They had to post the football coach job at UNC, because thems the rules at large institutions, no matter how goofy it looks. So they used the generic posting form and application, which has this question:  "How did you find out about the position opening?'

The options that the applicant can select do not include: "My agent at IMG"  or "I was watching Sports Center and saw Butchie got canned."

The job description is:

"Manage and administer the UNC Football Program within University, ACC and NCAA rules and regulations. Promote academic progress of student-athletes. On and off-field coaching responsibilities to include but not limited to: recruiting, coaching, mentoring, and administrative responsibilities for the Football Program. A strong commitment and ability to motivate, teach, counsel, and recruit academically qualified student-athletes focused on both academics and athletics. All functions of the position will be performed in compliance with the rules, regulations, policies and guidelines of the NCAA, ACC, The University and the Athletic Department, and will be conducted with integrity and high ethical and moral standards. "

Oh, yeah, and as the late Oakeland Raiders boss Al Davis said, memorably, "Just win, baby."

Former UNC football coach Butch Davis, in a YouTube video, is downplaying the thousands of dollars in parking tickets accumulated by some of his players and says he didn't know about alleged wrongdoing by his chief assistant coach or his family's own tutor that prompted UNC to forfeit scholarships and impose other sanctions as part of an NCAA investigation.

The video is approaching 18,000 views.

Reaction to the former coach's first substantial comments about the problems in his program has been mixed. Comments on his YouTube channel have run the gamut, from "we love you" to he is either "a liar or he's an idiot." (The video itself does not allow comments, but the channel does.)

Andrew Jones at Fox Sports called the video "bizarre." Even the Duke Basketball Report was interested, saying Davis "weakly" defended what he didn't know.

We'll leave all that to others.

We did take note of one subject Davis responded to at length: The parking tickets.

Davis said "perspective" was important, noting that the university issues roughly 46,000 tickets a year.

He said in the video that there had been a "courtesy" of not issuing parking tickets to players attending practice. (A request by The N&O for further information about this practice is pending with UNC officials.)

At some point, he said, the "courtesy" ended.

"So over the course of three-and-a-half years, 11 players accumulated 395 parking tickets," Davis said in the video. Players "put their account in order" when they were notified of their outstanding balances.

Paying up on outstanding fines, of course, came after the N&O sought information about the parking tickets.

UNC fought releasing any information about parking tickets, prompting a lawsuit by the N&O and other media to access the records.

Former player Deunta Williams offered a different perspective about the tickets when this first was news. “You have to understand, for some players, they thought they’re going to the NFL and they didn’t care about the parking tickets,” Williams said then.

There's another piece of important context about this that Davis did not mention in his video.

The initial request by The N&O was made at the beginning of the NCAA investigation -- and it was limited to just 11 players. Later, the N&O sought information about a 12th player.

Of those 12 players for which information was requested, nine of them had received tickets.

The fines totaled more than $13,000. Some of those were paid off by the tutor, who has refused to be interviewed by investigators, the university and the media about that or other allegations of wrongdoing.

-- J. Andrew Curliss

Time for an introduction – and a brief one: I’m Andrew Carter. And I’m the new University of North Carolina beat reporter for The News & Observer. After seven years in Florida – four of them covering Florida State for the Orlando Sentinel – I’m thrilled to be back in my home state. 

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

A lawyer for former University of North Carolina football coach Butch Davis has filed papers in Orange County Court requesting that a subpoena for Davis’ cell phone records be quashed.

A media coalition led by The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer subpoenaed records of calls from Davis’ “personal” cell phone because Davis used it to make business calls while employed by UNC.

Davis’ lawyer, Jon Sasser of Ellis & Winters LLP, wants a judge to quash the subpoena and enter a protective order, calling the subpoena “unduly burdensome, unreasonable and oppressive.”

Former North Carolina football coach Butch Davis said in an ESPN interview Tuesday that his firing in July was “a total surprise.”

Davis appeared as a guest college-football analyst on “The Experts,” and told host Anish Shroff that he had no idea that he was going to get fired by chancellor Holden Thorp.

East Chapel Hill had another good night passing the ball in its 35-28 win Monday night at Durham Riverside. With all the footballs flying at Linny Wrenn Stadium, it might be easy to overlook the improvement in the Wildcats' defense and special teams.

East Chapel Hill quarterback Drew Davis, the son of former University of North Carolina coach Butch Davis, has set a state high school record for completions in a single game.

The University of North Carolina’s academic support program for student-athletes needs to increase its staff, hire a full-time tutor coordinator and have continued involvement in the admissions process, according to a UNC report released Thursday to reporters.

UNC’s committee to study the academic support program began meeting after the actions of a student tutor and mentor led to NCAA allegations of major violations in an investigation of impermissible benefits and academic fraud in the Tar Heels football program.

Many recommendations in the report have been discussed previously by UNC officials. The report suggested that the school hire a full-time tutor coordinator to oversee hiring, training, supervising and evaluating tutors.

CHAPEL HILL – Five days after the University of North Carolina posted its athletic director job, search committee chair Lowry Caudill said this morning he has been pleased with the response.

“For a week into the process formally, I’m very impressed with the quality of the candidates that have been nominated or presented themselves,” Caudill said today after a meeting of the search committee.

The committee met for about 2 ½ hours this morning, and all but the first 30 minutes were conducted privately in executive session while candidates were discussed.