You know what really chaps my ass… okay, you know one thing that really chaps my ass?
It’s how Mark Richt has lost control over the North Carolina and Virginia Tech programs.
Seriously, North Carolina is guilty of academic fraud that’s so blatant it makes what the Harricks did look like child’s play.
According to the Raleigh New & Observer, UNC has acknowledged that its all-time receiving leader, current New York Giant Hakeem Nicks, was ineligible throughout his junior season in 2008 due to academic fraud.
But since it wasn’t caught until after the season was over and since Nicks turned pro after the season, no harm, no foul. Or if you prefer a more philosophical description,
His agent told the New & Observer that, four years after the fact, his client’s eligibility is “low on the totem pole of relevant issues,” which is hard to dispute from Nicks’ perspective or North Carolina’s.
Glad that worked out for all concerned. After all, the Heels are already penalized for eligibility issues related to payments from agents. Is there really any need to pile on further just because it involves cheapening the primary mission of any academic institution?
Meanwhile, Uncle Frank Beamer needs a kicker. So let’s all welcome back junior Cody Journell from his temporary exile after his suspension for felony home invasion.
Fortunately for Va. Tech, no scooters were involved in the incident.
Get The Picture 
Why is it always Georgia?
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Because UGA brings light and attention through enforcement of discipline, which typically involves suspensions or dismissals. Whereas, in many other programs the very same offenses never see the light of day and those coaches who put electrical tape over the oil light are honorable, clean and no nonsense tough guys.
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Yep……
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I hope y’all got that I was sarcastically parroting the ridiculous AJC article from few days ago.
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Obviously.
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Did they do it in an alleyway?
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I thought everyone had the memo — N.C. & Va. Tech are exalted outposts of higher learning whereas the Dawgs toil along in the mercenary SEC and should be glad for whatever they get. Basically, it seems to boil down to institutional control with strong overtones of the $$ interests of the Conference commishes. But, truly, Va. Tech has been running wild for years.
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As has been pointed out repeatedly on this blog most of the other schools exist in States that have very different open records laws.Does an Auburn/Alabama football player who goes to jail but its not revealed for two years make the same amount of noise as a UGA football player arrested on a scooter reported the next day? Apparently not. I suggest we alter Georgia’s Open records act as it relates to individual students(ie a cooling off period or wait until the criminal case is resolved. I think a 20 year old kid’s privacy right outweighs a lazy ass journalist’s right to splash his face on the front page of the Sports section for minor in possession,shock I never drank as a 20YOA. Sorry it was legal than.
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And yet we lost AJ Green for four games in 2009, based on violations discovered through an investigation that was spurred on by (what turned out to be false) allegations from a UNC football player that AJ was at an agent party in Miami.
It just isn’t fair.
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UNC had something like 16 players sit out an average of something like 8 games each. Many of them ended up being high draft picks anyway. The coach got fired, the AD resigned, and the assistant coach was investigated by the State BI for his agent connections. They would have prosecuted both had the agent in question not died. The school self-reported the academic stuff.
The school additionally received a bpwl ban and scholarship reductions, but the theme that UNC skated on this isn’t really a complete picture of events. Some of the players suspended during the investigation were ultimately cleared, which stinks for the players – in effect, lost eligibility from a “guilty until proven innocent” approach to things. Not exactly the approach Auburn took with their sociology scandal or Cam-gate.
I’m not defending UNC or the NCAA on this one, just pointing out that time can fuzz over some important details.
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I say tack on more punishment for UNC – may it fit the crime. They created their own mess. The primary mission of the school will be undetered.
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“the primary mission of the school will be undeterred”
True – so long as the basketball team starts on time and runs deep into March, the NCAA could slap a death penalty on UNC football without causing too many ripples.
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That thought was lurking in the back of my mind…
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North Carolina is limited to 76 football scholarships this year. This could put the program at a significant disadvantage.
Wait…
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I have always resented UNC-CH’s lofty, faux-“public ivy” attitude toward other Southern universities. I really resent the fact that the Penn State issue is overshadowing the academic fraud at UNC. I hope their oh-so-hallowed basketball program gets uncovered for what it is—Kentucky East. Their basketball coach Huckleberry Hound is a snake oil salesman who makes Jim Harrick look like he wasn’t trying hard enough!
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