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Former UNC head coach Davis speaks out on ESPN

By Erin Summers
Oct 5, 2011

Former North Carolina head football coach Butch Davis spoke Monday for the first time since his dismissal on July 27. 

Davis, who will be an analyst on ESPNU this fall, spoke to ESPNU's Jesse Palmer on the program Palmer and Pollack about the allegations surrounding the UNC football program.

Davis told Palmer he didn't think his dismissal will have any affect on the upcoming NCAA decision.

"As you know I was not named in any of the allegations and subsequently they're going to go in front of the infractions committee solely based upon the nine infractions that were self-reported," said Davis.

Davis said that hindsight is always 20-20 and though he wasn't directly related there are a few things he may have done differently.

"Certainly one of the things you would like to do again is maybe stronger background checks on some of the individuals that maybe were involved in some of the allegations and maybe those might have been a little bit more revealing at that particular time but it's easy to second guess some of those decisions," Davis said. 

He also said the timing of the dismissal surprised him and that the only person that can answer the question as to why it happened would be the Chancellor Holden Thorp.

Davis also joined "The Experts" on Tuesday and contributed as an “expert” in the show’s roundtable discussing last weekend’s games, previewing this weekend’s matchups and discussing college football issues alongside Tom Luginbill, Danny Kanell, Charles Arbuckle, Dan Hawkins and Ryan McGee. He also sat down for a one-on-one interview segment with host Anish Shroff.