WRAL Sports Fan

RE: Williams reiterates: Academic scandal doesn't reach basketball

The worst thing about all of this cloud that keeps hanging over UNC is jgunn, rdi and a few others. I hate all of this mess for you guys. You are true friends and true posters. I wish you the best. 

- Posted by wolfbitesyourheels

Thanks, wolfbites. It's very disheartening to say the least. Aside from the academic fraud with athletes, I believe with all my heart that Carolina is a great University and students get a quality education there. That said, I can't - and won't - deny or defend the fraud that has run deep in the AFAM Department. This is a systemic problem, and Carolina needs to get to the bottom of all this and put measures in place to see it never happens again.

I think Thorp is a good man who trusted the wrong people, Baddour to name one. This happened on Thorp's watch, and he hasn't taken the measures to fix this situation until now, when an independent investigation will begin. 

- Posted by jgunn

Problems go back to Moeser, Winston, and various board members and powerful donors. Did Holden trust the wrong people? Probably, and so did the rest of us. I never trusted Butch, not from the day he was hired.

I'm a Rams Club member, not huge but with seats between the 40's on south side of Kenan. I am very frustrated and angry with a number of people. Holden is not one of them. While the drumbeat from State fans continues against Thorp, they routinely ignore the efforts by him and The University in theses matters, preferring to beat their chests and yell selrighteous claims that THEY and the Raleigh media have uncovered things we often have known about in CH for st least 6-12 months.

At the end of this month, maybe some of the clueless over that way can have something besides their cud to chew on. WCHL starts broadcasting on FM 97.9 and will bring a modicum of enlightenment and sports coverage to the college of eastern Cary.  

- Posted by unc70

You always make excellent points, '70. Thanks for the heads up on WCHL; I look forward to listening to good sports radio.

RE: Williams reiterates: Academic scandal doesn't reach basketball

I can't say I know with 100% certainty that no UNC basketball player "took" one or more of the "no attendance, written paper only" Afro-African American classes under Nyang'oro... but from what I've seen in the media it sure looks as if some did. If basketball players were in such classes... other questions must be asked. A primary question would be: Were the players "steered" to those classes by basketball/athletic dept personnel because such personnel KNEW the players would not only receive passing grades, but GOOD grades? Unless Roy knows - in a true absolute sense of the word - what actually happened, perhaps he should be a bit more conservative in his assertions. If the players were "steered" to those courses... the basketball program is indeed involved. Whether or not the players did the "required work" in the classes is an entirely different question. I do not "fault" the players for having chosen those classes on their own, or if they were "steered" to them... they are simply "pawns" in this situation.

RE: Williams reiterates: Academic scandal doesn't reach basketball

Roy can say what he wants, but it's already been disclosed that some of his players took classes in the AFAM department. Sean May changed his major to African Studies, and I believe other b ball players took those classes as well. 

- Posted by jgunn

Gunn, I don't think anyone with half a brain, even Roy, is saying basketball players didn't take the classes or even major in AFAM. There's no question that many UNC athletes have been involved since the department's inception back in the early 90's. There are really two questions; 1) Were some of the classes set-up intentionally as fake classes, and 2) were people in the athletic department in on the gig? A lot of things have come out that a reasonable person could use to infer that the answers to both questions are "Yes". From a public relations/perception standpoint they may have already been found guilty on both points, but no one has actually found the "gun" yet to our collective knowledge. 

- Posted by heelsforever

That's exactly my point, heels. SInce it's common knowledge that b ball players took those AFAM classes, Roy might not want to come out and say this latest scandal doesn't reach basketball, when the investigation may show otherwise.  

- Posted by jgunn

I'm going to give Roy the benefit of doubt and assume what he is saying is that none of his players took fake classes and they all did their own work. I do question how he can know that with certainty, and if we've learned one thing during the last two years it is that MANY people at UNC have said some things that come back to bite them in the rear later. I agree with your point and believe that Roy and everyone else over there would be best served to say "no further comment until the Martin report comes out".

RE: Williams reiterates: Academic scandal doesn't reach basketball

Roy can say what he wants, but it's already been disclosed that some of his players took classes in the AFAM department. Sean May changed his major to African Studies, and I believe other b ball players took those classes as well. 

- Posted by jgunn

Gunn, I don't think anyone with half a brain, even Roy, is saying basketball players didn't take the classes or even major in AFAM. There's no question that many UNC athletes have been involved since the department's inception back in the early 90's. There are really two questions; 1) Were some of the classes set-up intentionally as fake classes, and 2) were people in the athletic department in on the gig? A lot of things have come out that a reasonable person could use to infer that the answers to both questions are "Yes". From a public relations/perception standpoint they may have already been found guilty on both points, but no one has actually found the "gun" yet to our collective knowledge. 

- Posted by heelsforever

That's exactly my point, heels. SInce it's common knowledge that b ball players took those AFAM classes, Roy might not want to come out and say this latest scandal doesn't reach basketball, when the investigation may show otherwise.

RE: Williams reiterates: Academic scandal doesn't reach basketball

The worst thing about all of this cloud that keeps hanging over UNC is jgunn, rdi and a few others. I hate all of this mess for you guys. You are true friends and true posters. I wish you the best. 

- Posted by wolfbitesyourheels

Thanks, wolfbites. It's very disheartening to say the least. Aside from the academic fraud with athletes, I believe with all my heart that Carolina is a great University and students get a quality education there. That said, I can't - and won't - deny or defend the fraud that has run deep in the AFAM Department. This is a systemic problem, and Carolina needs to get to the bottom of all this and put measures in place to see it never happens again.

I think Thorp is a good man who trusted the wrong people, Baddour to name one. This happened on Thorp's watch, and he hasn't taken the measures to fix this situation until now, when an independent investigation will begin. 

- Posted by jgunn

Problems go back to Moeser, Winston, and various board members and powerful donors. Did Holden trust the wrong people? Probably, and so did the rest of us. I never trusted Butch, not from the day he was hired.

I'm a Rams Club member, not huge but with seats between the 40's on south side of Kenan. I am very frustrated and angry with a number of people. Holden is not one of them. While the drumbeat from State fans continues against Thorp, they routinely ignore the efforts by him and The University in theses matters, preferring to beat their chests and yell selrighteous claims that THEY and the Raleigh media have uncovered things we often have known about in CH for st least 6-12 months.

At the end of this month, maybe some of the clueless over that way can have something besides their cud to chew on. WCHL starts broadcasting on FM 97.9 and will bring a modicum of enlightenment and sports coverage to the college of eastern Cary.