In the early 1960s, then-UNC President William Friday had to deal with a point-shaving scandal involving basketball players at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State.
Now long retired, Friday, 90, has been thinking about those bad old days a good bit lately as he follows the scandal enveloping the football program at Carolina.
"For people who care about the university, this is a moment of great sadness," Friday said today. "We've gone 50 years without even the remotest allegation of wrongdoing at Chapel Hill.
Athletic ethics is an issue dear to Friday's heart. For more than 15 years, he co-chaired the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a collection of university leaders that has recommended reforming college sports.
"What we're seeing is a manifestation of what's going on all over college athletics," he said. "It's pretty clear the time has come for the people who care about intercollegiate athletics to put a stop to this."
Comments
UNC student athletes
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 20:12 — mythbreakerFor at least 35 years, it has only been a extraordinarily rare athlete on the football or basketball team at UNC Chapel Hill who has been a student in any meaningful sense of the word (i.e. preparing for, attending and participating in academic classes). The only way to get the system to return to a student athlete model (assuming there ever was one) is to require that all student athletes (a) be admitted on a academically competitive basis with all real students, (b) take at least 15 hours a semester, (c) attend at least 85% of their classes, and (d) maintain a B average. Only then would Chapel Hill (or any major sports university, as they are all the same) be able to reclaim its academic integrity from its current place in the gutter.
bppack, It's the uniformed
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 19:24 — woodyjrbppack,
It's the uniformed comments like yours that keep NCSU from not getting the proper funding from the NC Legislature that it deserves.
Please be careful, for what you say is read by thousands of people. Some of which will be the ones writing the checks that NCSU and UNC need to stay afloat.
Just the other day an alumnus from NCSU told me how he had seen a tutor taking tests for your NCSU athletes. It does happen, almost everywhere, just not all are caught or reported.
WoodyJr.
Another UNC backer tries the
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 18:23 — awdracerAnother UNC backer tries the "everybody does it" excuse. Puhlease.
UNC has become a Joke
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 16:56 — stateofmindUNC is far worse than SMU and more like Faber College. What a joke.
There is no way UNC should ever again talk about the "Carolina Way".
UNC has cheaters throughout the coaching staff and football team and a blind administration. No one in the UNC administration could possibily have been so dumb as to not know the football players were not students. Certainly they all knew about that Santa guy recruiting jocks to win games and not be students.
The season should be cancelled now, and the NCAA should give UNC the same penalty it gave SMU. You have noticed things have changed at SMU.
The "Carolina Way" is supposed to be academics first. Okay UNC, prove it and cancel your season while you purge the cheaters and semi pro players from your school.
Out of touch
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 17:20 — wooten78Academics first is why they suspended the players involved with an academic scandal.
Purge the cheaters? They aren't traveling with the team and those who are confirmed have been suspended from the team.
Death penalty? If during the investigation it turns out they were paying players and encouraging them to cheat systematically, then I am sure they will get it.
You have noticed that things have changed on UNC's roster.
this is a unc-ch problem. it
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 15:07 — bppackthis is a unc-ch problem. it does NOT happen everywhere.
Seems like half the SEC schools
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 15:41 — piedmontblueshave players that also attended "Starvin'" Marvin's party. Miami players, too. So the agent issue's not just a UNC problem, no matter how much joy the ABCers get out of this right now.
/thread
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 15:27 — izzykareemwolfpack fans spittin hot fire today, shutting down threads in two lines.
Nice crutch UNC-CH fans, problem is, as my man bppack says, it's NOT happening everywhere, and further, its been going on at UNC-CH alot longer than any of these holier than thou, tighty-whitey, country club types at UNC-CH are ready to admit.
Wrong
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 16:41 — wooten78If you have ever read anything Bill Friday said, then you would know this has been his message all along--and certainly way before "Targate". He did not like the firing of John Bunting, and he was very public about his feelings on the issue. He was upset that UNC-CH had chosen big time football (money) over character. This is not a man looking for a crutch, its a man with deep rooted conviction you cluelessly speak of.
Furthermore, keep dreaming if you think this does not happen everywhere. What does not happen everywhere is NCAA investigations. They turn a blind eye until given a reason to investigate (for example: Marvin's twitter account). Whoever you pull for, just hope your team's players are not stupid enough to advertise their wrongdoings. If they do, then your team will surely have a microscope on it; and depending on your institution's willingness to comply, the NCAA will find any number of non-compliant issues and always do.
Do you honestly think Nick Saban conducted a thorough investigation and found only one player, Marcell Dareus, doing something wrong? How do you think Vegas would handicap the likelihood of that?
I guarantee you what is going on in Chapel Hill has made many coaches have nightmares or at least seriously contemplate the legitamcy of their program.
Well spoken Wooten 78
Sat, 09/04/2010 - 14:02 — unc098Well spoken Wooten 78
Bless his heart ....
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 14:46 — AgentPierceI'd be fine if Bill Friday's POV was installed as policy at every school in America. Thats not going to happen. I wish it were that simple.
To quote Rodney King ..... "Can't we all just get along?"
Institutional problems reflect larger social / cultural issues and vice versa. :<(