The investigations into possible misconduct by University of North Carolina football players transformed Friday into a full-fledged crisis for the school.
Thirteen players - including seven starters on UNC's star-studded defense - remained in Chapel Hill on Friday night as the 18th-ranked Tar Heels prepared for their season-opener in Atlanta. Seven are ineligible for tonight's season-opening game against No. 21 Louisiana State for breaking school and/or NCAA rules. Six more are being withheld as investigations into possible inappropriate contact with agents and possible academic misconduct continue.
Two other stars - starting linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant - had to wait until Friday night to have their eligibility established. They were scheduled to catch a plane before 9 p.m. to join their teammates.
But even so, this is thought to be the largest number of suspensions/withholdings on one team in the athletic department's history. And the situation calls into question the reputation of a program that hasn't dealt with this much official questioning since the basketball team's involvement in a point-shaving scandal in the early 1960s.
"It's humiliating by any measure," said Brent Barringer, a UNC graduate and member of the UNC Board of Governors. "It's not what we're about.
"Just six years ago, I was at a seminar in Chapel Hill and heard [the late] Myles Brand, then the president of the NCAA, hold up UNC-Chapel Hill as a paragon of the student-athlete model. Here we are, less than seven years later, having to disqualify 20 percent of the team not just because of NCAA agent allegations but more importantly academic allegations.
"It shows how fast things can change."
The Tar Heels are mired in two investigations. In June, the NCAA started a probe into whether football players took inappropriate benefits from agents. The News & Observer learned that defensive tackle Marvin Austin and wide receiver Greg Little - two of six players who had considered turning pro after last season - were among the players interviewed.
Austin subpoenaed
Austin has been subpoenaed in Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's investigation of possible violations of North Carolina state law involving sports agents, two sources with knowledge of the subpoenas told The News & Observer on Friday on condition of anonymity. The Associated Press also reported that Austin has been subpoenaed.
Then on Aug. 26, the school announced an additional investigation, into whether a former tutor - who was employed by both the school and Tar Heels football coach Butch Davis - committed academic misconduct while working with football players. A source told The News & Observer that the issue involved whether the tutor gave inappropriate help on papers the players were writing.
Athletic director Dick Baddour explained Friday that when an institution finds a violation related to a student athlete, it has to declare him or her ineligible. Then it must petition the NCAA to restore eligibility. He would not distinguish which of the players in question wouldn't travel because of the agent issue, the academic issue or both. But for now, they fall into two groups:
Declared ineligible, out for LSU: Austin (who was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday for breaking team rules); Little; cornerbacks Charles Brown and Kendric Burney; defensive ends Michael McAdoo and Robert Quinn; and safety Deunta Williams. UNC is coming up with a proposed "remedy," or punishment, that the NCAA would accept to restore eligibility.
"Withheld" from LSU: UNC has not declared that tailbacks Ryan Houston and Shaun Draughn; defensive end Linwan Euwell; or safeties Brian Gupton, Da'Norris Searcy and Jonathan Smith have committed any violations. But the school needs to gather more facts. "If you're at that stage, you would be running a significant risk to play those students," Baddour said. "If they are found that they're in violation, then you would have to vacate the game."
Earlier in the day, it looked as if Williams, a starter, might be cleared in time to join Carter and Sturdivant on their night flight to Atlanta. But a school spokesman said the senior would not be ruled eligible in time for tonight's 8 p.m. kickoff.
The number of games the 13 players might miss hasn't been determined, and the investigation continues to include both agent-related and academic issues.
That means more penalties could be coming from the school, the NCAA or both.
"My hope would be that we would move along enough in the next week or 10 days or two weeks to have a better sense of what's involved with each case," Baddour said. "You've got to understand that this came to us mid- to late summer, and we've been going at it hard. If this had happened in January, we would have had six months to resolve these issues and not face, 'Well, do they play tomorrow or not?'"
UNC's next game, against Georgia Tech, is Sept. 18.
Since the investigations began almost eight weeks ago, speculation about who might be suspended, and for how long, has run rampant. Friday morning, roughly a dozen media members staked out the Kenan Football Center, scribbling notes and tweeting updates as to who was, and was not, boarding buses to the airport.
'Gut-wrenching'
Baddour referred to the situation as "gut-wrenching."
Bob Winston, chairman of UNC's board of trustees, said he was "extremely saddened and disappointed."
"For all people who care about the university, this is a great moment of great sadness," said UNC President Emeritus William Friday. "We've gone 50 years without even the remotest allegation of wrongdoing at Chapel Hill."
Friday was referring to a point-shaving scandal that by 1962 had implicated 50 players from 25 schools around the country who fixed the outcomes of 54 games. One UNC player and four others at N.C. State faced bribery charges and testified against the conspirators in Wake County Superior Court in exchange for immunity.
UNC's athletic department has had to suspend players since then, but not so many at once.
"What we're seeing is a manifestation of what's going on all over college athletics," said Friday, a co-chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which has recommended reforms to college sports. "It's perfectly clear the time has come for the people who care about intercollegiate athletics to put a stop to this."
Baddour and UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp, who both traveled with the team to Atlanta, expressed confidence in Davis. Asked whether the fourth-year head coach's job is in jeopardy, Baddour firmly said, "No," citing Davis' strong leadership and "tremendous job."
Thorp: Tweaks needed
But Thorp added that some things did need to be tweaked off the football field.
"I think that what is clear about this situation is that academics and character have not been emphasized as much as they need to be in the football program," Thorp said. "Because I think people throw around the institutional control [question], but that's about whether you're training your tutors and getting people to sign stuff and all of that. And we're doing all of that, and we'll look at it.
"But I think the big question here is whether people are being reminded frequently enough of the values of the university - and of the importance of academics relative to everything else. And it's clear that we need to improve that."
Thorp said that he has stressed that need for improvement with both Baddour and Davis and that he remains determined to sort out what went wrong and make it right.
"This happened on Butch's watch, but it happened on Dickie's watch and on my watch, too," Thorp said. "And the three of us are committed to making this football program one that is consistent with what Carolina has always been about."
Staff writers Chip Alexander, J.P. Giglio and Ken Tysiac contributed to this report.
