At a news conference Monday, North Carolina football head coach Butch Davis said he would have fired associate head coach John Blake if he had known Blake had improper relations with agents.
“I can promise you and tell you that if we would have ever known that any of these allegations were absolutely true, coach Blake would have been dismissed — I would have fired him.”
The statement comes just a day after a Yahoo! Sports story reported that Blake had recommended his agent friend Gary Wichard to Alabama defensive lineman Marcell Dareus and South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders, a violation of NCAA rules. Blake resigned from his position with the football team last month.
“I am very sorry that all of this stuff has tainted the football program and as the head football coach, I take a tremendous amount of responsibility for all of the football-related issues,” Davis said. “I’m the head guy. I’m sorry that it has affected the football program, but I’m going to tell you what I’m more sorry about — I’m sorry that I trusted John Blake.”
