Yes! Indulging in my highly discriminating taste for schadenfreude, I visited the Inside Carolina site last night once news of Butch Davis' firing broke. Here's a sample of what people think in the alternative universe known as Tar Heel Nation:
- A smart AD somewhere is smiling ear-to-ear realizing that BD is now available. I wont be surprised one bit to see BD coaching in a BCS bowl in the next 2 years.
- I am truly embarrassed that a once great university will not stand by it's players and now it's coaches.
- It's now time to see how the team stays together this year and if UNC could go get Urban or if one of the Asst. Coaches steps up as an interim guy.
- Both completely bend over for the NCAA to the point where they come to campus and find every single piece of dirt that goes on practically everywhere. Should have manned up and gave them the middle finger like Auburn and said "prove it, FU, K thx bai!"
Urban Meyer? BaaHaaHaaHaaHaa!
Yup. Tar Heel fans are mad... as a hatter. Not only are they fuming about the timing of this firing, which couldn't be worse, they're apoplectic that Butch was fired at all. In their Up-Is-Down world, Butch Davis is a coaching genius and a stand up guy.
Butch Davis? The guy who ran the University of Miami's sleazeball program? The guy whose assistant coach who was moonlighting as an agent runner? The guy whose baby sitter was writing term papers for football players and fixing their parking tickets? (And I'm talking hundreds of tickets on multiple cars!) The guy who presided over a program charged with nine major NCAA violations?
That Butch Davis.
But when you journey down the rabbit hole into a Tar Heel fan's brain, you'll discover that there's a rational explanation for all this. See, Butch knew nothing.
We can call this the Sargent Schultz defense. Or if you prefer another metaphor, think of Butch Davis as the child king of football, an idiot savant of Xs and Os betrayed by his nefarious regents (the aforementioned coaching assistant and baby sitter).
Carolina fans---it's time to come to Jesus.
Look, either he knew or he didn't. If he knew; he should have been fired. And if he didn't know, he should have known, and he should be fired for dereliction of duty. This is obvious to everyone who lives in the real world.
Now at one level this is a lot of fun for me, but at another level it's not. I was born and raised in North Carolina, and I have an abiding interest in that state's higher education.
The UNC system, of which Chapel Hill is the flagship institution, is one of the best public university systems in the country. It has been distressing and something of a mystery to me why it's distinguished leaders, and indeed some of the state's most distinguished citizens (I'm thinking of Bowles and Friday) would line up behind a shifty character like Davis. This scandal makes the institution and the entire state look bad, and while all the Wal Mart fans care about is fielding a winner, for alums, faculty and staff, this must be extremely embarrassing.
What's also something of a mystery is the timing, which is admittedly awful. Either something new and rotten came to light, or more likely, a changeover in the Board of Trustees brought in some badly needed outside perspective. Let's hope the new board continues to muck out the stall.
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