Between March Madness, which to me is one of the funnest (and most blogging) time of the year, real life commitments and other things, I had not yet touched on the NCAA’s sanctions against North Carolina’s football program. The big bosses in Indianapolis, with a thirty-eight page document, put the gridiron program on a three year probation and banned it from the 2012 post season, which means neither a bowl game or the ACC Championship. If you are reading the report and do not know who’s who in it you can use this post at the Tar Heel Fan blog to decifer it all. The governing body did not think that the self imposed penalties by the Tar Heels were enough, pushing from nine less scholarships in three years, to fifteen. New head coach Larry Fedora released this statement…
“My only regret is for the current players, especially the seniors, who will not have the opportunity to compete for an ACC championship and go through the experience of a bowl game in 2012,” new Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora said in a prepared statement. “We will do all we can to make every game this year a special experience for our seniors and fans.”
Many believe that the sanctions are a bit harsh, including Beano Cook, who talked about it on ESPN Radio. The University thought about appealing, but chancellor Thorp Holden said this about the decision not to…
“We considered an appeal. But given the timing and the record that other schools have had with appeals … we’ve decided it’s best to accept our sanctions and move forward.”
In an ESPN blog post many different reactions from main stream media personnel. My thought on all of this is pretty simple…
- It had to happen, and while whether it was too harsh or not is for someone else to decide as I would probably be too bias on the matter. What was evident was that some sort of punishment would have to be handed down. Luckily, from the sound of it none of the recruit are phased by this.
- Looking back at it now, and we all know that hindsight is always 20/20, would have it been smarter for the school to ban itself from last year’s post season and get that out of the way? I doubt that the NCAA would have given the Tar Heels a second ban on bowl games/post season, but then again, with the governing body of college sports you never know. It also makes you think if the NCAA would have accepted the ban on the bowl game for last year would it have also considered the nine scholarship reduction, instead of adding six more (two per season). On the other hand coach Fedora might like the fact there will be no pressure on him or the team to make it to a bowl game as he installs his new system in Chapel Hill.
- What did the NCAA need to do for about four and a half months, from October 28, 2011, when North Carolina appeared before the committee, to March 12, 2012, when the governing body handed out the punishment. I know that the NCAA moves slowly, but this is even slow for them. It makes one wonder if there was a difference of opinion inside the offices on the type of punishment or if there was still more digging being done while we thought it was all over and done. I doubt anyone will ever know, but it is something to think about.
In the end, with this ruling coming down the Butch Davis era can be finally closed out. In this type of situation, no matter what the outcome is most people involved in it, or even watching it, are never fully happy with the outcome. But with all the participants now gone from North Carolina, with a whole new core of people at the head of the program and the athletic department, the last chapter of this sad time in Carolina’s history is now over and done. As the team goes through its Spring Football, which I will talk about tomorrow, you can truly say that a new era has arrived in Chapel Hill.