Butch Davis email: concern over player depression?

In mid-September, UNC Football Coach Butch Davis voiced serious concerns about the ongoing investigation into wrongdoing in his program and the affect it was having on suspended players.

In an email to Chancellor Holden Thorp and Athletic Director Dick Baddour, the coach wrote on Sept. 22 said the 16 players sidelined during the investigation were growing angry and frustrated - and perhaps, depressed.

"There is clearly a gread deal of pent up anger, frustration and animosity, in these players," Davis wrote in an email, one of hundreds released by UNC last week in response to a public records request from media outlets. "During the past month, two football players - one at Penn University - one with the Denver Broncos, have committed suicide as a result of depression, frustration and uncertainty in their future."

Davis continued:

"I have a great fear that this situation with our players has the potential of manifesting itself in a way that could be destructive to our players. It could be drinking or substance abuse to deal with the stress and pressure; it could be a DUI; a confrontation on Franklin Street; and even possibly a fight in our own facility. Each day I see more frustration, anger and sadness. To these sixteen kids, this season and their future was everything to them and their families."

Davis then wrote that he had asked team doctors to visit with the players on a consistent basis.

"It's probably the fair and right thing to consider and do," he wrote.