smells of English Leather and pipe tobacco, and rambles about Icelandic Sagas being written about his regime. Not a Switzer guy, to say the least.

1993-1995 Meanwhile, Blake goes to the Dallas Cowboys to rejoin Barry Switzer, his old mentor. Blake coaches DL for the Cowboys where he develops several elite talents, manages to spark a racial divide in the locker room by falsely accusing Troy Aikman of being a virulent racist (payback for Aikman refusing to treat Switzer as anything but a disorganized yokel in over his head), and then helps uber-vulture media opportunist Skip Bayless perpetuate the Aikman is gay rumors along with the idea that Aikman would purposefully tank against the Redskins out of deference to Norv Turner.

Guys like Michael Irvin and Jim Jeffcoat fight back on Troy’s behalf and Blake ultimately ends up losing credibility, but it gets ugly and plays no small role in destroying a dynasty.

1996 – 1998 Naturally, Blake is just the sort of man you want as the head man of your college football program. At age 34. With no coordinator level experience. And participation in a deeply corrupt prior regime that almost earned the death penalty. And a history of playing the race card. Switzer anoints Blake as his man and a hundred former Sooner players show up to his announcement as a show of solidarity.

Oklahoma recruiting prospers under Blake….

…but on-field results don’t.

He goes 12-22 – the worst three years in Sooner football history – before being fired.

Interesting aside: some Sooners allege that Blake destroyed all Sooner football recruiting records before leaving Norman.

2000 While Blake is in exile, Bob Stoops wins the MNC at OU in his second year with one of the best coaching jobs in college football history. Blake sought credit for this MNC in several media outlets, pointing out that these were his recruits (about half of the OU starters were Blake guys) despite the fact that many of them were playing new positions, had never been effectively coached, and had never played in real schemes.

Understandably, Stoops is not a big John Blake fan.

2003 John Blake starts coaching at Mississippi State for – wait for it – Jackie Sherrill. Sherrill resigns at the end of the year under pressure from more recruiting violations and other malfeasance (his third university with similar results, the others being Pittsburgh and Texas A&M).

This is the second head coach John Blake coaches under that has to leave the game in disgrace. Probably one of the few recruiters in college football who had the distinction of working for the two men Joe Paterno once specifically called out as the reason he could never leave college football.

2004- 2006 The Nebraska Cornhuskers snap up Blake where he coaches under a desperate and hapless Bill Callahan. He recruits well at times, including landing Ndamukong Suh, but he also takes huge numbers of JUCOs that don’t pan out.

No known scandals. Except for Nebraska’s play on the field.

2007 – 2009 Blake heads to UNC to join Butch Davis’ staff as DL coach and recruiting coordinator. UNC rebounds from a decade of recruiting irrelevance and begins inking elite defensive talents from across the country. Heading into 2010, several NFL websites project the Tarheels as the most talented defense in the country.

2010 The NCAA shows up in Chapel Hill and begins interrogating UNC players – mostly on defense – about the alleged role that agents have played in a number of areas: rent, food, entertainment, cars, trips to Miami, air fare.

The name Reggie Bush is thrown around by investigators.

It started when Marvin Austin began tweeting about a trip to Miami and was seen driving the car of a former Tar Heel player, signed to agent Gary Wichard. And it appears that a few John Blake players over the years have signed with Wichard (including Brian Bosworth and Cedric Jones – who are both currently suing Wichard as a cheat).

Once again, John Blake – aka Black Santa – a nickname he has picked up over the years from his players (presumably not just because he’s jolly?) – finds himself at the center of more drama.

Ho, ho, hos.

Undoubtedly, North Carolina made a statement when they hired John Blake.

[Art Vandalay]

I listened to an interview yesterday here in Birmingham from Charles Robinson (one of the authors of the yahoo article) and he basically said this thing is going to hit the fan. The NCAA is looking into at least 3 prominent agents - names that a casual fan would recognize, and that several schools are being investigated. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst, he said the UNC thing is a 9 when you factor in the coach being involved. It should be resolved within a few weeks he said but the other schools may not be resolved until partway through the season.

