In my column Saturday, I said former UNC football coach Butch Davis should release records of his work-related phone calls. A judge has said Davis' phone records are public. Davis pledged to release the records in July but has changed his mind.

A reader said Davis' release of those records would violate his privacy. The reader wrote: "Your column, this Saturday, on calls made on Butch Davis's cell phone, while pertinent, ignores a very likely barrier to personal willingness to release such records: what happens to Davis's privacy on personal calls made on his cell phone? …How does he know that you will not begin grilling his personal and professional friends regarding the content of each call. What if he makes a lot of calls to his broker? What if he calls personal friends who are coaches and assistant coaches? What of old friends? New friends? Should they all be subject to scrutiny?"

Davis' privacy would not be violated. He would be permitted to redact personal calls from these records. This is what Davis said he would do in July:

“…So we'll redact, and I will go through it and things like my wife, my son, my dad, my sister, close personal friends and family members, those types of things. Anything that has anything to do with UNC and business, those will be completely open for public record."

There's no reason -- legal or otherwise -- for Davis not to release the records.

--John Drescher

NCAA personnel visited the University of North Carolina today to conduct follow-up work related to the investigation of the school's football program, UNC spokesman Kevin Best confirmed in a short e-mail message.

Details of the reasons for the visit were not disclosed, and Best referred all other questions to the NCAA. In an e-mail, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said that in order to protect the integrity of an investigation, the NCAA cannot comment on an inquiry.

UNC officials are preparing a response to NCAA allegations of nine major violations in the investigation of impermissible benefits and academic fraud that began 15 months ago.

It turns out not so many freshmen had taken upper level classes at UNC-Chapel Hill as a spokesman originally told us in our Sunday story about former football player Marvin Austin's academic transcript.

UNC spokesman Mike McFarland originally said 1,033 freshman had taken a 400 level class in the most recently completed academic year. He has now corrected that to 683 freshmen.

The statistic is significant because McFarland cited it to suggest that Austin's first class at the university -- a 400 level African-American studies course during the second summer session of 2007 -- might not be all that unusual. There were 3,846 freshmen in last year's class, so the original number would suggest one in four freshmen took a 400 level class.

The corrected number indicates it was more like one in six.

That statistic does not reflect how many of those freshmen took a 400 level class in their second semester, when they would have a much better lay of the land and might have taken a prerequisite.  It also doesn't show how many freshman got into a 400 level class after demonstrating they had taken advanced placement classes in high school.

Austin got a B plus in the class, according to the partial transcript we obtained. It was the only class he took that semester before taking a full slate of introductory courses in the fall. Those courses included a remedial writing class.

Austin is one of seven players who had to sit out last season as a result of an NCAA investigation into impermissible perks and academic help.

One of the unanswered questions in the Michael McAdoo plagiarism case is what his professor did when the football player turned in a paper that had numerous copied passages. Even UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp doesn't know.
Professor Julius Nyang'oro was out of town when the extent of plagiarism first surfaced earlier this month. A woman who answered his phone on Monday said he has returned, but he has not responded to phone and email requests for comment since.
Nyang'oro is the chairman of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, and had McAdoo for a student in a Swahili class during the summer of 2009. Nyang'oro did not turn in McAdoo to the UNC Honor Court, a student-run organization that adjudicates academic dishonesty cases and other student misconduct. It took an athletic department investigation a year later into the activities of a former tutor, Jennifer Wiley, to bring the paper to the court's attention.
The court did not get a full picture of the plagiarism from athletic officials. The athletic department's investigation only focused on Wiley's work in adding footnotes and a bibliography. That, too, constitutes plagiarism, but not to the level critics found when McAdoo made the paper public as part of his court battle.
Some contend the university should no longer stand behind McAdoo because he did not disclose the full amount of plagiarism in the paper and allowed athletic officials to tell the NCAA that the paper -- save for the footnotes and bibliography -- was his work.
Chancellor Holden Thorp, in an interview last week, said he is not going to dig into Nyang'oro's handling of the paper.
"It's very unfortunate what happened here, but I don't get into grading for faculty members," he said.
Thorp said the focus should be on what the honor court did. It found McAdoo guilty of plagiarism, and issued a penalty equal to those handed out for cases of broader plagiarism. The court gave McAdoo an F on the paper, an F for the course, academic probation for the Fall 2010 Semester and suspended him for the Spring 2011 semester.
The penalty meant McAdoo missed a full season of football, but the honor court ruling did give him the opportunity to rejoin the team for the upcoming season. The NCAA, based on the information submitted to the honor court, ruled that McAdoo can no longer play football for a member school.
Thorp would not say whether the university has since given more scrutiny to the other papers McAdoo wrote. The athletic department had brought two others to the honor court for possible improper help from Wiley, but the court did not find a problem with them. The NCAA has. They have not been made public.
Thorp's response to the question: "We've done a very thorough investigation on the academic side."
 

