Nothing but a slap on the wrist.

[banded_mallard]

This pretty much means the NCAA has no balls at all.

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/s...ics-fraud-case



North Carolina avoided major sanctions after the NCAA could not conclude the school violated academic rules when it made available deficient Department of African and Afro-American Studies "paper courses" to the general student body, including student-athletes.

The NCAA said in a release Friday the Committee on Infractions panel found two violations in this case: the former department chair and a former curriculum secretary failed to cooperate during the investigation.

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NCAA vs. North Carolina: How we got to this point

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"While student-athletes likely benefited from the so-called 'paper courses' offered by North Carolina, the information available in the record did not establish that the courses were solely created, offered and maintained as an orchestrated effort to benefit student-athletes," said Greg Sankey, the panel's chief hearing officer and commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, in the release. "The panel is troubled by the university's shifting positions about whether academic fraud occurred on its campus and the credibility of the Cadwalader report, which it distanced itself from after initially supporting the findings. However, NCAA policy is clear. The NCAA defers to its member schools to determine whether academic fraud occurred and, ultimately, the panel is bound to making decisions within the rules set by the membership."

The investigation centered on a system in which a significant percentage of student-athletes took classes that had academic irregularities -- and whether that resulted in those athletes receiving an impermissible benefit. The classes were taken by more than 3,100 students -- nearly half of them athletes -- from 1993 to 2011. However, the investigation was focused from 2002-11.

The independent study-style courses came in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and often required no attendance, as well as grade changes, forged faculty signatures and just one paper at the conclusion of the semester. The athletes were reportedly guided into the classes to help them remain academically eligible.

North Carolina has maintained that the NCAA has no jurisdiction over this academic matter, and has denied that student-athletes received impermissible benefits due to the fact that the classes in question were offered to the entire student body.

The panel also did not conclude, based on the record before it, that extra benefits were provided to student-athletes. The panel noted the former secretary credibly explained during the hearing that she treated all students the same.

"While student-athletes likely benefited from the courses, so did the general student body," said Sankey. "Additionally, the record did not establish that the university created and offered the courses as part of a systemic effort to benefit only student-athletes."

The Tar Heels won a pair of national titles within the span -- in 2005 and 2009. North Carolina also won a national championship this past season, but that title was never in question.

The NCAA, which had investigated the football program in 2010, re-opened a new investigation in June of 2014 and issued the first notice of allegations in May of 2015 -- which included a lack of institutional control and also offering impermissible benefits to athletes. There was a second NOA in April of 2016 in which there was still a lack of institutional control, but no mention of men's basketball or football and also no impermissible benefits charge.

Sankey asked the enforcement staff to look at new information in November of 2016 -- and a third notice of allegations in December of 2016 included both men's basketball and football once again and had UNC facing five top-level charges -- including a lack of institutional control and the initial extra benefit charge. Two other charges pertained to former department chair/professor Julius Nyang'oro and former student services manager Deborah Crowder failing to cooperate with the NCAA enforcement staff requests -- violating the NCAA principles of ethical conduct. The final one involved an academic counselor providing extra benefits by way of impermissible academic assistance and special arrangements to women's basketball players from 2003 to 2010.

North Carolina had a two-day hearing in mid-April in Nashville in front of the Committee of Infractions. Men's basketball coach Roy Williams, women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell and football coach Larry Fedora, athletic director Bubba Cunningham and chancellor Carol Folt were all in attendance.

The NCAA began investigating the North Carolina football program back in June 2010 for impermissible benefits and academic fraud under former coach Butch Davis. The football program received a one-year postseason ban, lost 15 scholarships over a three-year period and also was forced to vacate 15 wins in March of 2012. The school conducted an internal faculty investigation in which it was found that there were issues with 54 classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies taught from 2007 to 2011. There was then another review from former North Carolina Gov. Jim Martin who found the sham classes went back to 1997.

North Carolina hired Kenneth Wainstein in February of 2014 to work on an independent investigation into the scandal. It found that former African studies department chairman Nyang'oro and Crowder created bogus classes and enrolled student-athletes to help them remain eligible over a span from 1993 to 2011. Crowder left the university in 2009.

[PharmHunter]

And the internet is going to be on fire.

Oh, Screw UNC and NC BBQ.

[Catdaddy]

They need to go ahead and disband the NCAA if that's all they could do. I realize they are in NC and the head man is a UNC grad. Ole Miss is tickled pink about this i'm sure.

[JABIII]

So in the loooong run, he who can raise the most wins is the now OPEN standard. Good. Very good. They cannot build enough churches to outpace us over the long haul.

Edited to add, South Carolina will never win a trophy outside of the Palmetto Bowl because the Bama's, FSU's, Penn State's will take this shit back over with the quickness. Watch Notre Dame become a Powerhouse again...

[trkykilr]

They need to go ahead and disband the NCAA if that's all they could do. I realize they are in NC and the head man is a UNC grad. Ole Miss is tickled pink about this i'm sure.

Actually, I think this hurts Ole Miss. the NCAA will hear for a year or so that they have zero teeth and they will burn Ole Miss. the Ole Miss case will become their effort to remain relevant.

The bigger part of this is that this curriculum was created in the early 90's and is the onl major at UNC requiring less than 90 credit hours (the second least is 112), so it is reasonably expected that someone can graduate in 3 years.

As blatant as UNC was, I think the NCAA was right to let them off. It's clearly cheating, but when other students besides athletes are in the classes/major as well, it makes it hard to punish them. This simply provides a blue print for other schools to create a similar system.

[Rubberhead*]

The real travesty isn't the players that got sold that bill of goods but the unnoticed, unnamed, non-athletes that took those same worthless programs and graduated with those same worthless degrees. The only difference is the non-athletes were stuck with $100k in student loans they have to pay-off while working as Starbuck baristas.

[JABIII]

I can't see it. They have essentially rendered themselves irrelevant. I would not bother to take their call were I an AD...

Provided, of course, that our Conference does the right thing and tells the NCAA to piss up a rope...