The first day of practice is today.
For those who love Carolina:
It’s an age old adage and one that most successful people understand. When you are in a bad situation, the first step is to stop making it worse. Apparently Holden Thorp doesn’t get it.
Yesterday was a rough day for Thorp. First he sent out an email recapping one of the worst press conference performances in recent memory. He proceeded to follow that up with a public relations blunder of epic proportions. While speaking to our old pal Ken Tysiac, Thorp was asked a question about Drew Davis, son of former coach Butch Davis. Instead of a simple “No comment” or “That’s behind us” or really anything to deflect the question, he instead decided to take the low road and speak publicly about the teenage son of the football coach he had just fired, using it as further justification for his decision to end Butch Davis’ tenure as coach of the football team. Thorp said he thinks coach Davis should have checked with him before offering Drew a scholarship.
Butch Davis was not pleased, and rightfully so. He issued a statement in response to Thorp last night. In that response, Davis states, “I’m disappointed Chancellor Thorp has chosen to mention our son publicly as a part of his explanation for the decision to terminate my job. The first time I was made aware the chancellor had any concerns whatsoever about the recruiting of my son was the Friday before I was fired — and he did not communicate those concerns to me personally. Once I was made aware that he had become uneasy about the situation, I immediately called him to discuss it. I left a message on his voice mail that was not returned.”
If Thorp had a problem with Davis offering a scholarship to Drew, why did he not call him immediately upon finding out to discuss the situation? True leaders address problems when they happen. They don’t stew on them and let word leak out months later through another person. Butch says that “It’s clear Chancellor Thorp knew for some time that Drew was being recruited by our football program. But he expressed no concerns to me whatsoever. I can assure you that if he’d given me any indication during those months that he was the least bit concerned, I would gladly have taken the time to sit down and discuss the issue with him.”
Even if it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, then why wait over a month and axe coach Davis eight days before the season started? Once again, Holden Thorp just comes across looking like an incompetent administrator. Regardless of whether you believe Davis should have consulted with Thorp before offering a scholarship to Drew, it does not help in any way to drag an innocent teenager into the work-related mess between two professional adults.
Furthermore, by merely speaking about Drew Davis, he potentially committed a secondary NCAA violation. Here is the rule directly from the NCAA rulebook:
13.10.2 Comments Before Signing. Before the signing of a prospective student-athlete to a National Letter of Intent or an institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid, a member institution may comment publicly only to the extent of confirming its recruitment of the prospective student-athlete. The institution may not comment generally about the prospective student-athlete’s ability or the contribution that the prospective student-athlete might make to the institution’s team; further, the institution is precluded from commenting in any manner as to the likelihood of the prospective student-athlete’s signing with that institution. Violations of this bylaw do not affect a prospective student-athlete’s eligibility and are considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1. (Revised: 1/14/97)
Based upon the specifics of the rule and the particular wording that Thorp used, it is unclear whether it would be ultimately ruled a violation by the NCAA, but why even toe the line? By Thorp’s own words, the program is under a great deal of scrutiny. So why add to it?
By firing Butch Davis, Thorp openly hoped that we could all move on from this entire mess, yet he keeps dragging it back out into the spotlight. The local news is all over it, and even national writers are chiming in about the spat over Drew Davis. Chad Forde from ESPN and Stewart Mandel from Sports Illustrated have both been tweeting about it this morning.
Some people continue to assume we are only angry because Butch Davis got fired. As I said on Wednesday, that is clearly not the case. We simply grow ever concerned each day with the future of our university while Holden Thorp is in charge. Every time he has issued a statement, held a press conference or spoken publicly it’s been a disaster. Someone higher up needs to pull him aside and explain to him that he needs to stop digging the hole deeper. Or better yet, just ask him to resign.
Today Holden Thorp sent an email addressing the recent events that have unfolded in Chapel Hill. At this point I’m not sure to whom it was actually sent. I am both a long time Ram’s Club member and a Lifetime Member of the General Alumni Association, but I did not receive a copy. Since it begins, “Dear Carolina Colleagues and Students,” one can only assume it went to students and faculty. Based on the emails I’ve seen, this is not exactly the group he needs to be defending himself to. Regardless, when I discovered the message, I’d hoped he would provide some additional insight into the reasoning behind his poorly timed firing of Butch Davis. In hindsight I’m not sure why I held out hope, as he has done nothing but let me down so far. He continued his streak with this email.
