If they ever get around to handing out overcoming-adversity trophies to players – and yes, coaches – North Carolina’s 2010 football team should be a measuring stick.

The Tar Heels’ 37-35 win Saturday at a homecoming game for Florida State (6-3 overall, 4-2 ACC/Atlantic) did more than qualify Carolina (6-3 overall, 3-2 ACC/Coastal) for a bowl bid and keep the team in contention for the ACC championship.

It put quarterback T.J. Yates squarely in the running for conference player of the year, established wide receiver Dwight Jones as a bona fide home-run hitter and gave Butch Davis’ many supporters plenty of additional momentum in a season marked by challenges on and off the field.

Following up on our previous post, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp today gave football coach Butch Davis a show of support.

In an interview following a meeting with the UNC system's Board of Governors, Thorp said: "There's no information to indicate that he participated in or knew of any wrongdoing. Mr. Baddour and I are not having meetings deciding his future. He's our football coach."

UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp said this morning that while he still has questions about why Butch Davis didn't know more about questionable behavior by his football players, the football coach didn't play a role in anything under investigation by the NCAA.

"We don't have any evidence that Coach Davis knew about or took part in any of the things that happened," Thorp said Thursday in a meeting of a committee of the UNC system's Board of Governors, which sets policy for all public universities including Carolina.

North Carolina football fans continue to support head coach Butch Davis, according to a new survey released today by a Raleigh-based Democratic polling firm.
 
According to the poll of North Carolina voters released by Public Policy Polling, 41 percent of voters describing themselves as UNC fans approve of the job Davis is doing as coach, while 20 percent disapprove. In addition, only 14 percent of the Tar Heel fan base polled thinks Davis should be fired, while 57 percent think he should keep his job.

The chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors refuted message-board rumors that the board had instructed UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp this week to fire Tar Heels football coach Butch Davis.


"None of that happened. None, none, none," said Hannah Gage, the board's chairwoman. "I can assure that none of that happened. That hasn't been part of any discussion we've had."

The system board rarely, if ever, gets involved athletics oversight, a function delegated to individual campuses, Gage said.

FireButchDavis.com redirects to TarHeelBlue.com which is the official athletic site of the University of North Carolina.

North Carolina coach Butch Davis lashed out at former associate head coach John Blake today saying he was sorry that he trusted Blake and that he would have fired him if he had known about Blake's financial ties to NFL agent Gary Wichard.

Attorneys for Blake told The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer last week that he accepted payments from Wichard before working at UNC. Blake resigned on Sept. 5 after three seasons and one game as the Tar Heels' top assistant and recruiting coordinator.

The Daily Tar Heel, the student paper at UNC-Chapel Hill, has had enough of the Butch Davis era.

Today, it calls for the university to rid itself of the embattled football coach at season's end.

Updated: 7:04 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL  -- The NCAA was back on North Carolina’s campus Wednesday and Thursday, this time to take part in the school’s investigation into possible academic misconduct in the athletics program.

Athletics director Dick Baddour said Thursday that the investigator isn’t looking into the individual cases of football players who allegedly got inappropriate help from a tutor who once worked for both the school, and head coach Butch Davis. Instead, “they’re interested in looking at how we got here,’’ Baddour said. “You’ve got the issues with the individuals, but you’ve also got – are there any institutional issues?”

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Butch Davis said he expects "to be the head football coach here currently, and in the future."

Asked Thursday if it was in the best interest of the school for him to resign, he said, "no."