I don't follow college football as closely as I follow the NFL and NBA. So I wasn't familiar with John Blake when North Carolina coach Butch Davis added him to the staff.
But football people were. They all said the same thing. He's a great recruiter, and he's dirty.
Davis knew that when he hired him.
Davis might retain his job. He probably will. But he knew what he was doing when he hired Blake, and so did Davis' employer.
Even if Davis hangs on, North Carolina loses the right to sanctimony. A North Carolina fan emailed to ask what N.C. State was thinking when it hired Mark Gottfried as basketball coach. The UNC fan was indignant and condescending. Crazy old State; isn't the school aware of Gottfried's history?
Compared to Blake, Gottfried is a paragon of all that is right about college athletics.
As the NCAA's Notice of Allegations attests, the Tar Heel football program decided to take a dip in the sleazy end of the pool.
That stuff doesn't wash off easily.
Tom,
The NCAA itself did the background check on Blake before UNC hired him. It came up clean.
That's really all that needs to be said.
Posted by: Authority | June 22, 2011 at 10:03 AM
The background check might have come up clean but that still doesn't mask the fact that John Blake is a shitheel.
Posted by: DonDefore | June 22, 2011 at 10:05 AM
A background check, eh? You don't need a criminal record to be a sleazebag, A.
Posted by: Michael Procton | June 22, 2011 at 10:10 AM
Authority, worst comment ever. I could do a background check on you and it doesn't reveal your ignorance. Just saying.
Posted by: Ted | June 22, 2011 at 10:22 AM
If the NCAA has nothing on the guy, he's clean. There's allegations on message boards everywhere on every coach in the world. Do any of you actually have any real knowledge of 'dirtiness' on Blake's part in the past, or just message board 'Black Santa' crap? Hey, for all I know, it's all true, but if the NCAA itself can't show it, you can't punish a program for hiring the guy.
Posted by: Authority | June 22, 2011 at 10:41 AM
The Heels are so desperate for a winner in football after Mack left them high and dry it is pathetic. The reason Butch is still on board is because the rest face backlash if he is fired at this point. The higher ups would be pubicly admitting they were wrong. And if they are wrong, the higher ups face consequences themselves. They said they would stand by him and to their credit it looks as if they are true to their word on that. Problem is, they should have never said it in the first place until it hashed itself out. On the other hand, I personally support Butch. He has not beaten the Wolfpack and has not had a winning ACC record to date. Way to stand behind mediocrity Dick!
Posted by: 2 Cents | June 22, 2011 at 10:58 AM
Authority, just sit back and watch the NCAA punish UNC for all this crap, initiated by the John Blake hiring.
Posted by: Just another guy | June 22, 2011 at 11:04 AM
The actions of these student/athletes (now that’s a proven oxymoron at UNC) are signs of a deep seeded problem. Sort of like blood pressure is a sign of a bigger problem. Irregular heartbeats are a sign of a bigger problem. Sort of like porn and Ted Bundy.
Parking tickets are connected to students, students are connected to tutor, tutor is connected to coach, coach is connected to assistant coach, assistant coach is connected to sports agent, and students are connected to coach, tutor, assistant coach, agent and benefits. Now you have friends with benefits running around on an antiquated campus. This gets better than Jersey Shores!
Posted by: bruce | June 22, 2011 at 11:27 AM
"The NCAA itself did the background check on Blake before UNC hired him. It came up clean.
That's really all that needs to be said."
Yeah, let's blame the NCAA, not Paul Davis, Dickie Baddour or Holden Thorp. Some Heel fans are pathetic. You wanted a National Championship in FB too, and they turned their head away, pulling the Sgt Schultze act. Take responsibility for lack of institutional controls, the penalties and move forward, not using John "Black Santa" Blake and Jennifer Wiley as the sole scapegoats, er Rams!
Posted by: Takin Care of Biz | June 22, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Really?? Are there really any avid fans of any school that are not indignant and condescending? If you say yes and name an example, you are a liar...
Posted by: Craig32 | June 22, 2011 at 12:01 PM
And Tom - thanks for the "I told you so" update on Blake about a year after the fact. I guess you have to pull the old UNC stuff from the bottom of the bag to keep the readers clicking, huh?
