Lawyers for former North Carolina associate head coach John Blake said this afternoon that agent Gary Wichard provided “gifts” to Blake to pay for Blake’s son’s private school tuition while Blake was coaching at North Carolina.
William Beaver, Blake’s Orlando-based lawyer, said in a teleconference call with reporters today that Wichard gave Blake money for the tuition on one occasion in 2008 and twice more in 2009. Beaver said Wichard is the godfather of Blake’s son.
On Thursday, Beaver had said the last of the monies provided to Blake by Wichard was exchanged “if not over three years ago, right around three years ago.” This afternoon, Beaver said he was hurried last week and didn’t have a chance to adequately review the records before a Thursday teleconference call with reporters.
North Carolina announced Blake’s hiring in December of 2006, three years and nine months ago.
Blake’s lawyers confirmed that Blake has spoken to Alabama defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, but did not confirm reports that Blake encouraged Dareus to sign with Wichard. Dareus was suspended for the first two games of the season for receiving impermissible benefits.
According to Blake’s lawyers, Blake and Dareus discussed Dareus’ mother, who was ill, and that Dareus was being besieged by agents.
Beaver said Blake “has testified that he has not functioned in a manner that in his mind has attempted to funnel, push, direct any athlete toward Gary Wichard.”
Comments
Locke--wrote: "how is it
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 22:12 — UNCblueLocke--wrote: "how is it that everyone that is in college football knew blake was bad news, yet butch and lil dickie did not? my friends...this is just the tip of the perverbial iceberg!
the mighty holes are going down!"
I agree that this is just the beginning of the end for Davis and the possibly for the football team as sanctions are sure to follow. But I'm confused about one thing, Locke, is there a new team around that we didn't know about or are you just crudely referencing a part of your anatomy? I am a UNC alumn and I know Carolina as the Tar Heels and have the respect and decency to refer to other teams by their appropriate names without trying to slander them. Perhaps you never attended college and therefore don't have a team in which to take pride. It's a shame you don't know how to convey your thoughts or opininons in a respectful manner.
Private School Tuition Help
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 22:04 — arnoldsSo, how does someone making a quarter of a million dollar a year need help with private school tuition? Someone must be thinking we all fell off the back of a turnip truck headed for Orange County!
gatr, How many turnips are
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 02:18 — TDiddytgatr,
How many turnips are there?
Ugly Mess = No Money For UNC Academics
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 22:00 — tarheelinswansboroI just received a call from a UNC student (undoubtedly an undergraduate, working part time for some $$) asking for a donation to the UNC academic fund for the College of Arts and Sciences. I said no. Hey, if UNC can pay a crooked coach $70,000 to get him out of the way, and football coach several million to not quite do the right thing, they don't need my measely few bucks, even if it is for academics.
Tarheelinswansboro: Are
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 22:22 — UNCblueTarheelinswansboro: Are you a Tar Heel fan? You sound like the other snyde people making their senseless comments. Did this student offend you or demonstrate to you that he was lying about his desire to raise funds for the College of Arts and Sciences? Answer this: during the BP oil spill crises in the Gulf, did you boycott the BP stations? If so, you didn't hurt BP, you affected the independent owners of the gas stations. The same principle applies here. I am a part of the UNC system by having graduated from the university, and this student is a part of the student body, however, because some of the football players or the assistant coach violated rules, that doesn't mean everyone in the UNC system violated the rules. Your comment sounds like a vendeta and anger striking out at whomever you can. Focus your emotions on the right person(s) and stop blaming everyone for what has gone wrong. Your philosophy would dictate that we focus our anger on the unemployment rate in the state towards you, because you live in this state!
True, but athletics is often
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 02:09 — TDiddytTrue, but athletics is often the face of the university, to the general public anyway. It is the biggest PR device they have.
