University still mum on Davis details

When the Board of Trustees meets next week, the most scrutinized item of business it will face is something it might not be facing at all - the contract of the next football coach.

Director of Athletics Dick Baddour does the searching and hiring, but the BOT will have to confirm the new coach's contract.

Both the Winston-Salem Journal and InsideCarolina.com reported Wednesday that former University of Miami and Cleveland Browns coach Butch Davis had signed a deal to be North Carolina's next head coach. He would replace John Bunting, who was fired Oct. 22, effective at the end of the season.

Trustee Richard "Stick" Williams said that if any contract had been signed, he would know about it. But as of Thursday afternoon, Williams said that he had not heard anything, and that there was no such item on the agenda for the BOT meetings, which start Wednesday.

"I don't have a clue," he said. "I know what I've seen in the paper, which is just a lot of speculation. The trustees would be involved in those kinds of decisions."

Davis' agent, Marvin Demoff, did not return a phone call Thursday. Baddour refused to comment on any questions related to the search.

"It is in the best interest of this process that I don't talk about, talk around or to anyone about the process until it's drawn to a conclusion," Baddour said Thursday.

Though they have the authority to approve the new coach, the trustees have had little involvement to date.

"The process was developed through the AD's office," Trustee Rusty Carter said. "I have respected their desire to keep it a fairly closed circle. I think that was advisable."

Carter and Williams said they don't foresee any problems that could cause the trustees not to confirm a candidate submitted by Baddour.

"I don't anticipate any circumstances where it would come to the board and be derailed," Carter said. ". Any questions of integrity and responsibility would be answered before the contract got to the Board of Trustees."

The biggest question now involves timing. If the reports that have surfaced in recent days are correct, an announcement could come within the next few days. Technically, no coach can be hired before the final whistle of the Nov. 25 Duke game.

Under NCAA rules a program can employ only 10 football coaches at one time, and UNC has all spots filled. If Davis, or anyone, was named coach before the end of the season, he would not be able to contact recruits or fulfill any coaching duties.

Conducting a search before the end of the season has given UNC the first crack in pursuing desirable coaches - especially Davis, who is not employed by a team.

"It allows us to move forward and not be a part of the feeding frenzy that is there every year," Carter said.

But Williams said he expected Baddour to wait until after the season to announce a coach, mainly out of respect for the games left to play.

"The thing I'm proud of about our University is that we generally do things with a lot of class," Williams said. "I think we'll be mindful of how this impacts the program, the coaches and the athletes."

At this point, despite the rampant rumors, the identity of the next coach and the timetable for his hiring remain a mystery.

The BOT is a potential roadblock to the process, but none of the trustees contacted Thursday said they saw it that way. They said they would vet the candidate as they would any potential faculty member.

"We'll hire a coach when we find a coach that we think fits for the University," Trustee Bob Winston said. "I don't know when that would be. When it happens, it will happen. And I'm sure Dick Baddour will hire a fine coach."

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