Possible academic misconduct has been found between student-athletes on the football team and a former student tutor employed by the University in joint investigations by the NCAA and the school.
In a press conference held Thursday night, Chancellor Holden Thorp, athletic director Dick Baddour and head football coach Butch Davis addressed the media regarding the latest piece of the NCAA investigation puzzle.
“The investigation now has two prongs,” Baddour said.
The female tutor in question was formerly employed by the Davis family and worked with the coach’s son, Drew. She has also been employed by the University as an undergraduate, but is no longer, Baddour said.
She is one of five tutors who the Davis family has employed during their three-year stay in the Chapel Hill area.
“This is obviously someone who worked with our son,” Davis said. “To be honest with you, I think we’re a little bit surprised and possibly disappointed. There’s been no revelation to exactly the extent of what’s transpired.”
Thorp expressed that the University, and not the NCAA, has taken on this element of the investigation.
“Academic achievement and fairness are at the heart of the University of North Carolina and our department of athletics,” Thorp said. “We are treating this issue with the seriousness that you would expect from this university. We will straighten this out. We are still gathering information, but our hope is that the scope of this is limited.”
Jack Evans, UNC’s faculty athletics representative, John Blanchard, senior associate athletic director of student-athlete services and professor Lissa Broome are leading the team investigating academic misconduct.