Done
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 21:49 — dtjwnbarrWell, this is finally the admission that proves what most every one already knew to be true. First they were loans, and now they were gifts. I don't know anyone can justify gifts from an agent to a college coach, so like the previous poster said, here's the money trail. The funny thing is, I knew Blake's reputation years ago and I don't have anything to do with coaching college football. I think it's just hilarious that Davis claims to not have known anything about Blake. Oh well. Keep singing that tune, because it makes him look like the dumbest man in America. Or worse.
True or not
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 22:11 — gvillegatrYou left out some vital info in your post that was plain as day in the blog. The "gifts" from Wichard were for his God son and his private school.
I don't know if this can be proven or not, but you don't look as biased if you include it. You remind me of Tditty.
Sounds like me? Why,
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 02:25 — TDiddytSounds like me? Why, 'cause he's speaking the truth and not the kool-aid talk spoken in Chapel Hill?
Hey gatr, NEWSFLASH... it doesn't matter if the money was to build a convent for virginal nuns, it's against the rules, and illegal in the state of NC. Period.
And you really believe it was for tuition? A man making a quarter of a million dollars a year needs help with his son's tuition? Seriously? Or, maybe, perhaps, that is just another of the string of lies coming from the Blake camp. I would have thought you'd stopped drinking the Kool-aid by now. Did you used to be the Iraqi information minister in Iraq, the one known as Baghdad Bob?
Even if you want to live in fantasy land and believe those payments where for tuition, that still doesn't explain the other three payments. From the link story below:
• As for the wire transfers, Beaver said the three transfers in 2008 and 2009 were “gifts” to Blake and aimed at paying his son’s private school tuition. Beaver said he didn’t want to expound on the three wire transfers in 2007, saying “That’s between Gary and John and I don’t know how they necessarily characterized those.”
Talk about losing credibility... you really want to go down the 'credibility' road? Hahahaha... Darn it for you, those pesky facts keep getting in the way.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=cr-blake100410
Lawyers for former University of North Carolina assistant coach John Blake said Monday that their client did indeed engage in multiple financial transactions with NFL agent Gary Wichard during his time with the Tar Heels.
...Those financial ties included six wire transfers – in May 2007, October 2007, December 2007, April 2008, March 2009 and October 2009. Beaver also corrected previous statements regarding a $45,000 personal loan to Blake from Wichard’s Long Island bank, and a credit card issued in Blake’s name that was tied to Wichard’s agency, Pro Tect Management. Beaver, of the firm GrayRobinson in Orlando, said both the loan and credit card overlapped with Blake’s time at North Carolina.
...Both Smith and Beaver once again reiterated that the financial relationship existed because of Blake’s money troubles after being fired from his head coaching position at the University of Oklahoma in 1998. Beaver described a custom-built home that became a financial burden after Blake moved California, and how that stretched on into recent years.
...Yahoo! Sports reviewed real estate records for the house in question, and found that Blake purchased the custom-built home on Sept. 21, 1998, for $598,500. Loan records show that he owned the house for almost 17 months after his November 1998 firing at Oklahoma, eventually selling the property for $600,000 on April 14, 2000.
...Blake was to be paid a total of almost $610,000 from Oklahoma from the time of his firing through the end of 2001.
...Asked if they knew the amount of Blake’s Oklahoma settlement, Beaver and Smith said they did not.
Oops. The truth comes out again.
Ahhh the "truth"
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 19:52 — UNC1998It seems no one is letting the facts get in the way of this juicy affair. I'm convinced of a few things in all of this.
1. Blake had some questionable set ups with his agent.
2. Blake got some UNC player(s) involved, and cost them dearly
3. Blake lied to a few people... among them the UNC administration, and apparently Butch Davis
4. An Alabama player claims that Blake tried to woo him to Wichard
5. There was a tutor that at this point allegedly wrote some papers and corrected some papers for UNC football players.
6. There has been a slow and tedious investigation into both issues. In the process of the investigations little has been publicly disclosed.
7. A lot of assumptions have been made with regard to player eligibility
8. A lot is still to be determined, but it can be assumed that there will be plenty of repercussions. As to the extent of those... no one really knows.