[Xnex]

I listened to an interview yesterday here in Birmingham from Charles Robinson (one of the authors of the yahoo article) and he basically said this thing is going to hit the fan. The NCAA is looking into at least 3 prominent agents - names that a casual fan would recognize, and that several schools are being investigated. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst, he said the UNC thing is a 9 when you factor in the coach being involved. It should be resolved within a few weeks he said but the other schools may not be resolved until partway through the season.

Wow, that sounds really bad. Now I know that Weslye Saunders was questioned and there are concerns about his eligibility for the coming season. And it may end up that Weslye did something wrong and will be unable to play all year long; I don't know. I don't think Weslye is going to get punished very much, if at all.

But one thing I feel really confident about is coach Spurrier, and his staff not being involved in anything wrong in the recruiting process. I just don't think Spurrier would ever allow something like that to happen in his program. I also think he still retains just enough vanity to believe that he... and his coach's are good enough to coach up good players to compete against great ones, and thus he wouldn't ever covet a player so much that he would risk ruining his reputation on such a thing.

Does anyone here disagree with me about Spurrier in this situation? I know he's made tons of enemies with his arrogance in the past, but I would still like to know if people here think he would ever cheat like this just to get a kid to sign.

[VTCrunkler]

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/voices/blogpost/8119087/

UNC may have played 2009 season with ineligible players

UNC vs Notre Dame

By Tim Hall

Updated at 9:12 a.m.

88

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Yahoo! Sports reported two days ago that UNC assistant coach John Blake is being investigated by the NCAA concerning his relationship with NFL agent Gary Wichard.

But that might not even be the biggest problem for UNC right now. A trip to California in the summer of 2009 might be the real issue.

One of Wichard's clients is former Tar Heel Kentwan Balmer. Defensive tackle Marvin Austin visited Balmer in California in the summer before the 2009 season. The two worked out at Proactive Sports Performance, which is two miles away from Wichard's agency.

Wichard unveiled in the Yahoo article that Balmer paid for Austin's travel and expenses - an NCAA violation because Balmer and Austin do not have enough of a pre-existing relationship.

Later the N&O reported that former Tar Heel and NFL rookie Cam Thomas went on the trip too. He confirmed to the paper that Balmer paid for his and Austin's travel.

An NCAA bylaw on “Preferential Treatment" states that a player can’t receive travel and training benefits that are derived because of their athletic skill.

Adam Gold and Joe Ovies spoke to Yahoo reporter Charles Robinson on 99.9 The Fan on Tuesday. Gold asked if it's true that Balmer paid for the trip, "Is Carolina viewed to have played 2009 with two ineligible players?"

"Yes, that can definitely be the case," Robinson replied.

Robinson said the NCAA's first concern in the matter, even if Balmer paid for the trip, is to find out if the trip was "legit" and to make sure Balmer wasn't acting as a runner.

"They need to know this is not Balmer paying for these guys via Gary Wicahrd, using Balmer to pay for other guys."

Since the 2009 season is already over and Thomas is already long gone, vacating wins could be in order.

There is potential that the Heel's 8-win season and Car Care Bowl loss is wiped from the slate.

[Ethanga62890]

Blah blah blah blah blah. Pure speculation. I'm not saying they did or didn't do it but wait and see.

[VTCrunkler]

btw, im rooting for carolina to beat lsu..

Blah blah blah blah blah. Pure speculation. I'm not saying they did or didn't do it but wait and see.

[VTCrunkler]

Long-Term Effects of the Scandal at UNC?

(Note: as we go to press with this article, there have been no statements from UNC regarding the agent scandal and assistant coach John Blake.)

Speaking of ACC brethren, the ongoing scandal at UNC is a gripping story. It would take too much time to recap everything that's going on within the context of this article, so if you aren't up to speed, just Google "UNC agent scandal Marvin Austin John Blake" for a cornucopia of fill-in material.

The immediate concern to the NCAA is that Marvin Austin and other Tar Heels and college football players may have received improper benefits from an agent, Gary Wichard. Beyond that immediate issue, there's a connection between Wichard and Tar Heel defensive line coach John Blake that the NCAA wants to investigate.

