UNC Coach Williams Comments On Academic Scandal

Fayetteville Observer

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/08/16/1197466?sac=fo.sports

North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams played in the Wyndham Championship golf pro-am Wednesday in Greensboro and later addressed questions about the academic scandal that has rocked the university.

The NCAA has penalized the football program with a one-year bowl ban and 15 scholarship reductions over three years following an investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct. A school investigation has found fraud and poor oversight in 54 classes within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies from 2007 to 2011, with student-athletes making up 58 percent of the overall enrollments in those classes.

Williams told Charlotte radio station WFNZ on Wednesday that his track record is “pretty doggone good” from the 15 years he was at Kansas and the nine years he’s spent at UNC.

“We know how much we emphasize the academic side in the basketball office, Williams said. We know what our guys are majoring in. Every day we’re in touch with those kids. It’s something, again, I’m very proud of. Am I going to sit here and say there is absolutely no way nothing will ever happen, nothing will ever show up? We don’t know what’s going on every day. I’ve got 13 to 17 kids, counting walk-ons and things like that, but I feel really, really good about what’s happened academically in the basketball program since we came back.”

More trouble arose for North Carolina on Sunday, when members of the N.C. State message board, PackPride.com, found a transcript bearing former football and basketball player Julius Peppers’ name on UNC’s official website. The link, showing a transcript from classes taken between 1998 and 2001, lists a GPA of 1.824, with some of the highest grades coming in AFAM courses.

Peppers helped the UNC basketball team reach the 2000 Final Four. Williams, who returned to his alma mater in 2003, led the Tar Heels to national titles in 2005 and 2009.

In the interview with WFNZ, Williams defended the basketball program’s academic approach by saying he believes every one of his UNC seniors has received a degree. Recent graduate Tyler Zeller was named the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America of the Year for men’s basketball.

“We still emphasize the academic side of it a great deal, and it will always be that way, Williams told WFNZ. You’re talking to a guy who absolutely loves the University of North Carolina, and it’s been that way since the fall of 1968 when I stepped on the campus. There have been some mistakes made. I don’t think you can put your head in the sand and, ‘Oh, we’re all right, it’s just people making things up.’ I’m not saying that. There’s been some mistakes made, and there’s been some serious mistakes, but I do think some of it has been a little sensationalized.”

Williams said he’s bothered by what he perceives as “some sensationalism” in the media coverage as well as the problems UNC is facing and the mistakes it has made.

“I am bothered by it, I am worried about it, (I am) a little discouraged about it, to say the least, but the bottom line is there’s nothing I can do about it, Williams told WFNZ. I have some very strong opinions, but as soon as I make some strong opinions, everybody decides to take their bow and arrow, their shotgun, machine gun, the bazooka and everything out. For me, I’m going to wait and see what happens at the end and let those people that are supposed to be taking care of it take care of it. It’s not something I’m enjoying, I can tell you that.”

UNC Coach Williams Comments On Academic Scandal

Fayetteville Observer

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/08/16/1197466?sac=fo.sports

North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams played in the Wyndham Championship golf pro-am Wednesday in Greensboro and later addressed questions about the academic scandal that has rocked the university.

The NCAA has penalized the football program with a one-year bowl ban and 15 scholarship reductions over three years following an investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct. A school investigation has found fraud and poor oversight in 54 classes within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies from 2007 to 2011, with student-athletes making up 58 percent of the overall enrollments in those classes.

Williams told Charlotte radio station WFNZ on Wednesday that his track record is “pretty doggone good” from the 15 years he was at Kansas and the nine years he’s spent at UNC.

“We know how much we emphasize the academic side in the basketball office, Williams said. We know what our guys are majoring in. Every day we’re in touch with those kids. It’s something, again, I’m very proud of. Am I going to sit here and say there is absolutely no way nothing will ever happen, nothing will ever show up? We don’t know what’s going on every day. I’ve got 13 to 17 kids, counting walk-ons and things like that, but I feel really, really good about what’s happened academically in the basketball program since we came back.”

More trouble arose for North Carolina on Sunday, when members of the N.C. State message board, PackPride.com, found a transcript bearing former football and basketball player Julius Peppers’ name on UNC’s official website. The link, showing a transcript from classes taken between 1998 and 2001, lists a GPA of 1.824, with some of the highest grades coming in AFAM courses.

Peppers helped the UNC basketball team reach the 2000 Final Four. Williams, who returned to his alma mater in 2003, led the Tar Heels to national titles in 2005 and 2009.

In the interview with WFNZ, Williams defended the basketball program’s academic approach by saying he believes every one of his UNC seniors has received a degree. Recent graduate Tyler Zeller was named the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America of the Year for men’s basketball.

“We still emphasize the academic side of it a great deal, and it will always be that way, Williams told WFNZ. You’re talking to a guy who absolutely loves the University of North Carolina, and it’s been that way since the fall of 1968 when I stepped on the campus. There have been some mistakes made. I don’t think you can put your head in the sand and, ‘Oh, we’re all right, it’s just people making things up.’ I’m not saying that. There’s been some mistakes made, and there’s been some serious mistakes, but I do think some of it has been a little sensationalized.”

Williams said he’s bothered by what he perceives as “some sensationalism” in the media coverage as well as the problems UNC is facing and the mistakes it has made.

“I am bothered by it, I am worried about it, (I am) a little discouraged about it, to say the least, but the bottom line is there’s nothing I can do about it, Williams told WFNZ. I have some very strong opinions, but as soon as I make some strong opinions, everybody decides to take their bow and arrow, their shotgun, machine gun, the bazooka and everything out. For me, I’m going to wait and see what happens at the end and let those people that are supposed to be taking care of it take care of it. It’s not something I’m enjoying, I can tell you that.”