UNC football coaches disciplined as a result of players’ shoe sales, Cunningham says

Coaches on North Carolina’s football team were disciplined after 13 players were suspended for selling team-issued sneakers, UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in an interview with The News & Observer on Tuesday.

Cunningham declined to say which coaches were disciplined or what kind of punishment they were given.

“We don’t talk about personnel issues, but that is certainly part of it,” Cunningham said.

The N&O filed a request for details about the discipline under the state’s public records law on Wednesday.

In January, a UNC fan contacted Cunningham to inform him that athletes on the basketball team had sold their exclusive team-issued Air Jordan 3’s to a local vendor. The vendor was selling the sneakers for $3,500 and had put it on Instagram.

“I have seen all of the scrutiny the UNC academic department has been under so as a fan I wanted to bring this to your attention,” the fan wrote to Cunningham on Jan. 12.

According to emails obtained by The News & Observer in a public records request, Cunningham forwarded the fan’s email to Marielle vanderGelder, UNC’s associate director of athletics, and wrote, “Let’s track this down ASAP.”

“These shoes were issued to Football yesterday — basketball is OK,” she responded. “They have not received these to my knowledge.”

After conducting an investigation, UNC’s compliance office found that 15 football players had sold their shoes to either shoe stores, or their teammates. Some for as much as $2,500.

UNC self-reported the allegations to the NCAA on Feb. 21. They have been deemed a secondary violation.

Cunningham said in the interview Tuesday that the staff did look into whether other sports were involved or had sold gear and determined they hadn’t.

Two shoe stores were said to have bought the sneakers from a few players, according to the emails obtained in the public records request. One was SirCastleTees in Raleigh. The other was Request Boutique in Greensboro.

Both owners, Mike Phillips of SirCastleTees and Gabe Salazar of Request Boutique, confirmed on Monday that they had bought sneakers from the players.

Thirteen of the 15 players were disciplined, some, including quarterback Chazz Surratt, for as many as four games.

Head football coach Larry Fedora said Monday at a press conference called to talk about the player suspensions that he was disappointed after hearing about his players’ actions. He seemed to put some of the blame on himself and his coaching staff.

“I’ve been coaching for over 30 years,” Fedora said Monday. “These are young men. They don’t all make the best decisions every day of their life. That’s our job as coaches is to teach them and to make sure they understand that life is about choices and the choices you make in life, there are consequences to those choices.”

Each year, players are gifted with shoes, shirts, shorts and other gear through the school’s apparel contracts. It is their gear but selling it is not allowed. When asked during the press conference Monday who teaches the athletes what they can and cannot do, Cunningham said it’s the responsibility of the compliance staff and coaching staff.

Prior to the season, UNC’s compliance staff holds a meeting and provides a presentation to the players about the NCAA rules they must follow, and things they cannot do. According to a Power Point presentation provided by the school in a public records request, one slide titled “gear, awards & autographs” warns players that they cannot “sell or exchange any rewards you receive as a result of your participation in athletics.”

Student-athletes are also required to fill out a department policy form. The athletes must acknowledge that selling gear is a violation of state, university and NCAA legislation. They also must acknowledge they will be disciplined if they sell or exchange gear.

“Our compliance staff is responsible for the education of our student-athletes and our coaches and our staff, but then the coaches reinforce it,” Cunningham said Monday during the press conference. “But it’s the head coach’s responsibility — he re-enforces the message from our compliance staff on a regular basis.”

Cunningham also said that UNC has high expectations for its student-athletes and coaches.

“And in this case we’re disappointed,” Cunningham said Monday. “Disappointed that the student-athletes won’t be able to compete for a couple of games. Disappointed that we have to report this.”

This story was originally published August 8, 2018 at 5:29 PM.