College Football
UNC, Davis attorneys seek dismissal of lawsuit
Published: 2012-07-17 20:11:00
Updated: 2012-07-19 12:48:05
Jul 19, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Attorneys for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and former football coach Butch Davis filed motions Tuesday seeking to dismiss a public-records lawsuit filed by media outlets covering the NCAA investigation of the football program.
Media outlets have sought numerous records from the school, including the personal cellphone records of Davis and unredacted correspondence between the school and the NCAA during the probe of improper benefits and academic misconduct. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
The school's motion states the university has provided all information it can without violating federal privacy laws, including last week's dump of more than 200 pages of redacted requests for reinstatement for involved players and legal fees to an outside firm.
Therefore, the motion states, "this case is at an end."
Media outlets subpoenaed Davis' personal cellphone records last October, arguing he used his personal phone to conduct job duties instead of his university phone. But Davis attorney Jonathan D. Sasser argued the records don't constitute public records and questioned whether a coach at a state university constitutes a public official.
"A decision applying the Public Records Act to athletics coaches could open a Pandora's Box of unanticipated consequences," the motion states.
Archive: UNC football investigations
Sasser argued that private schools could gain a competitive advantage and that fans of opposing schools could start requesting playbooks or the content of text messages and letters to recruits.
In an affidavit filed Tuesday, Davis' wife, Tammy, said her husband's records were reviewed by Rick Evrard, a former NCAA investigator hired as an attorney by the university, during the fall of 2010. Evrard checked the records against a list of phone numbers and said he found "nothing of any concern in the statements," the affidavit states.
Tammy Davis said the NCAA never asked to review the phone records and that they are still in her possession. Shortly after records for Davis' business phones were released last year, she and her son, Drew, received prank calls and were forced to change their numbers.
She said in the affidavit that the family doesn't want information for friends and personal contact to be published. That includes former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former NFL coach Tony Dungy, who were both invited to speak to Davis' teams over the years, according to the affidavit.
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Most Recent Comments
RE: UNC, Davis attorneys seek dismissal of lawsuit
Maybe they think he has had punishment enough, having to spend four years playing for State's basketball team!
But seriously, I don't know what happened with that. I thought Tracy's issue was just driving a car and parking in a handicapped spot (two eyebrow-raisers for sure). What did he receive $1300 in benefits? What benefit?
Was it dismissed because it was investigated and unable to be proven or what?
- Posted by TruthBKnown Left The Building
The same guy that loaned CJ a car gave Smith $1349 to cover two months rent. The thing that gets me is there were UNC football players who received about the same amount of improper benefits, had to pay the money back, and had to miss games; none of which Smith did because he was already gone when it came to light. So, does he just get a pass and State suffers no punishment as a result? I guess so...
Here's an article about all this:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/30/1679663/former-wolfpack-player-barred.htmlMaybe part of the reason State received lesser punishment was because we self-reported it to the NCAA, and immediately disassociated ourselves from the player that gave those guys benefits.
Perhaps. One could offer up a very interesting thesis with NCAA rulings as the topic.
I agree that the NCAA is all over the board with their inconsistent handling of rules infractions. Based on what they know about Carolina, I'm actually fairly content with their punishment. I thought they deserved two years postseason ban, so it could impact recruiting. But other than that, I was pretty content.
Like I said, I think there is more to be known. That's why I want the 216 phone records to be released. And I also think they redacted too many documents, and too many PARTS of documents that were released. They just seem to be hiding more, and I want to know what it is.
RE: UNC, Davis attorneys seek dismissal of lawsuit
I don't know about Alabama and SEC teams. They're probably cheating, too. I know they have lesser academic standards than the ACC (as a conference, I mean).
I really don't know how much Carolina has come up with that was due to a desire to come clean. What I mean is, there are lawsuits still pursuing information. Are they just throwing us a bone to appease us? I don't believe for a minute that any of this would have been reported to the NCAA, ever, if they could have kept it under wraps. I think they've been doing this stuff for so long, they just got sloppy and then social media websites let the cat out of the bag.
I believe Carolina, like most schools, simply wants to control the damage. As an opposing fan, I believe they have made ill-gotten gains over the years due to their cheating. So I don't want them to control the damage. I want to level the playing field, and to do that, we have to move a LOT of dirt. I don't think Carolina came 100% clean like they should have in the beginning, so they made this bed they are now lying in. Every day, something else comes out. They are staying in the headlines, and for negative reasons.
I just want the cold, hard truth to come out. Nothing more, nothing less. I think we're well short of that.
RE: UNC, Davis attorneys seek dismissal of lawsuit
No, Tracy Smith actually did receive improper benefits that we did not learn about until after he left State. That news came out about the same time as CJ and the friend's car. I'm not sure why the NCAA didn't do anything about the games Tracy played in. I guess they didn't think it was that big of a deal.
- Posted by heelsforever
Maybe they think he has had punishment enough, having to spend four years playing for State's basketball team!
