UNC assistant coach Blake resigns

UNC head football coach Butch Davis, right,  confers with associate head coach John Blake during the Tar Heels' season opener against LSU. ROBERT WILLETT - rwillett@newsobserver.com

North Carolina associate head coach John Blake resigned on Sunday night, the school announced.

Blake has been involved in the NCAA investigation of the UNC football program, according to Gary Wichard, an NFL agent and Blake's close friend. UNC coach Butch Davis has also connected Blake to the investigation for possible improper contact with sports agents.

Blake, 49, will be paid for the remainder of the season, $74,500 according to a UNC release.

"[I]t has become apparent to me over the course of the past few weeks that my presence has become a distraction to my family and to this great University, too," Blake said in a statement released by the school.

Blake coached in UNC's season-opener on Saturday night, a 30-24 UNC loss to LSU in Atlanta. Thirteen UNC players did not play because of the on-going NCAA investigation and UNC's own investigation into possible academic fraud.

Davis and Blake have a relationship that goes back almost 35 years, when Davis taught Blake in high school in Oklahoma in the late 1970s. Davis and Blake worked together as assistant coaches for the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1990s before Davis hired Blake as a his recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach at UNC in Dec. 2006.

Blake, considered one of the game's top recruiters, scored his first coup for UNC by landing defensive tackle Marvin Austin, a prep All-American from Washington, D.C., late in the recruiting process.

Blake's connection to Wichard and Austin led to his involvement in the NCAA case.

Before returning to the college game in 2003, Blake worked for Wichard's Pro Tect Management in California. Former UNC defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer, who played one season for Blake, signed with Wichard after getting drafted in the first round by the San Francisco 49ers in 2008.

In the summer of 2009, Balmer paid for a trip to a training facility — that Wichard has used for his clients — by Austin and former UNC defensive tackle Cam Thomas, according to Thomas.

That trip to California, and other trips to Miami and Washington, by Austin this past spring attracted the attention of NCAA investigators. UNC suspended Austin indefinitely last Wednesday. Two other defensive linemen, Robert Quinn and Michael McAdoo, were held out of Saturday's opener by the school.

UNC athletic director Dick Baddour would not comment on Blake's role in the investigation.

"That's a road which to make any reference to it would put me in a situation where I can't go," Baddour said in an interview with the News & Observer.

Davis has previously refused to comment on Blake's role in the investigation but issued a statement on Sunday.

"All of us who are part of the football program have been both disappointed and embarrassed by recent events," Davis said according to the release. "Our student-athletes, coaches and I are committed to working every day, both on and off the field, to build a better football program, one that everyone associated with the University of North Carolina can and will be proud of.”

UNC did not say if it would fill Blake's position for the remainder of the 2010 season. He will be paid the prorated amount of his $240,000 salary for the rest of the season, according to the UNC release.

"I have grown to love and respect the school, my fellow coaches, and the young men who have worked so diligently to improve both as students and as football players," Blake said in the statement. "That love and respect has led me to the conclusion that the best decision for all involved is for me to step aside at this time. I wish the players, the coaches, and the University all the best."

UNC has an open date before returning to the field on Sept. 18 against Georgia Tech at Kenan Stadium. UNC has not said how long the 13 players will be held out.