WRAL Sports Fan

RE: Thorp emails students, faculty to explain Davis fire

"He goes into more detail in this e-mail, but still doesn't explain how a head football coach is responsible for what the university's Honor Court finds or doesn't find in a plagiarized paper or how it's that same coach's job to preserve "academic reputation", something that falls under the jurisdiction of the chancellor and his direct reports (Admissions, faculty, etc.)."

This is not accurate. When football players are committing plagiarism and their tutor is helping them, the responsibility falls on the coach. When football players are doing things that call into question the university's "academic reputation", the responsibility falls on the coach. Thorp did what he had to do, what he was always going to have to do. All the arguments about the timing of the firing are nothing more than attempts to move the blame away from where it belongs (Butch Davis in particular, and, maybe, big time college athletics in general) and focus it instead on Thorp. The bottom line is that Davis either knew or should have known. All of the blame rests with him.

RE: Thorp emails students, faculty to explain Davis fire

Time is always a factor when trying to extinguish a fire storm. Thorp finally realized that he needed to slow down the fire with his late email. Better late than never. Maybe he can sooth some of the power people. The embers haven't cooled yet.

Personally, I kinda like Thorp. He was a highly respected educator/Professor. I will side with the Educators... most of the time. I do feel for him right now. He listened to a little Dick Baddour who was in over his head. Baddour's staff people didn't do him any favors either.

Like I stated 6 times already, Thorp needs to be the person with a strong, and convincing voice for the school. Hire an advisor/Coach. Listen to this person. Don't answer to the media until you have the questions given in writing previous to the said interview.

What say you Objective Scientist? I would like your response.

RE: Thorp emails students, faculty to explain Davis fire

^ Gtr, nothing would surprise me coming out of Chapel Hill these days. Nothing.

RE: Thorp emails students, faculty to explain Davis fire

^I'll go with #2 but sadly, would not rule out #1. Either way, there were a whole lot of people being lied to during this debacle, and I'm not talking about the NCAA.

RE: Thorp emails students, faculty to explain Davis fire

Gtr, like it or not, Butch was the face of the football program. Not only did the football program take a hit to their image, but it was bleeding over to the university itself. That is never good. Butch was the captain of the ship. He had to go. The only thing questionable was the timing. Here are the most likely scenarios that explain the strange timing:

1) They intentionally waited until the major fundraising was winding down.

2) Thorp wanted to fire Butch sooner, but did not have the support of the BoT until very recently.

I think it is one of these, because Carolina never does anything on the spur of the moment without thinking it through. I actually applaud them for that. They play a good game, and I'm not talking about sports when I say that. I don't buy it when Thorp implies that he just woke up one day and decided to fire Butch.