CHAPEL HILL, N.C. � Standing in the end zone of Kenan Memorial Stadium after the first practice of the season Friday, offensive lineman Jonathan Cooper said he understood what might await the North Carolina football team when school resumes Aug. 23. There will be a dose of resentment and a dash of ridicule on campus for the players, the aftermath of a scandal that resulted in charges of nine major NCAA violations.
Gerry Broome, AP
North Carolina interim football coach Everett Withers is trying to rebuild the reputation of a program under NCAA investigation.
Gerry Broome, AP
North Carolina interim football coach Everett Withers is trying to rebuild the reputation of a program under NCAA investigation.
Some players want to hold their ground and fiercely defend the program and ex-coach Butch Davis, who was fired July 27, nine days before practice began. Cooper wants recovery under interim coach Everett Withers.
"There is that potential for people to feel disdain for us," Cooper said. "Coach Withers does have to go repair things with the other side of the campus. We're going to work harder to get our academics better, our attendance better, do the things that matter to get better viewed by people.
"I hate the idea of people looking at me like I'm a dumb jock."
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The campus is on summer break, but there were students here still talking about the run of misconduct that began last summer. There was an accumulation of parking tickets by football players, the overuse of a tutor, charges a player committed plagiarism, extra benefits provided by an NFL agent (which were funneled through an assistant coach) and star defensive lineman Marvin Austin flaunting his status by driving a luxury vehicle on campus.
Austin, who was selected by the New York Giants in the second round of April's NFL draft, was one of seven players who did not play in 2010 because of suspicions by the school they broke rules. There were 14 players who missed at least one game because of suspected violations during a season the Tar Heels ranked 18th in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
The 2011 Tar Heels left behind held a spirited first day of practice. They clapped and stretched in unison.
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When chancellor Holden Thorp fired Davis, Thorp and athletics director Dick Baddour appointed Withers, the defensive coordinator, as interim head coach. The players say they trust Withers and vow to stand behind him. Things appear cheery.
"As soon as I was named head coach, I got a bunch of texts that said, 'Coach, let's move on,'" said Withers, 48, who will get a bump in pay from the $360,000 he was due to receive as defensive coordinator. The school has not announced his new salary.
Moving on, Withers said, included "extending an olive branch" to the academic side of the campus. He understands football will not be trusted by some members of the academic community who feel the reputation of one of the country's top public institutions has been stained ? one that has not had an infraction in 50 years.
But before there is an olive branch, the NCAA will swing its stick. The school's response to the allegations is due Sept. 19. It goes before the Committee on Infractions on Oct. 28 to learn of penalties.
In the week between Davis' firing and the start of practice, three players quit, including cornerback Mywan Jackson, who started five games in 2010. The Tar Heels, who were 8-5 in 2010, have six starters returning on offense, six on defense and have been picked to finish third in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tar Heels open the season Sept.3 against James Madison.
Academics or athletics?
Thorp said the turmoil was not going to erect barriers and force the community to choose football or academics.
"Some people believe that we are making some sort of choice between academics and athletics, but at North Carolina we have this tradition of doing both really, really well," Thorp said. "This is not a choice against football. We are going to continue to support the football program and be competitive."
Thorp said he fired Davis because the perception was Carolina had lost some academic integrity and Davis, to most people, was the face of the scandal that made headlines before the 2010 season began.
On Friday, Thorp released a statement that said UNC self-reported a secondary NCAA violation to the ACC that occurred when Thorp spoke about a scholarship offer Davis made to his son before he was fired.
There are plenty of people here who want the football genie that created this mess put back in the bottle.
You can hear the despair in the voice of Bill Friday, 91, the former president of UNC and one of the founding supporters of the Knight Commission, which seeks to reform intercollegiate athletics. Never did he think Carolina would join the growing list of schools under NCAA investigation.
"We hadn't had an intrusion in 50 years," Friday said. "I didn't think it would happen to North Carolina, but it did. I can't explain it. I don't know how it happened, but here we are. You have to view this thing in the national context that it is in. There are as many as 10 or 12 institutions under the scrutiny of the NCAA for one violation or the other. The presidents must face the challenge that big-time money has brought upon the American university that plays I-A sports.
"What has happened at Chapel Hill, what has happened at Tennessee, Florida State, Southern Cal and the rest, is nothing but having an entertainment industry superimposed on an academic enterprise," Friday said. "It will not fit."
The same week Davis was being fired, invoices went out to boosters to send their checks for seats, which would fund the $70 million expansion to Kenan Stadium's east end. The school is still millions of dollars short of meeting the obligation to pay for the facility because not enough boosters have stepped up to purchase sponsorships of various offices.
The aftermath
Davis says his fingerprints will not be found on any part of the scandal. In a statement released after he was fired, he said in part, "My family and I have been able to endure this difficult period in our lives for several reasons: First and foremost, as a family we have known all along that I personally did nothing wrong. That is the truth."
The university, for the time being, owes Davis $2.7 million for firing him without cause.
His loyalists were bitter about Davis' abrupt firing, but they are starting to soften. T.J. Yates, the starting quarterback in 2010, said the timing caught most people by surprise and pulled at the scab.
"The timing was the most shocking thing," said Yates, a rookie in the Houston Texans camp. "Everybody was just ready to get on to next season when he was fired. That's when everybody said, 'Why now?'"
One of the centerpiece players to North Carolina's 2012 high school recruiting class is Justin Meredith of Anderson, S.C., rated one of the top tight ends in the country by CBS recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. Asked if he was wavering on his commitment, Meredith texted, "It doesn't affect my decision at all because I committed to a university not a coaching staff."
Among high school coaches in the state, UNC still is a sought-after prize for their players.
"Some of us coaches were sitting around after a meeting talking about what were the best college jobs," said Todd Willert, the coach at East Forsyth near Winston-Salem. "We all said Carolina is a great job. It's all there. Facilities, support, academics."
Willert was asked what direction Carolina's football program would go in now. Would it demand more stringent academic requirements, and would football fade?
"You had some red flags there the last few years, sure, and you knew who was too smooth up there recruiting," Willert said, "but the one thing that sticks out for me is that one of my kids was offered a scholarship there and qualified with his SAT score. They still asked him to go back and see if he could and get a higher score. They pushed kids academically to do better.
"They'll get through this."
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