Blake has long been regarded as a shady operator in college football. No, he has never been officially caught doing anything, but South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier had a very interesting quote regarding Blake. When the news broke that Blake was (very) connected to Wichard, Spurrier was asked if that surprised him. He said:

"Let me just say this: When you've been in coaching as long as I have, we know the reputation of almost all the coaches out there that have been around a long time," Spurrier told The (Columbia) State newspaper. "So I guess what I would say is that article's not very surprising. That's about the least I should say about it. We all have a reputation, especially guys who've coached 20 years or so. It's hard to hide whatever your reputation is."

If the NCAA chooses to take a close look at Blake's actions at UNC, not just with regards to his connections to Wichard, but with his recruiting practices in general, this thing might blow up on UNC. The Tar Heels have the ongoing bad press of the agent scandal, and they could have the stain of something more long-term, depending upon what Blake may have done and how closely the NCAA chooses to look.

I admit that I don't know a lot about the culture at UNC, beyond what we all know: it's a basketball-first school, and very proud not just of its academic reputation, but also of its athletic reputation of high accomplishment and high behavioral standards. UNC is a school that is generally regarded not just as having done it well, but having done it the right way.

When UNC hired Butch Davis to coach their football team, they made a commitment to winning, a very expensive commitment. They immediately set about giving Davis everything he said he needed, from a big contract ($2 million per year) to a $70 million expansion of Kenan Stadium (check out http://www.newkenan.com/).

What if they accidentally sold their soul in the process? At the very least, it might be found out that Marvin Austin was ineligible for the 2009 season, meaning the Heels would have to vacate all of their victories from that year, and at the very worst, the NCAA might discover violations of the worst kind, if they're able to find out that Blake's actions match his shady reputation.

I say "accidentally" because I think that UNC, in giving Butch Davis the keys to the kingdom, didn't know what they were doing, simply because they don't know football. Here's a simple question: if Roy Williams (or any other UNC basketball coach) wanted to hire a basketball assistant with the reputation of John Blake, do you think that would be allowed to happen? I don't. I think the UNC athletics administration would know about it, and would block it. I'd like to think so, anyway.

But there's probably no one in UNC's basketball-centric athletics culture who knew enough about football to stand up, when Davis wanted to hire John Blake, and say, "Um, wait a minute ... " Now they've got a guy on staff who may derail the program.

North Carolina has enough trouble as it is getting fans to buy into football in a big way. If the fans have ponied up tens of millions of dollars for stadium expansion at the request of a coach (Butch Davis) who hires cronies (John Blake) who embarrass the program, and perhaps even put it on probation, then the fallout will be big. For a university that wants to be good at football, having the program become a stain on their athletics reputation will set that effort back years.

Good for the Hokies, eh? I'm usually in favor of having ACC football teams be strong, but not North Carolina. The Tar Heels are too potent of a recruiting adversary, not just in the increasingly-important state of North Carolina, but in the always-important home state of Virginia.

If Butch and Blake get the Heels in hot water, that will be just fine with me. Sorry to be that way, but it's the truth.

[Ethanga62890]

btw, im rooting for carolina to beat lsu..

Glad to have you on board I don't agree with Blake's past but i mean everything anyone is hearing is pure conjecture and gossip. I'm not gonna hang my hat on anything until the punishment is handed down.

[VTCrunkler]

yeah, its just that you guys are kickin our azz in in our own state at recruiting. brings back memories of 97 when i saw VT get beatdown by carolina at the gaytor bowl. and the fact that mack brown came in and recruited the 757 so well now butch and company are doing the same thing

Glad to have you on board I don't agree with Blake's past but i mean everything anyone is hearing is pure conjecture and gossip. I'm not gonna hang my hat on anything until the punishment is handed down.

[Ethanga62890]

yeah, its just that you guys are kickin our azz in in our own state at recruiting. brings back memories of 97 when i saw VT get beatdown by carolina at the gaytor bowl. and the fact that mack brown came in and recruited the 757 so well now butch and company are doing the same thing

We can't help that some great players come from that area. Great talent draws guys like Butch Davis