Over the weekend, North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour would neither confirm nor deny reports that the school would receive a notice of allegations from the NCAA at some point this week.
There was good reason for that as, unlike Ohio State, they likely won’t see their notice of allegations for a couple of months. They did, though, receive a little notice from the NCAA on Tuesday.
In a press release, UNC announced that it has received a notice of inquiry from the NCAA pertaining to its football program. The letter, the release states, is a formal declaration of an investigation into the program.
The release further states that NCAA officials initially contacted the University via phone on June 21, 2010 and conducted their first interviews with members of the football program on July 12.
“The notice of inquiry is a formal notification from the NCAA that they have been reviewing our football program,” Baddour said in a statement. “We have been working with the NCAA and cooperating with them on this investigation. We are committed to the process and will continue to cooperate.”
Julie Roe Lach, NCAA vie president of enforcement, wrote in her letter to UNC chancellor H. Holden Thorp that “it is the present intention of the enforcement staff to complete this investigation during June 2011.” NCAA bylaws state that the enforcement staff must send a notice of allegations, which tells the school and all involved individuals the alleged violations the NCAA enforcement staff found during the investigation process, within six months after the notice of inquiry is sent. At that point, the school would have 90 days to respond, unless an extension is granted.
The UNC football program has been the subject of an NCAA investigation into both multiple players receiving impermissible benefits as well as academic misconduct. A total of 14 players missed games in 2010 as a result of the scandal, with a handful of players — including starters on both sides of the ball — missing the entire season.