Former University of North Carolina football coach Butch Davis said in a statement late Thursday night that he believes UNC chancellor Holden Thorp didn't promptly communicate to Davis any concerns Thorp had about the recruitment of Davis' son, Drew.
"I’m disappointed Chancellor Thorp has chosen to mention our son publicly as a part of his explanation for the decision to terminate my job," Davis said. "The first time I was made aware the chancellor had any concerns whatsoever about the recruiting of my son was the Friday before I was fired — and he did not communicate those concerns to me personally. Once I was made aware that he had become uneasy about the situation, I immediately called him to discuss it. I left a message on his voice mail that was not returned."
Thorp, who fired Davis on July 27, said Thursday afternoon that he had been disappointed that Davis offered a scholarship to East Chapel Hill High quarterback Drew Davis without first consulting Thorp or athletic director Dick Baddour.
As he has repeatedly, Thorp said Thursday there were many factors that led to Davis' firing as the football program was charged with nine major NCAA violations in June. With respect to the Drew Davis scholarship offer, Thorp said he would have preferred for Butch Davis to consult with Baddour or Thorp first so they could be on the same page with all the controversy surrounding the program
In Davis' statement, he said Drew Davis had already decided to come to UNC as a walk-on in order to give someone else a scholarship opportunity.
"My wife and I had also decided that in addition to the financial gifts we already make to the university annually, we would also contribute a scholarship through UNC’s Family Scholarship Fund so a member of an employee’s family could attend the university," Davis said.
"It's clear Chancellor Thorp knew for some time that Drew was being recruited by our football program. But he expressed no concerns to me whatsoever. I can assure you that if he'd given me any indication during those months that he was the least bit concerned, I would gladly have taken the time to sit down and discuss the issue with him."
Comments
This entire episode...
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 18:28 — UNC1998is a display of Thorp's inability to manage a situation. He can spin however he wants (with regard to answering a specific question from a reporter), but the fact remains. The fact is he commited an NCAA violation, albeit secondary with no repercussions. He also dragged the innocent son of the fired head coach into what has become a sideshow soap opera to the football season. I am a graduate of UNC. I am not influential or wealthy. I do not possess the ability to have an effect on the goings on at the school. I am convinced that UNC has a leader who should not be there. He is ill equipped to handle any topic outside of academia. Rather than proving himself a great representative he has done the opposite. I realize he will probably play a large part in determining the next AD. I sincerely hope he is muted in such a way to leave little imprint on who that person will be.
Summed it up perfectly
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 18:30 — Heels20I agree with every word you said.
Save a team
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 12:05 — Heels20Fire a chancellor
+1, Heels20 !
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 22:37 — ProwlingWoofie+1, Heels20 !
NOW butch claims that his
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:37 — bppackNOW butch claims that his son was going to walk on and they were going to set up a scholarship. interesting that nobody knew about any of this until he issues this press release. after all that has happened, anybody who believes anything that comes out of this guy's mouth is a fool.
You're an idiot
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 14:42 — vickmydawgYea, because it's a violation to talk about that tool.
Set the minimum ...
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 09:53 — grndvu... student athlete SAT score (out of the old 1400) firmly at 1000 - or 900, 800, whatever - and the problem pretty much goes away, along with the routine slugging of girlfriends.
Wow
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 03:17 — ncsfeddieWith each new day and new revelation in this ongoing saga it gets harder to remember that it was barely more than a year ago that UNC was the flagship, the shining example to us all. A place that never did anything wrong and had a 50 year reputation to back that up. A football program on it's way to the top of the ACC. How quickly they have become a three ring circus where no one in power seems to have any idea what anyone else is doing. It's like some sort of bad sitcom. It's not unusual for a coach and/or AD to be fired during a scandal, but to have such vocal support from a school's fanbase for firing the chancellor is surprising. I mean, how dare the chancellor turn his back on the football boosters in the name of defending the schools academic reputation? I would expect that from lesser schools but not from a vastly superior academic institution like UNC. That just does not sound like the Carolina Way. Perhaps it is true what they say that pride does come before the fall. I can't wait to tune in to tomorrow's episode.
Ncfreddie
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 09:39 — gvillegatrCan you come up with an original thought or are you just filled to the brim with cliches ?
Sorry
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:13 — ncsfeddieI wasn't trying to be original. Just enjoying the show...
Second Low Blow
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 02:34 — InspectorPittNotice folks .... this is the second low blow aimed at students.
First, the Chancellor blames and allows to be blamed a student-led Honor Court for not catching plagiarism in a student-athlete's paper.
Now, he uses Coach Davis' son.