From a factual standpoint, the message contained nothing new. When I read through it the first time I actually thought I’d just read a transcript of the press conference from last week, minus the awkwardness of a teary-eyed Dick Baddour standing beside him. What it did contain was more confirmation of his inability to lead this university.
The only piece of new evidence in his email was when he stated, “In the past few months, I became increasingly concerned about the damage being done to our University’s integrity. When we received the NCAA letter of allegations a month ago, I began to think about the need to make a change.” So by his own admission, he did not even begin to think about making a change until the NOA was delivered. The trouble with that is that there wasn’t anything wildly unexpected in the NOA from a fan’s perspective, much less the chancellor’s. The only surprising twist was that the NCAA cited a major violation in the university’s failure to monitor social media. The notice did not mention Butch Davis a single time. So what was it that caused him to begin thinking about ousting the football coach then? Was he not paying attention for the last twelve months? Based on the facts that Thorp has provided for us, the only conclusion that I can draw is that he was so blindsided by the abominable social media allegation that it made him begin to reconsider his support for coach Davis. I think almost anyone would find that argument extremely difficult to follow.
He goes on to cite “persistent questions about our commitment to academic integrity” as an element that helped to tip his decision, but he has yet to explain how the football coach has an impact on the academic integrity of the university. I’ve said before that a case could be made for Butch Davis’ dismissal simply because he was the man in charge when the violations occurred. That works in the case of improper contact with agents, extra benefits and assistant coaches who were not honest with the university about their additional sources of income. But the head football coach, as with all coaches, is purposefully isolated from academics. I am yet to hear a legitimate argument for why Butch Davis was at fault for academic issues. UNC is a highly regarded institution on a national level with a long track record of quality education and excellent academic integrity. How a handful of students with honor code violations can undermine that overwhelming body of work is beyond me. In my opinion the academic integrity argument is simply a ruse to paint anyone who disagrees with Thorp as someone who values football ahead of academics.
Holden Thorp continues to weave a story that doesn’t stand up to even minimal scrutiny. For an email that felt very strongly like damage control following last week’s abysmal press conference performance, one would think he would attempt to actually include something meaningful. He didn’t. A true leader would either stand tall by his decision or let the community know that he recognizes he can’t hide behind cliches and actually attempt to provide a better explanation. He did neither. Unfortunately for Holden, his attempts at damage control only continue to make things worse.
Before we go any further, let’s make something crystal clear. This is not about Butch Davis.
Sure his firing one week ago was the final straw that led to the creation of this website, but it isn’t the only reason. He was the head coach and there is some level of culpability that has to lie at his feet. Ever since news of the violations first broke, I had feared that Davis would ultimately become a casualty of the the fallout. It’s a typical response from a school scrambling to right the ship following NCAA investigations. I was personally in the camp that never wanted to fire coach Davis, but I can understand the mindset of “he was in charge, let’s make a change and move on.” That is assuming it is done at the appropriate time.
When I read the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations and noted his absence, I hoped that would mean we would end up keeping coach Davis long term, but I also considered that Thorp might decide to part ways with him after this season and once the penalties came down. I was willing to accept either outcome, albeit one with more disappointment than the other.
But at this point, it isn’t about Butch Davis. He is now just a symbol of the incompetence I perceive leading my alma mater. Should Butch have been bought out at some point? I personally voted no, but there was a plausible argument to be made for yes. In any case only someone completely inept could have handled it this poorly.
It started with calling a special press conference to announce “possible academic misconduct” and opening it up with an apology. Perhaps it has happened before, but I have never heard of a chancellor holding a press conference to announce that some students may or may not have cheated, much less apologizing for what was at that point still “possible academic misconduct”.
It continued with this baffling statement on September 10, “Competitive, big-time football is a hazardous undertaking.” A hazardous undertaking? I think he pretty clearly lays out his personal opinions of athletics and where his priorities lie with that statement. For a minute I thought that Bill Friday had replaced Holden Thorp with a big dummy and was performing some type of ventriloquist act. Maybe I was only half right.
