Via: WRAL Sports Fan
The University of North Carolina has found no evidence that head football coach Butch Davis knew of player relationships with agents or with any alleged academic violations, Chancellor Holden Thorp said Thursday.
Speaking to the UNC Board of Governors’ Committee on University Governance, Thorp said the university is “making good progress” in its investigation of alleged infractions by members of the football team and should finish soon.
“We’re all concerned about how it happened, why it happened and why we didn’t catch it sooner,” he said.
UNC suspended more than a dozen football players at the beginning of the season while the NCAA and university officials investigated allegations of dealings with agents and academic violations.
Thorp said eligibility issues for all but two of the players have been resolved.
Defensive end Robert Quinn, defensive tackle Marvin Austin and wide receiver Greg Little were kicked off the team after the NCAA determined they had accepted thousands of dollars in trips and gifts from agents. Four other players were being held out for the entire season for “various reasons,” Thorp said.
NCAA investigators visited the UNC campus six times since the summer, he said. Agents with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office, which is looking into possible illegal activity by agents, visited twice.
UNC officials conducted more than 60 interviews in the probe.
The NCAA has told UNC officials that the university has been “forthcoming” and “helpful” in the investigation, Thorp said, adding that he feels UNC has cooperated fully with the NCAA.
The probe “will conclude relatively soon,” he said.
UNC also has tried to be forthcoming with requests for documents related to the probe, according to Thorp. Several media outlets, including WRAL parent Capitol Broadcasting Co., sued the university last week to gain access to more records.
Thorp said UNC has provided 5,000 pages of documents and has spent more than 600 hours trying to comply with requests for information. The university has even hired temporary workers to help process the requests he said.
Still, he said, UNC must protect the privacy of students and employees in releasing information to the public