I mean, can't you at least pull out another, "I hate soccer" article or something a little fresher??
Posted by: Craig32 | June 22, 2011 at 12:10 PM
I am sure someone as "dirty" as John Blake must have been disciplined many times by the NCAA during his career. Can anyone provide a detailed list since for Mr. Sorensen??? ****crickets****
Posted by: oscar | June 22, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Exactly, Oscar. Everything I've heard about Blake came from message boards and alleged that he paid recruits to come to his school. Funny about how that's not what he apparently did here, and funny how the ABCers want to make it look like that's what he did.
State fans should worry about their own program, because it's the next media target once the UNC situation is resolved. Hint: Bobby Murray Chevrolet.
Posted by: Authority | June 22, 2011 at 12:27 PM
The difference between Blake and Gottfried? One is a head coach and the other is an assistant. I don't know anything about Gottfried's "reputation" but if anything were to happen in the future, it would cause much bigger problems b/c he is the head man (see Pearl, Bruce and Tressel, Jim). The fact that the NCAA isn't making any allegations against Butch is the reason UNC will come away a lot better off than UT, OSU and USC.
Posted by: SCB | June 22, 2011 at 12:27 PM
Gottfried was strongly rumored to have been having an affair with a student while a coach at Alabama. How is that in anyway morally superior to accepting money from an agent?
Posted by: Annonymous | June 22, 2011 at 12:42 PM
Hey Authority
Shitclocks ticking...UNC is gonna get hit with a shitnami of epic proportions
Posted by: Lahey | June 22, 2011 at 12:47 PM
All you dumb dookies and wuffies need too worry about there own programs the Tarheels are the best ever and this is a conpirasy just like 9/11
National champs next year in football and basketball woohoo go heels!11
Posted by: Warlmart Willy | June 22, 2011 at 12:52 PM
UNC-CHeat is going to be hammered in October by the NCAA. By then the license plates and other info will condemn UNC to the ACC basement for a decade or more... CONgratulations UNC. You are the most corrupt institution in the NCAA.
Posted by: John Blake | June 22, 2011 at 02:25 PM
Davis made his bed, now he has to lie in it. The notion that a background check is sufficient is insane -- when you hire a janitor, you don't just do a background check, you call references. If a marginally interested journalist at a paper in another city was hearing Blake was dirty, Davis either heard the same thing or he's completely incompetent (and I don't believe he's incompetent).
If Davis knew that, you'd think maybe he would have put some extra watches on Blake, that is if he actually wanted to stop it. Instead, like Jim Tressel, he went out of his way to make sure he didn't know.
The hell with UNC football -- I'm tired of getting my hopes up. Thank goodness for the basketball and baseball teams.
Posted by: BullCityDog | June 22, 2011 at 02:59 PM
He destroyed all his recruiting records at Oklahoma after he was fired because he was clean......yeah right.
Posted by: Eric | June 22, 2011 at 03:07 PM
Its obvious that Tom is not a true Tar Heel. Only us "What it takes to be TRUE BLUE" folks can turn our head and place blame on every one else instead of standing up and admitting our guilt. This I am afraid is the new "Carolina Way"
Posted by: Charles Kuralt | June 22, 2011 at 11:17 PM
UNC and the media should demand the release of Butch's Ohio cell phone records----probably won't happen as "Butch not knowing anything theory" is the only way the AD keeps his job-----Butch has brought in great talent, but it hasn't translated into major success on the field----his team is a poor man's version of Miami---no discipline.----guys like Little and Austin are 5 star punks---I don't think guys like Robert Quinn, Deunta Williams, and company would have gotten caught up in this mess if these two weren't on the team.
Posted by: Les Junior | June 22, 2011 at 11:17 PM
I think UNC-Chapel Hill is setting themselves up for endless ridicule keeping Butch on the sidelines. I can see the posterboards in the stands now. "I'm Butch Davis - I know nothing...nothing!" (insert picture of Sgt. Shultz from Hogan's Heroes)
Posted by: 2 Cents | June 23, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Under no circumstances should any of the welfare scum that John Blake recruited be considered at fault for anything. Free lunch, free rent, free utilities for single mother, free healthcare, free phones, free cars, free tutition, free pass, free grades, free parking, free everthing.......
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