But seriously, I don't know what happened with that. I thought Tracy's issue was just driving a car and parking in a handicapped spot (two eyebrow-raisers for sure). What did he receive $1300 in benefits? What benefit?
Was it dismissed because it was investigated and unable to be proven or what?
The same guy that loaned CJ a car gave Smith $1349 to cover two months rent. The thing that gets me is there were UNC football players who received about the same amount of improper benefits, had to pay the money back, and had to miss games; none of which Smith did because he was already gone when it came to light. So, does he just get a pass and State suffers no punishment as a result? I guess so...
Here's an article about all this:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/30/1679663/former-wolfpack-player-barred.htmlMaybe part of the reason State received lesser punishment was because we self-reported it to the NCAA, and immediately disassociated ourselves from the player that gave those guys benefits.
Perhaps. One could offer up a very interesting thesis with NCAA rulings as the topic.
RE: UNC, Davis attorneys seek dismissal of lawsuit
They are not joking. ABCers are obcessed. They see no difference and will latch on ANYTHING like a dog on a bone. Oddly enough, most don't want to hear about what when on under Jimmy V cause that's apples and oranges.
- Posted by Elvisisdead
We just don't care about a 30 year old scandal that has long since been closed, and we have paid about ten times the price we should have paid for all of that.
Now if we could get you on board with being concerned about CURRENT scandals, you'd be alright.
Please keep in mind that had today's technology been in place in 1989 we WOULD most certinaly know a lot more about what was and what was not revealed. You cannot possibly believe that if email and cell phones had been available back then there wouldn't have been more information to dig up. But of course they didn't exist and we'll never know for sure, but I believe it is naive to think that a lot more crimes wouldn't have been solved years ago with today's technology.
I think that was pretty much it. When I was at State, you rarely saw a State player driving nice cars (or driving at all). Some of our best players could be seen driving "beaters" around campus.
I also remember when that scandal came out, players for opposing schools (both Duke and Carolina) were known to have admitted that a lot of players were selling their tickets, too. They weren't getting rich. But they were making some money so they could take their girlfriends to the movies after the game. It's nothing I can prove, and I'm not even trying. Some things you know (to yourself) that they are true. This is one of those things.
But I believe Carolina has taken things to a whole new level in what they were doing. And no, I don't believe everybody was doing what they have been doing. I think there ARE minor infractions that probably go on just about everywhere, but not the major stuff Carolina was doing. I believe it was sanctioned in the highest levels at Carolina, too. That's why I want to see them go down for this. It's not a player finding a few bucks in his pocket so he can afford to eat at Golden Corral. Carolina's infractions were much bigger than that.
What about schools like Alabama? I ask because, when SEC schools as an example get in trouble with the NCAA everything pretty much comes to an end quickly and you hear absolutely nothing else after the NCAA ruling. Now, please don't tell me that you think those schools are completely open and honest. I don't. I believe they get out of the mess as quickly as possible and then keep their mouths shut. On the other hand at UNC, whether you like it or not (believe it), has continued to reveal things. Again, whether you agree or not, there has been internal investigations. I know you want an independent investigation; I get it. But you don't ever hear of an SEC school conducting any further investigations and revealing any additonal infomration after the NCAA rules. So while you see UNC surpressing information (I do as well), I think you have to agree that they are also giving up a whole lot more information than any other school ever has.
RE: UNC, Davis attorneys seek dismissal of lawsuit
I think you mean CJ Leslie, and that has already been dealt with and the case has long since been closed.
I love your concern. If you're THAT concerned about Tracy Smith (or CJ Leslie) for this minor infraction, it puzzles me why you're not up in arms about the nuke of a scandal that was detonated in Chapel Hill over the last couple of years.
You're worried about a couple of flies in our house, but your own house is overrun with grizzly bears.
- Posted by TruthBKnown Left The Building
No, Tracy Smith actually did receive improper benefits that we did not learn about until after he left State. That news came out about the same time as CJ and the friend's car. I'm not sure why the NCAA didn't do anything about the games Tracy played in. I guess they didn't think it was that big of a deal.
Maybe they think he has had punishment enough, having to spend four years playing for State's basketball team!
But seriously, I don't know what happened with that. I thought Tracy's issue was just driving a car and parking in a handicapped spot (two eyebrow-raisers for sure). What did he receive $1300 in benefits? What benefit?
Was it dismissed because it was investigated and unable to be proven or what?
The same guy that loaned CJ a car gave Smith $1349 to cover two months rent. The thing that gets me is there were UNC football players who received about the same amount of improper benefits, had to pay the money back, and had to miss games; none of which Smith did because he was already gone when it came to light. So, does he just get a pass and State suffers no punishment as a result? I guess so...
Here's an article about all this:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/30/1679663/former-wolfpack-player-barred.htmlMaybe part of the reason State received lesser punishment was because we self-reported it to the NCAA, and immediately disassociated ourselves from the player that gave those guys benefits.
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