CHAPEL HILL — The University of North Carolina has released a strategic plan for its athletic department for the next four years. Here's the official release about it from UNC. A story from us is forthcoming. The plan outlined the mission for the UNC athletic department – “We educate and inspire through athletics” – and also defined four priorities:

-Alignment: “Align our operations to fulfill the mission of the university.”
-Academic Achievement: to be top-three in the conference and top-10 nationally in each sport in the classroom.
-Athletic Performance: to be top-three in the conference and top-10 nationally in each sport on the field.
-Administrative engagement: “Engage internal and external constituents to relentlessly pursue the resources and administrative structures necessary for success.”

I had an extensive interview with Bubba Cunningham, the UNC athletic director, on Tuesday.

We spoke about a variety of issues surrounding the athletic department – most of which the strategic plan touches on directly (improving the relationship between the athletic department and the rest of the university, improving the academic standing of various teams) and some not (athletic department finances, conference realignment).

Here’s the interview:

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina on Wednesday announced the hiring of two new athletic department officials whose responsibilities will be, in part, to strengthen the athletic department’s oversight of academic and NCAA compliance issues.

Vince Ille (pronounced ILL-ee) will come to UNC from the University of Illinois, and will serve as a senior associate athletic director at UNC. Paul Pogge will come to UNC from the University of Denver, and he will serve as an associate athletic director.

Ille had worked since 1998 at Illinois, where he supervised 11 sports, coordinated the department’s strategic planning, risk management and quality control, and advised the athletic director on compliance matters. Pogge spent the past three years at Denver, where he was an associate and assistant athletic director for strategic planning and partnerships.

In a statement that UNC released on Wednesday afternoon, university athletic director Bubba Cunningham said the motivation behind the new hires was to help strengthen some of the problems that have plagued the athletic department in recent years.