It is up to each beholder to determine to their own satisfaction to what degree Davis was involved in this... if he was at all. Certainly Davis was the head of the program. I've heard plenty of people call for his job. I've yet to hear anyone call for the job of the head of the academic advisory program for athletes. I've yet to hear that any players definitely had work done for them. I've also seen evidence only of Austin having dealings with Wichard. None of the players have had it declared for what reason they are being withheld. It seems to be a foregone conclusion Davis will be gone, yet every word from both Thorpe and Baddour deny this. As a matter of fact they both insist Davis will remain. Perhaps I'm thick, but that seems relatively clear. As to the correctness of that action/inaction I know no one truly qualified to pass public judgement. As a UNC graduate certainly I'm disappointed in all of this. I'm still very proud to be Tar Heel, though.
And
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 10:42 — gvillegatrUntil those other three payments are proven to be extremely hurtful to Blake, you're still the ambulance chaser you are.
Surely, at least one time, you'll be correct when you post something. Maybe this one will be it ...
left out vital info?
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 00:12 — dtjwnbarrI don't care if they were gifts for his god son and tuition or for anything else, there is NO WAY to justify gifts from an agent to a college football coach. NONE. That is the definition of improper benefits, whether it is to a player or a coach. The fact that he is a coach and influences players every day with everything that he says makes it far worse than a player taking anything from an agent. But hey, maybe you're right. I think I'll call Witchard and ask him for a some gifts for my children to attend private school. I'm sure he'll mail the check out tomorrow. Maybe even six of them. Might even get that credit card too.
As usual
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 10:26 — gvillegatrYou guys don't listen nor do you pay attention. You have your own agendas and that's to post and say anything including omitting key words/phrases/sentences from the blog.
I said I did not know if it could be proven or not. In time it will or won't. It's a hell of a lot easier to disprove something than to prove something.
Anybody that believes this
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 23:22 — ProwlingWoofieAnybody that believes this crock of crap needs to be housed in a rubber room with no corners... And this moron earned a JD from somewhere ??? He ought to be disbarred for not being able to come up with something even remotely believable.
If anyone of rational mind could not afford school tuition on a $240K/year salary, wouldn't they place their son in a less expensive school ? Don't know which school he's attending, but does it really cost more than Harvard ?
gatr, like many of his ink,
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 02:15 — TDiddytgatr, like many of his ilk, are simply being exposed for what they are. The emperor has no clothes, and yet they still can't bring themselves to admit it.
"The Carolina Way" has become a NATIONAL punch line, and they still rationalize and justify... closing their eyes and plugging their ears and yelling "nananananananana" when faced with the truth.
Hollywood would reject a script like this for being unbelievable.
UNC and payolla
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 20:39 — woggie1UNC fans , somebody is lying about the little "favors " these agents did for the coaching staff . One question I have ( I'm not a fan ! ) is how many other coaching groups at other schools have done the same thing ,but haven't got caught ? College sports are in many ways like politics .Agents are like lobbyists ,they "grease " the wheels (and hope not to get caught ) of the players and coaching staff . Your booster clubs put thousands in the kitty also ,so above and some under the table . UNC looks like they got nailed ! Who's next ?
is butch packing yet?
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 19:56 — Lockehow is it that everyone that is in college football knew blake was bad news, yet butch and lil dickie did not? my friends...this is just the tip of the perverbial iceberg!
the mighty holes are going down!
Nastier each day
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 19:10 — dsspr1Davis must go, sooner than later.
Follow the Money
Mon, 10/04/2010 - 18:17 — keihinFollowing the money, we now have a trail from the agent Wichard into Blake's accounts. And from Wichard to training and travel benefits for Austin and on to Austin's friends/agent recruiting targets. Next up: reporters start digging for evidence of transactions from Blake to players, player's families and/or 3rd parties who handle the payments for him.
Given immunity, why wouldn't Blake release this information himself? Not to protect UNC or Davis. They've been trying to make Blake out as the sole bad actor in this whole affair and not been good friends to Blake when speaking to the press. The infighting has begun. Let's see what information leaks next.