North Carolina Fires Head Football Coach Butch Davis

Nine days before the start of the college football preseason, the North Carolina Tar Heels have fired their head coach. The reason for the firing is no secret. Over the past year, North Carolina has gone through a large amount of turmoil.

The school's official reason for the firing is that the NCAA investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct was doing too much damage to the school’s reputation but was not brought on by any changes in the investigation.

Chancellor Holden Thorp cited: 

...lost confidence in our ability to come through this without harming the way people think of this institution. Our academic integrity is paramount, and we must work diligently to protect it, the only way to move forward and put this behind us is to make a change.

In four seasons with the Tar Heels, Butch Davis compiled a 28-23 win/loss record. His breakout year was supposed to be last year, but the NCAA investigations, suspensions and sanctions dashed those hopes. Seven of his players were forced to sit out the entire season while 14 players missed at least one game.

The NCAA has sent a notice of the allegations and major violations to the school. One of the violations is the "unethical conduct of former associate head coach John Blake."

Two days prior to this firing, Butch Davis said he felt "reassured" and felt no pressure to quit.

North Carolina has scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning in Chapel Hill to discuss the change and plans moving forward.