UNC Board of Trustees chair Bob Winston said he is "extremely saddened and disappointed" with the school's football scandal today, but said he backs coach Butch Davis and athletic director Dick Baddour as the Tar Heels move forward.
Twelve UNC players are being held out of Saturday's season opener against LSU, and three more have not made the trip to Atlanta for the game but may be cleared in time to play.
"I think we have the right guy as our coach," Winston said. "I feel that Butch Davis is going to take a look at what’s happened and will figure the best way to move forward. And I think he is committed to building this program in a way that will reflect the values of the University of North Carolina."
Winston was one of three Board of Trustees members who joined Baddour and then-chancellor James Moeser in their first meeting with Davis on Oct. 31, 2006, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as the school sought a replacement for John Bunting.
Winston said Baddour and chancellor Holden Thorp have done a "fantastic" job responding to the crisis, working around the clock to do the right thing both by the university and the players.
"We are so disappointed," Winston said. "We’re just tremendously disappointed, but we have to figure out how we move forward. We will move forward. Football will continue to be played at the University of North Carolina, and we’re going to look at what happened and take measures, whatever those are, and move forward."
Comments
Supports corruption
Sat, 09/04/2010 - 10:29 — UNCJournalistsSo this guy supports the two guys that lead to the largest scandal in the ACC since point shaving? What does that same about him? Disgraceful.
Scandal
Sat, 09/04/2010 - 10:53 — SurferOh please share the facts you have on this scandal. Details please, since you know all about it.
Lose Lose Situation
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 19:18 — ncsfeddieNo matter how you look at this it is lose lose for UNC if they keep BD. No matter what industry you are in one thing is true and that is everything rises and falls on leadership. At worst Davis was in on this and is guilty of cheating, at best he is incompetent and incapable of regulating his program. At the very least this reflects on the quality of the character of guys that he recruited and/or let represent UNC on the field. In the end this is his program and everything that happens, good or bad, reflects directly back on him. When the BP oil spill happened in the gulf the CEO took the biggest hit. While he may not have been on the rig when it happened, it was his company and thus his responsibility. If UNC wants to clean up its image they have no choice but to start with a clean slate.
TOB
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 22:47 — gvillegatrso how many times does Sleezy need to get into trouble with the law beofre TOB starts to own it? How long before he should step down or should he already have stepped down. clearly he doesn't have control of his guys or they wouldn't be smoking pot or hitting bus drivers in Doorham as well as man y other things.
Wow
Sat, 09/04/2010 - 09:19 — YAR8packYou certainly had too much liquor last night.
First off, before you talk about "smoking pot" and players not getting in trouble for it, perhaps you should look at unc's roster to find Quan Sturdivant who was found with some weed and other materials in his possession earlier this summer in Albermarle, NC. Secondly, yes, I wanted some severe punishment for Sweezy BEFORE it was revealed that the bus driver and another person in the Charlotte area, not Durham, came off of said bus and began the physical altercation with Sweezy. What the hell was Sweezy supposed to do? I know what I've done and will do if anyone tries to harass me like that. Fist sandwich, anyone?
Quit trying to deflect what's going on with your bandwagon team. Just get ready for some football.
Gullible
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 17:05 — keihinBoy are these guys gullible. Or just not telling the truth yet.
tHE DREADED "VOTE OF CONFIDENCE"
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 16:05 — JPDOhioButch's goose is cooked now. Probably Baddour too.