I don’t understand how someone who has risen through the ranks to chancellor so quickly can be so bad at public speaking. With every new press conference, I felt like I was watching the poor “Boom goes the dynamite” guy. I would almost feel bad for him if he wasn’t the chancellor of our state’s flagship institution. He should be better than that. He floundered. He couldn’t answer simple questions. During the painfully embarrassing press conference last week, the worst part was when Thorp forced that awkward applause from the media for Dick Baddour, who looked like he was about to cry because he had no choice but to go along with this ill-advised decision.
Regardless of whether you felt Butch needed to go, the whole thing was handled poorly. I will support UNC academics and athletics for my entire life. Even if we hire another John Bunting or Matt Doherty, I’ll be right there pulling for our teams through wins, losses, good times and bad. But I cannot defend a chancellor who preaches integrity, but acts with none. If you still don’t understand, we can continue to rehash the entire story of support followed by backstabbing and I can outline why now was such a bad time, but let’s just be clear here, this isn’t about Butch Davis.
I’m sure that some of you arriving here today discovered our website by reading the post by Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer.
In that piece, Ken cites the combination of an “internet-crazed world” and a “controversial decision last week” as the reasons for the birth of this website. It is true that the decision made by Thorp last week was catalyst to the creation of this website, but to say that was the only reason oversimplifies our beliefs. The website is product of a culmination of feelings that Holden Thorp is an ineffective leader and appears incapable of handling a crisis effectively. Those are not qualities that I look for in the chancellor of my university.
Ken goes on to quote FireHoldenThorp.com spokesman Matt Littlejohn as saying, “I feel like a strong leader would have been able to handle this more appropriately, and I think Holden Thorp is in over his head.”
There is just one problem. I have absolutely no idea who Matt Littlejohn is. I have not spoken to Ken Tysiac, nor has anyone who represents FireHoldenThorp.com. While I do agree with that statement and all of the others attributed to Mr. Littlejohn, it is factually incorrect to imply that he “represents the fireholdenthorp.com website.” I’m not sure if Ken just made up quotes that he thought would fit, or if he got in contact with someone who claimed that they represented us. Either way, his lack of fact-checking is disheartening to say the least. It makes one wonder what else they misrepresent.
The post really doesn’t add anything new to the story except a few quotes from Board of Trustees chairman Wade Hargrove, Rams Club executive director John Montgomery and North Carolina spokeswoman Nancy Davis. There is nothing groundbreaking here. Hargrove supports the decision, as he has said numerous times, and Montgomery is encouraging distressed fans to continue to support the athletic teams.
The more telling quote, I think, is that Davis said, “We think that most Carolina fans will look ahead now and support Coach (Everett) Withers and our student-athletes.” She makes it sound like there are only two options, dwell on the decisions of the chancellor, or go forth and support the team, and that most will choose the latter.
Well, Nancy, we have always unequivocally supported our coaches and student-athletes and will continue to do so. I don’t believe the same can be said for Holden Thorp.
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Update (2:00pm 8/3/11): Ken has apologized for the mistakes and has agreed to make corrections to the article. Matt Littlejohn was speaking on behalf of SupportButchShirts.com and Ken inappropriately attributed him as a spokesman for our website. While we share the same views, we are not affiliated.
This weekend I was thinking about Holden Thorp’s decision to fire Butch Davis last week, and a fellow Tar Heel gave me this perspective on the situation.
You know, it could be worse…
Man, if any of those things had happened, I’d have to worry about the ability of the chancellor to lead the university.
The Emails to the Chancellor section we added yesterday has been a big success. We’ve received quite a few emails from you all and are constantly adding more. Please keep them coming.
As the section is growing rapidly, it is becoming harder and harder to read them all, so we wanted to specifically point out a few of our favorites to date.
There are many more great emails and they are helping to show a side of the public opinion that the News & Observer, or UNC in their release of records, chose to ignore and/or silence.
We’ve received some emails that were not sent to Holden Thorp, but rather to the Board of Trustees. We will be adding another section to highlight some of those emails as well.
The News and Observer has published emails sent to Chancellor Thorp following his firing of Head Coach Butch Davis.
I couldn’t help but notice that neither my email to the Chancellor nor the emails of my family members and friends were published. In fact a majority of the emails appear to support Thorp’s decision, whilst coincidentally being picked mostly from professors at UNC, friends of the Thorp family, and yes even members of N.C. State.