UPDATED, 5:40 p.m.

DURHAM — Michael McAdoo’s attempt to return to the North Carolina football team may be over after a Durham Superior Court judge denied his request for an injunction against the NCAA and UNC that would have restored his eligibility.

McAdoo had asked the court to intervene because he contended that the NCAA had declared him permanently ineligible based on inaccurate information provided by the university.

Judge Orlando Hudson, after a hearing that lasted more than two hours, found that McAdoo’s claim did not meet the standards required for an injunction, and that it was “not likely he would suffer irreparable loss if not imposed.”

Duke will host a club day beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday (July 2) at the Blue Devil dry land practice facility, where Olympic champion Greg Louganis will talk with local divers, coaches and fans.

With the outcome of an NCAA investigation still months away, North Carolina football coach Butch Davis, his staff and players are basically in the same situation as a year ago.

Barring an unusually quick resolution of the case, the Tar Heels will have to separate off-field from on-field issues as they go through preseason camp and the schedule.

Considering a long list of player suspensions, 2010 went reasonably well — 4-4 in the ACC, 8-5 overall and a bowl win over Tennessee.

With Louisiana State off the 2011 slate, Davis’ team should go 4-0 outside the conference. Three non-league games — James Madison (Sept. 3), Rutgers (Sept. 10) and Louisville (Oct. 8) _ will be in Chapel Hill. The only road non-leaguer will be at ECU (Oct. 1), which the Heels have easily defeated the past two seasons in Kenan Stadium.

The conference road schedule will be difficult — Georgia Tech (Sept. 24), Clemson (Oct. 22), N.C. State (Nov.  5) and Virginia Tech (Nov. 17).

But in Kenan, the Heels will be favored against all four league foes — Virginia (Sept. 17), Miami (Oct. 15), Wake Forest (Oct. 29) and Duke (Nov. 26).

As always, there’ll be surprise outcomes pro and con for the team, but an 8-4 overall, 4-4 ACC finish, or better, should be for the taking.

With a 28-23 record (15-17 ACC without a win over State) through four seasons and given the off-field turmoil, Davis could pad his firewall substantially by winning the Coastal Division title and taking the Heels to their first championship game appearance.

With both Tech games on the road, claiming the Coastal will be a long shot, particularly behind a new quarterback, Bryn Renner, and an uncertain running back situation.

But in the midst of an ongoing run of distractions last season, Davis and his staff managed to keep the players focused on the games.

That part of the preparation equation should be easier with the 2011 team.

UPDATED, 10:21 p.m.

The University of North Carolina's football program received the Notice of Allegations from the NCAA on Tuesday which detailed nine major violations, including a failure to adequately monitor the program.

The 42-page notice is the latest step in an investigation into impermissible benefits and academic misconduct which began a year ago and cost UNC 14 players for at least one game and seven for the entire 2010 football season.

North Carolina has received a formal notice of inquiry from the NCAA regarding the ongoing investigation of the school’s athletics program.

The letter states that the NCAA enforcement staff intends to complete the investigation this month.

Signed by vice president of enforcement Julie Roe Lach, the letter says the possible violations primarily involve the football program, but says new information often is developed during an investigation that leads to expanded inquiries.