UNCs Williams frustrated over latest twist in NCAA saga

This latest development could potentially drag a process that began in 2011 on for as much as another six months -- or more -- before it is finally resolved

Christine T. Nguyen—North State Journal
North Carolina head coach Roy Williams reacts during a first round men's college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh

CHAPEL HILL — Roy Williams is as tired of answering questions about North Carolina’s seemingly endless NCAA violations case as the media is of having to ask them. Probably more. But there was the Hall of Fame coach Wednesday night, following his team’s 85-42 thrashing of Northern Iowa at the Smith Center, addressing the same uncomfortable subject yet again. And there’s a good chance the questioning will continue for the foreseeable future after the NCAA unexpectedly issued UNC another new notice of allegations earlier in the day. This latest development could potentially drag a process that began in 2011 on for as much as another six months — or more — before it is finally resolved. UNC will have up to 90 more days to respond to its new notice, after which the NCAA will have 60 days of its own to respond. Another hearing before the Committee on Infractions would then have to be held before a ruling can be issued and potential sanctions imposed. “I did have one goal and I’m going to have to change it,” Williams said, setting up a line he’d probably been rehearsing since news of the new notice of allegations broke hours earlier. “I’d hoped that the NCAA thing would be over before I retired. Now I’m hoping it will be over before I die.” The new notice of allegations is the third one issued to UNC over the past two years. According to numerous published reports, this latest document readdresses points from the original notice that were omitted from the amended version that was released in April. Specific details have not yet been made available, but are expected to become public when the university posts the new notice of allegations on its web site, perhaps as later this week. The most significant change from the first notice, which came out in May 2015, to the amended notice involved the reclassification of anomalous classes in the African and Afro-American Studies department from “impermissible benefits” to a failure on the part of athletic officials to monitor their academic support system. It also removed all references to the Tar Heels’ football and men’s basketball programs.The new notice of allegations comes nearly two months after UNC’s procedural hearing before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, in which school representatives argued that the NCAA violated its own bylaws in its pursuit of the Tar Heels’ case. It was not met with enthusiasm from Williams. “My reaction is I’m tired of this junk,” the 66-year-old coach said. “I’ve said everything I’m going to say. I’ve felt all along like we’ve done the right thing and whatever they do, they have to do. “My athletic director (Bubba Cunningham) is a great guy here at Christmas. He told me that if I wanted to tell everybody to talk to him, they could talk to him. And that’s what I’m close to doing because I’m tired of the junk.”