You can do nothing lower in life, in my view, than pin adult-laden problems on innocent, youthful victims. In this case that's Davis' son and those students involved in the Honor Court.
If Davis' son did play for his father, it wouldn't be the first time a kid was recruited and played for this Dad.
I wonder how the Trustees feel about this placement of blame?
I understand that Butch used
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 09:10 — johngI understand that Butch used the wrong fork at a luncheon and didn't open the door for a female faculty member and these will be the next excuses Holden uses for the firing. He has to go!! We need a totally clean break.
Thorpe didn't need an
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:39 — bppackThorpe didn't need an "excuse" to fire Davis. he had NINE good reasons.
Hard to believe Thorp is so
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 23:45 — dabearHard to believe Thorp is so desperate he is grasping at straws in an attempt to justify his firing of Coach Davis.
Who was the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and had DIRECT responsibility for the tutor program when these violations occurred?
Holden Thorp has lost the confidence of the vast majority of Carolina alumni & supporters and needs to go.
Who honestly has any confidence that he can lead a successful search for the next AD after the totally inept way he has handled this investigation? He is clearly in over his head.
Fire Holden NOW!
I wonder which phone Butch
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 23:12 — StateGrad97I wonder which phone Butch used to make that call that was never returned. . .
it was probably his unc-ch
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 11:40 — bppackit was probably his unc-ch issued phone, so it was no wonder thorpe didn't recognize the number and didn't answer.
ok it is time for thorpe to go to
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 22:51 — jtric1963thorpe is getting quiet stupid now --- it is time for him to go too. i am demanding he be fired too. of course, what does that mean.....lol
Geez, no more violations?!
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 22:37 — inherentbiasThorp has to know a school can't talk about a recruit with an offer. Even if the offer was revoked (which I doubt it has been), that is still a secondary violation that must be reported to the NCAA.
On top of that, you're confirming your school made the offer prior to the August 1 deadline. It probably wasn't in writing, but still you don't see any other schools confirming offers prior to the new August 1 deadline.
Way to piss off your ex-coach and the fans that support him even more Holden. And way to give your compliance office more fits while you're at it.
Aw, iz Butch pizzed
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 23:22 — MozarteanAw, iz Butch pizzed off?
Good.
There was no official offer
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 22:50 — gvillegatrRead the article. Butch was not offering his son a scholly. He was gonna walk-on.
"Read the article. Butch was
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 14:53 — inherentbias"Read the article. Butch was not offering his son a scholly. He was gonna walk-on."
Inside Carolina and other websites had previously reported it was a football scholarship as confirmed by Thorp. An academic scholarship would still count towards the scholarship total or schools would just give football players "academic" scholarships and be able to work around the 85 man roster limit. Butch is just spinning this story now because what he does best is lie.
My point is that Thorp was stupid to comment on it publicaly cause he is 1) committing a recruiting violation and 2) gonna piss off someone who is popular and unmatched in his ability to lie and spin. I'm sure the compliance office will report this as national reporters have commented on his gaff on twitter. At least I hope the compliance office is monitoring twitter now.
Thorp has now confirmed it
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 23:15 — inherentbiasThorp has now confirmed it was a violation and UNC will "self report" (like people hadn't noticed).
Now if only the compliance office hadn't admitted recently that they don't even have records of Butch's main phone line they could avoid the dreaded "failure to monitor" tag from the NCAA.
The stated intention for the
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 14:14 — keihinThe stated intention for the son to walk on comes from a highly suspect source and at a highly suspect time.
Though I don't blame Butch for being cheesed that Holden brought the boy into this spat.
Holden seems to be grasping at straws in trying to find additional justification for his unpopular act. The release of the statement about the boy only extends the bad news cycle for UNC-CH, and makes the Chancellor look weaker than he already does. I actually think Holden did the right thing and for the right reasons in firing Butch, but he really needs to learn a few things about timing and taking ownership of one's decisions. He has looked weak and hapless throughout this entire affair. Not qualities you'd like to have in a leader.
Thorpe has been amatuerish
Thu, 08/04/2011 - 22:33 — Cato08Thorpe has been amatuerish in how he's handled this, no surprise, he's new at the job and has been confronted with an unprecedented challenge. I'll guarantee, he's not sleeping well these days. Given the nature of the problem, he doesn't need to be thrown under the bus. BYW, I'm not a Carolina fan.
Agree
Fri, 08/05/2011 - 23:03 — JustObservingI suspect that Chancellor Thorp is dealing with alot more factors than any of us are aware of, and unfortunately it looks as though the BOT is standing back while that bus is rolling.