15 UNC football players don't make trip to Atlanta

I take offense to some of the comments made on here about athletes getting padded grades... I was a college athlete and I worked hard for all of my grades. They were not given to me or any other athlete at my school. These guys made a bad mistake and got caught. Why does it matter if they were white or black they screwed up. Quit making accusations and excuses and help these guys to make better decisions and stand behind the guys that are doing the right thing. Not every athlete is doing things they shouldnt.

How bad a student do you have to be to cheat at UNC? The N&O reported along time ago that 82% of all grades issued to under-grads were A's or B's!!! Community colleges don't have grade inflation that is that bad. What an easy diploma.

This is the most blatant racial discrimination that i have ever witnessed. These young men are ALL african american student athletes that are being used for servitude purposes. Not a single white in the bunch! Where is the outcry from the NAACP? The great university of north carolina and the news and observer should be ashamed for attacking the character of these fine young men! Shame on you!

This is as humiliating and embarassing as it can possibly be, and it will be discussed on prime time national television no less.  Something --maybe many things -- have gone wrong.   Where, pray tell, was the oversight from the coaching staff and academic staff?  What is the responsibility of AD Dick Baddour, who when I entered Carolina in September 1967 was the assistant dean of men and then took a post in the law school before being named as AD by the late Michael Hooker?? 

I have to wonder if former Chancellor James Moeser, who you may recall came to Carolina from the Unviersity of Nebraska (I understand Nebraska is a national college football power) gave Head Coach Butch Davis more freedom in recruiting after he was hired to replace John Bunting.  

Brent Mussburger is going to have a field day on ABC/ESPN. Here in Durham the Duke athletics department staff members must be heartily chuckling and snickering at Carolina's misfortune.   Bill Friday is correct in his assessment college athletics must be removed from the area of highly expensive entertainment.   And, at the very least, I strongly feel Dick Baddour should retire as AD while he still has his honor left.  

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/748a0362df/hitler-is-told-about-the-unc-ncaa-investigation

two million dollars a year and we get this crap and we can't even beat crappy State teams.  At least the university is not taking this stuff lightly.  Ol' Butchy might be looking for another job at the end of the year.  Two million a year for this quality of work is ridiculous.  Let him go coach Arkansas!!!

...to see what happens if the blacklisted players are actually dismissed from the team/university. I'm sure each player that was 'reviewed' by the NCAA 'Reviewers' was probably given a business card, 'just in case' they remembered anything else that might be helpful in the 'review'.

I'm sure some memories will be jogged if players are ruled ineligible or booted out of school ! The nightmare could just be getting started.

The UNC football program and the athletic department have sold their souls to to ESPN and the television dollar. 

Butch Davis and Dick Baddour have to be held responsible. Coming off last year's basketball season fiasco has there ever been a worse period for big-time UNC athletics? I don't think so.

There were the little signs like not playing Duke in the season finale. Renovating Keenan stadium and further shutting out one of the most beautiful football settings in America. Then, there was talk of building a whole new stadium altogether. Fortunately that went away. Now the demolishing of the fieldhouse so a rather ironically named Center of Excellence could be built along with luxury boxes for the high-rollers.

Here's a question that needs to be asked: how many dollars gained from football revenue, all sports for that matter, actually translate into books for the library, support for faculty and administration salaries, and upkeep of the physical plant of the entire university? I think we'd all be disappointed by the answer.

It's easy to see how this happened. It comes from looking at the basketball program and saying, "Gee, why can't our football program have the same level of success? Think of all the money we could be making!" But the Dean Dome came to be built aftera on a foundation of twenty to thirty plus years of exceptional success - playing in Carmichael. The football program is going after a comparable big-time with no real track record other than the good name of the university.

So in comes Butch Davis saddled with the pressure to succeed to fulfill the TV dollar exposure and expectations and to sell the new luxury boxes. The pressure is turned up higher than ever, and now we have this scandal. 

Is ninety-year-old Bill Friday, God bless him, the only one who seems to get what's going on? Sure seems like it.

The best excuse is the simplest one.

    I forgot.

The second best is:

    Tom was supposed to drive the car,but he left early because he heard the alarms

The third best is:

    We had a team,but we left them at home.

Maybe I've just missed it, but it seems to me like most of the attention on this issue has been directed at the players - for violating the agent rules and then the other group for academic misconduct - and not at Butch Davis (other than the posters on this forum who are calling for his head). This is one of those rare instances where you've got a direct link between the head coach and the misconduct. Usually the head coaches insulate themselves from any misdoing by getting an assistant coach or team manager or other some-such entity to do the dirty work for them. But in thise case, Butch Davis paid the tutor who was doing course work for his players! Now his official story is that he was paying her to tutor his son and I guess we are to believe it is just a coincidence that she was also providing this 'service' to his players. Carolina fans should not be surprised at this. They adopted a win-at-all-costs mentality in football three years ago, and now they are reaping what they sow. You pay a coach $2 million a year, pay his assistants exorbitant salaries, build a Taj Mahal of a training complex for the football program, sink millions into the existing football stadium and hire coaches of questionable integrity, this is what happens. Hope the 8-5 season last year and the impending NCAA penalties was worth the investment!

what about us?   Alumni - who were excited about "big-time" football at UNC - making the trip to Atlanta to see the "big" UNC-LSU game.   How about reimbursing us for the costs of the tickets and trip?  We were planning on supporting a Team, who is full of disciplined  and dedicated "student athletes" (and I stress the word "student" here), from one of the most prestigious universities in the country.  Now we are left to witness a "massacre" to be viewed and plastered all over national TV; an experience which will tarnish the image and reputation of the entire college for years to come.   I suppose - Dickie or Butch - could spare some change to reimburse us, given the salaries these folks get.   Just like in the business world or in the military, it all comes down from the top and leadership...

... imagine what would happen if an independent investigation were conducted.

But, that's the benefit of having a squeeky clean program - you are allowed to conduct your own "self-investigation"!

Sweet.

You may want to read the book by your beloved LT before you sit there and preach that UNC has always done it right until now.

Quote from LT in his book ''If you can't change the system,'' he says of having to stay academically eligible, ''you better learn how to beat it. I did. There were a number of courses that were ready-made for football players. You know, large lecture classes, 1,200 people or more, with two tests, a midterm and a final, both multiple-choice. In those courses, you're gonna get what the guy sitting next to you gets. The only thing you have to do is remember not to copy the same name on your paper.''  

That's just the tip of the iceberg.  Wake up, your program has cheaters and has for a long time like many other places.

UNC would not beat LSU even with these players. So their suspension for this game is a joke.

The NCAA will not let UNC go to any bowl games by the time their investigation is done. So set an example for the school and the nation. Cheating is not allowed.