Here’s what I sent – one of the emails the News and Observer did not publish:
Dear Chancellor Thorp,
I speak for my whole family, all of whom are alumni of UNC and love the school very much, when I say how incredibly disappointed we are with your leadership. If there is information that is yet to be released I will be ready to listen to it. However from everything I have witnessed since the start of this investigation I am greatly saddened by the way you have handled the situation.
The reputation of the university first came under suspicion not when news of an impending investigation broke, but when you called the first press conference on August 26th, and began apologizing before the innocence or guilt of our student athletes even had a chance to be ascertained. My family and I began to worry at that moment how you would deal with the stress of an NCAA investigation. Your behavior from the start sent the wrong message to the media, to our fans, and particularly to the student athletes.You promised cooperation, which I believe was the right response. But your silence and your failure to defend the rights of our student athletes was more damning to our school’s reputation than anything Coach Davis or the guilty players took part in. My family is disgusted at the way our students were consistently regarded as guilty until proven innocent. For months as the investigation unfolded, we have watched the local and national media run wild with allegations against our players and our coaches. Thanks to irresponsible journalism and your failure to safeguard the school’s reputation, the prevailing public opinion is based in the fiction that we had 13 or more cheaters on our team, a tutor writing papers for players, and an assistant coach paying players and recruits.
Had you bothered to speak out for the university when the facts first emerged, our reputation would never have been so thoroughly and unfairly dragged through the mud. We were told that Shaun Draghn, Da’Norris Searcy, Linwan Euwell, Ryan Houston, and Devon Ramsay were cleared of any wrongdoing, after being held out of multiple games as a precaution. Not once have you mentioned any of these players or thanked them for the sacrifices they made to maintain the integrity of the school.
Your belief that Coach Davis is responsible for what you perceive as damage to our academic integrity because he should have known about the players who committed academic violations makes absolutely no sense to me. I believe he literally would have had to read the emails of his players to have discovered any of the infractions. They are student athletes and are responsible for their work. Those players who were responsible paid heavy prices for their mistakes both from the honor court and the NCAA. If there was a failure on the part of the honor court, it was completely unrelated to Coach Davis. Firing him does absolutely nothing to help the school’s academic reputation.
Our players and recruits were given assurances from the coaching staff and through the support you placed in Coach Davis up to this point that he would be our football coach this season. Now you decide to fire him eight days before practice starts and neglect to tell our players – letting them find out from espn and the internet. In the eyes of many of our loyal fans, your disregard for the right way of doing things – the Carolina Way – has been the only behavior that damaged the reputation of our school.
I encourage you all to send your own letters to Chancellor Thorp expressing your opinions as well. chancellor@unc.edu
There is one question Holden Thorp repeatedly and unequivocally failed to answer in his press conference regarding the firing of Head Coach Butch Davis. As it happens, it’s the most important question, and one that absolutely demands an answer. Why now?
Not all Carolina fans are as fervent supporters of Coach Davis as I am. While I’ve been firmly in Butch’s corner throughout the investigation, there are other fans who felt that a change was necessary. The decision to fire Butch Davis now has left fans of both contingents disappointed and deeply confused.
It’s been over a month since the official Notice of Allegations was released. By all accounts, there was very little information in the NOA that was new to the administration or the fans who followed the investigation closely. Thus when the news broke on Wednesday, there was understandable speculation that new evidence incriminating Coach Davis had come to light. Chancellor Thorp squashed that speculation in his press conference, stating “the NCAA investigation found nothing to indicate that coach Davis was directly involved in any of the issues that surfaced, and there’s nothing new with the NCAA investigation”. Any lingering suspicions that Coach Davis’ cell phone records were in any way related to the decision were also put to rest by Thorp.
So it wasn’t the phone records, and it wasn’t the McAdoo case, and they didn’t find a secret sex tape with Butch and the tutor or any other wild smoking gun imagined by the Wolfpack faithful. So… why now?
According to Chancellor Thorpe, “This is really about the cumulative effect on the university’s reputation (under) nine NCAA allegations and persistent questions to our commitment to academic integrity”.
