Former player Mogridge will lead football recruiting efforts

As a public state university, North Carolina normally recruits a large amount of home-grown talent for its football roster.

So when it came to filling a vacant spot on the staff, UNC coach Butch Davis picked an alumnus to assume the role.

Former UNC player and current assistant coach Allen Mogridge was named recruiting coordinator on Thursday, taking the position nearly a month after John Blake resigned from the post on Sept. 5.

“When you got somebody who actually has a degree from North Carolina, who played at North Carolina,” Davis said, “then he can sit there and he can talk about to players, ‘If you come to the University of North Carolina, it’s a great school, it’s got great academics, it’s got a terrific reputation.

‘‘Who could explain that much better than someone who was a former player here?”

Mogridge played for UNC from 1996-99.Davis brought him onto the UNC staff in 2009 as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator after he spent four seasons at the University of Buffalo.

In his final two seasons there, Mogridge served as recruiting coordinator. He said taking that same position at UNC is a different story.

“The UNC coming in the door, it’s a little more known product,” Mogridge said. “That ‘NC’ brings some weight with it and lots of people know it.”

Davis said the NCAA asked that one of the nine assistant coaches be designated as the recruiting coordinator. Each school can have only nine assistants, so bringing in someone from the outside would have placed UNC over the limit.

“It was overwhelmingly popular with the rest of the assistant coaches,” Davis said. “They thought this was exactly the right guy.”

Mogridge picks up the job after former associate coach Blake resigned amid speculation of his role in the NCAA investigation.

Since the departure, documents have surfaced showing wire transfers from agent and friend Gary Wichard to Blake. Davis said on Monday that he was sorry he trusted Blake.

Mogridge sidestepped several questions regarding the cloud the investigation has created over the program, but said he realizes it’s a topic he will have to face with recruits and their families.

“It’s people asking questions and just having accurate information and being able to provide them with answers,” he said. “That’s a challenge, that’s just where we are right now. That’s part of the deal.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.