NCAA Sends Investigators to Talk With UNC Athletes

Posted on July 16, 2010

NCAA investigators have come to Chapel Hill to talk with athletes — members of the football team and their involvement with sports agents, according to multiple news sources.

The UNC athletics department has not identified the nature of the investigation or the sport involved, acknowledging only that investigators have visited and have asked the school not to discuss the matter.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that the NCAA is probing the possible improper involvement of two football players with agents. The Associated Press and ESPN also quote unidentified sources who told them the matter involved football players.

Athletics Director Dick Baddour ’66 released a three-sentence statement: “I can acknowledge that representatives from the NCAA have been to Chapel Hill to speak with some of our student-athletes. However, they have instructed us to maintain the confidence of this review by not discussing it publicly. We have cooperated fully with the NCAA and will continue to do so.”

According to the NCAA bylaws, it is not a rules violation for a college athlete to merely talk to an agent or socialize with an agent as long as the athlete pays his or her own way. But athletes cannot agree to be represented by an agent or make arrangements to do so in the future and cannot accept transportation, gifts, meals or other benefits.

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