NCAA looking to ‘make sure no Reggie Bush stuff is going on’ at UNC

Thursday evening, Scout.com’s North Carolina website reported that the NCAA is in the midst of a preliminary investigation into certain segments of the school’s athletic programs, including football.

ESPN.com’s Joe Schad has provided further details into the situation, including the fact that it’s only the football program the NCAA is looking into. Specifically, the NCAA is poking around (cue ominous organ music) sports agents and their interaction with UNC football players.

One source told Schad that the NCAA was questioning players -- including defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who had flirted with leaving for the NFL early -- about gifts or extra benefits, ostensibly “to make sure no Reggie Bush stuff is going on.”

A second source said that the NCAA asked all of UNC’s projected NFL draft picks to provide phone records so investigators could see which agents they had spoken with.

The players were also asked who paid for the travel, who paid their rent and which agents they had met with and when, according to the second source.

Austin recently tweeted about a trip to Miami.

UNC athletic director Dick Baddour defended his school’s compliance department.

“We work hard on our compliance program, a program of integrity,” Baddour said. “We’re proud of it. We are also proud that, or we think very strongly that, we get an inquiry from the NCAA that we would comply, we would do what they asked us to do and we would do it forthright and completely.”