The University of North Carolina's biggest mistake in 2006
wasn't that it hired Butch Davis as its football coach, but that it allowed
Davis total autonomy over the program.
Davis saw UNC as a school with excellent potential but a bit desperate after
nine years of mediocrity. He sold UNC he could win there, and was given the
tools to succeed, including a campaign that led to a recent expansion of Kenan Memorial
Stadium that was his brainchild.
In building the Tar Heels, part of Davis' approach was to build a moat around
the program and anyone who dared to cross be warned.
He hired John Blake, a former coach at Oklahoma and defensive coach at various
stops but whose specialty was recruiting and dealing with players. Yet, even
before Blake stepped down following UNC's season opener in 2010, South Carolina
coach Steve Spurrier basically said UNC and Davis should have known better
after seeing a report about the allegations in Chapel Hill.
"Let me just say this: When you've been 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, SC) State in August,
2010. "So I guess what I would say is the 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."
Last summer, the NCAA cited nine major infractions by North Carolina. On
Monday, the NCAA announced the school's punishment.
In addition to accepting UNC's recommendation that it vacate wins from the 2008
and ‘09 seasons and its own self-imposed reduction in scholarships, the NCAA slashed
15 scholarships over a three-year period, handed UNC a three-year probation and
will ban the program from a bowl game for the upcoming season.
Also, Blake has been given a three-year show cause penalty, essentially meaning
he can't coach in college for the next three seasons.
"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 NCAA committee said in
its report. "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 for collegiate competition."
Blake's longtime relationship with late agent Gary Wichard was debated by the
committee for some time, a reason the punishment came out now instead of late
December or early January as was expected.
In essence, there was a "hung jury" among the committee, with one
side believing Blake was basically an agent on a college staff and the other
viewing him more sympathetically, that the increased volume of phone calls with
Wichard and transfers of money were that of a man talking often to his dying
friend, who was helping him out financially.
Obviously, the NCAA eventually agreed that Blake, a friend of Davis' since the
late 1970s, was simply up to no good.
Davis said he went 16 years without working with Blake and didn't really know
him that well. Yet, when hired by UNC, Davis spoke of Blake almost as a son, a
dear friend whom he knew was the perfect fit for the program.
Davis was fired last summer, walking away with a $2.7 million buyout of his
contract. Blake even received $74,500 when he abruptly left. They have made
Carolina pay a dear price now.
Fortunately for UNC's future, it did everything in its power to work with the
NCAA once it learned of the allegations. Otherwise, this would have been more
severe.
Carolina football has a new leader in Larry Fedora, and his passion and energy
will certainly help the school get through this mess. There is a future for UNC
football, and it appears to be quite bright.
But it will take a long time for North Carolina to get over being lumped in
with a bevy of schools it once looked down upon because of its excellent
standing with the NCAA for so many decades.
Davis' name may be mud along Tobacco Road, but it's UNC that will feel the
sting of this day's disgrace. Lesson learned.