If Butch Davis’ continued employment was truly denigrating the school’s reputation and integrity, it makes it all the more curious that only two days before his termination the school would send him to Pinehurst to act as the face of the football program and the university on the biggest media stage in ACC football. At ACC media day, responding to a field of questions concerning the investigation, Coach Davis expressed regret for the situation and a conviction that the program would pull through. Accepting responsibility for the allegations as the head coach, he was thankful for the continued support of the administration.
It’s unclear when exactly that support evaporated. Until Wednesday, Chancellor Thorp and Dick Baddour had publicly only voiced their support for Coach Davis dating back to their first press conference last August. Coach Davis went to Pinehurst to kick off this football season with their support, a decision easily misconstrued as a sign that Butch’s job was safe. Upon his return he barely had time to change clothes before he was being shown the door.
So again..why now? If Butch’s employment was so irreparably damaging the university’s reputation that he needed to be fired, it makes the long delay in pulling the trigger as inexcusable as it is inexplicable.
With no answer for the timing put forth by Chancellor Thorp, fan speculation is sure to fill the void. Having already collected season ticket payments and large donations for the lavish new Blue Zone, the Ram’s Club conveniently avoids facing a possible massive disruption in revenue at a critical financial time. If the timing was indeed based on money, not only do fans have a right to feel duped and deceived, but it would also show money is a greater priority than academic integrity.
On the subject of priorities, how about priority number one – the student athletes? According to Dick Baddour, “our primary concern is on the players.” Chancellor Thorp’s decision and timing markedly undermines that statement. Not only did he fire their coach a week before their season begins, he didn’t even bother to tell the players about it first.
Although players are restricted from talking to the media, InsideCarolina.com interviewed players and their families anonymously for their reactions. “Eight days before training camp? You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s the main thing that I was so pissed off about” said one player.
This being the week between the end of summer school and the start of practice, a large majority of players were not on campus this week. IC reports that “some – if not most” of the players were finding out second hand through the tv, internet, or from friends. One of the parents had some choice words: “The administration can’t call a meeting and look the players in the eye and tell them what’s going on? It doesn’t matter what Chancellor [Holden] Thorp had to say to the players in front of a camera in a room full of press – that’s pretty empty and hollow to me. Have some guts. The kids have only been away from campus for a week – are you telling me this all happened in the last six or seven days?”.
Having witnessed a reprehensible decision with no explanation, Carolina fans are left with some discouraging realities. Why now? Chancellor Thorp chose this week to fire Head Coach Butch Davis. He waited until the season tickets and blue zone money had been collected on the premise that Butch Davis was still our football coach. He waited until this year’s recruits had enrolled for classes and allowed the staff to recruit next year’s recruits on the premise that Butch Davis would be their football coach. He waited until the one week of the year that the football players would not be on campus. He allowed Butch Davis to represent our school at ACC media day with no clue he was going to bat for a job that was no longer his. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Thorp’s unspoken answer to “why now?” is completely at odds with his quest to restore the school’s integrity. His treatment of Coach Davis and lack of support for the student athletes throughout this entire investigation is lacking anything close to integrity.
Chancellor Thorp stated, “I can no longer overlook the fact that was started as a purely athletic issue has begun to chip away at this university’s integrity. I can not stand for that”. If it is the academic integrity of the school at stake, why are athletic personnel the only ones losing their jobs? Thorp implied that Coach Davis should have known what was going on with the academic infractions. Personally I don’t see how that’s possible, short of him reading all of his players’ emails.
Using Thorp’s own standards, he is as responsible for any perceived damage to the university’s academic integrity as Butch Davis. The manner in which he has handled this investigation and particularly the firing of Coach Davis has done more damage to the school’s reputation than anything our student athletes have done. He has proven himself completely unfit to lead the University of North Carolina, and it is for exactly the same reasons he used to fire Coach Davis that Chancellor Thorp himself needs to be shown the door. To restore confidence in the academic integrity of the university, Holden Thorp must be let go, and let go now.
Holden Thorp gave Coach Davis his support throughout this investigation for over a year. Thorp supported Butch Davis right up until the moment he slid the knife into his back. Thorp won’t ever admit why he fired Butch now, but I’ll make it plain why we need to fire Chancellor Thorp right now.
Why now? Because when you believe a change needs to be made for the right reason, you don’t lie about it, you don’t deceive people, and you don’t wait around for the moment that can save you the most money.
