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North Carolina

NCAA says additional UNC sanctions a possibility

Oct 2, 2012

Chapel Hill, N.C. — In the eyes of the NCAA, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is taking all the necessary steps to clean up after an academic scandal was uncovered through an investigation into the football team, but they have not ruled out additional sanctions should internal investigations that are currently ongoing uncover further improprieties.

In an interview Monday with a Memphis radio station, NCAA President Mark Emmert said, “the fact is North Carolina right now is doing, from all appearances, a good job of trying to get to the bottom of what their problems are. We'll have to wait and see what the facts are as they come out of that situation.” More Info     Archive: UNC football investigations

Emmert said that he could not specifically comment on any on-going investigations in the interview Monday. When asked if that means an NCAA investigation of UNC is still open, his response was ambiguously revealing.

“I'm not going to make a comment on our role with UNC right now other than to point out we've been down there as everyone knows, we've already, of course, managed a number of issues that they've had and handed out some penalties for that,” Emmert said. “We'll continue to monitor the situation and see what the facts are as they unfold from the investigations that they are involved with and if there is anything further that we need to do at that time."

Former North Carolina governor Jim Martin was tabbed in August to lead an internal review of the university’s academics landscape following an internal investigation revealed numerous improprieties within the African and Afro-American Studies Department. More Info     More UNC Stories

Martin is expected to appear before the Board of Governors Academic Review Panel next Thursday, although it is unlikely that he will deliver his report on his findings at that time.

There is also a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation review currently underway into the university's improprieties and that investigation could wrap up as soon as next month.

For the last two years, the UNC football program, Department of African and Afro-American Studies and fundraising arm have come under fire for apparent improper behavior ranging from gifts to players, plagiarized work and no-show classes and the  use of school funds to go on personal trips.

Emmert Comments on Duke’s Lance Thomas
UNC wasn’t the only Triangle-area school discussed by Emmert in Monday’s interview. He was asked about former Duke player Lance Thomas, who bought nearly $100,000 in jewelry while a member of the Blue Devils in 2010 but did not pay more than the $30,000 down payment until a settlement last month.

Again Emmert met the questions with the inability to comment on the case specifically but addressed head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s silence on the issue. More Info     More Duke Stories

"You know the Duke program is obviously a revered one,” Emmert said. “They've got a wonderful record of both athletic and academic accomplishment, and Mike has certainly done a great job at that university and is in many ways an exemplar of what you want to see in a coach, so not having facts established I'm certainly not going to be critical of what he has done or not done right now."

 

• Reporter: Erin Hartness
• Web Editor: Aaron Schoonmaker