Chapel Hill — Amid continued speculation that North Carolina coach Larry Fedora is a candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Tennessee, Bubba Cunningham, the UNC athletic director, has released a statement.

And that statement, basically, is this: We won’t address the speculation.

Here’s Cunningham:

“This time each year there are a number of coaching vacancies in college football and yesterday several rumors included speculation about our own football coach Larry Fedora. Neither Coach Fedora nor I are going to address rumors about individual jobs that are bound to happen each year.

It's been my policy since I have been a director of athletics not to comment or engage in discussions regarding a coach's job until such time that there is a change in a coach's employment status. Speculation about the future employment status of a head coach can be detrimental to an athletic program.

I frequently communicate with our head coaches about what they need to be successful at North Carolina. Whether a coach is highly successful or under inordinate pressure it has been my policy to keep those conversations confidential and I will continue my policy to not engage in any public discussion or speculation regarding employment. We work together to provide the best opportunities for our coaches and student-athletes.”

So there you have it. Probably not exactly the kind of statement UNC fans wanted to see. The beat goes on ...