North Carolina Tar Heels Football: Butch Davis' Firing Has Repercussions

So far, UNC Athletic Director Dick Baddour is the only other casualty of the Butch Davis firing. But, as said in a recent article, Chancellor Holden Thorp should be gone by the end of the year. His recent violation of NCAA rules dealing with scholarship offers to recruits when discussing the offer made to Butch Davis' son certainly makes it more likely.

But there is another reason just surfacing that could hasten his departure. It centers on one question. Why did Thorp wait so long to fire Butch Davis?

Just days after Butch Davis was fired, some boosters apparently hired one or more lawyers. Their questions include the timing of Davis' firing. The question is highly relevant. If Thorp waited because he knew that the boosters' support would wane without Davis as coach, the boosters could claim that they wanted their money back. After all, the coach is a key reason for confidence in any program. And without Davis, UNC had no proven coach and a very uncertain future.

It would be easy to dismiss this point. And perhaps the law would side with UNC if the university faces any lawsuit seeking return of the money.

But perhaps money is not the reason the boosters are hiring lawyers. Perhaps Thorp is the real target.

In the previous article, it was suggested that Thorp was the real problem and his firing of Davis a coverup for the weaknesses in UNC's academic system. Indeed, all of the problems stemming from UNC football players and one tutor can be be laid at the feet of Thorp and the university's academic side. Was Davis supposed to ensure each football player was not plagiarizing their papers? Was Davis supposed to attend each session with each tutor to ensure that they had not crossed some line in providing help? For that matter, what exactly is the line enforced by UNC? And can anyone not an academic make any sense out of the NCAA requirements?

But now we have a central question in the Thorp, soon to depart Athletic Director Dick Baddour and UNC Trustees decision to fire Davis so late in the summer. (UNC somehow wants everyone to believe that the UNC Trustees were not involved, a seemingly absurd statement when millions of dollars are at stake which almost certainly would require trustee approval.)

Did UNC wait to maximize receipts from boosters who were paying millions into the football program because they believed Davis would deliver a national championship to UNC?

If any documents show that this was a consideration, is the delay fraud on the boosters? And could this result in even more trouble for UNC?

Only time will tell.

As for Thorp, surely he will be soon to leave UNC. Anything less is tantamount to approving everything that has occurred under his watch.