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North Carolina AD releases statement in support of Roy Williams

Roy Williams

AP Photo

AP

North Carolina Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham issued another statement on Tuesday regarding the accusations made by former Tar Heel guard Rashad McCants.

On Friday, an interview that McCants gave to Outside The Lines was published. In that interview, McCants claimed that Roy Williams knew about academic impropriety at North Carolina. McCants claimed that it was Williams that setup no-show classes in the Afro-American Studies department that allowed McCants to remain eligible to play basketball.

Williams responded to the claims in a 35-minute interview with Jay Bilas of ESPN.com and, on Friday, Cunningham made a joint statement with Williams denying the accusations.

On Tuesday, Cunningham reiterated that stance.

“Since Friday, there have been conversations inside and outside the Carolina Community about Roy Williams and Carolina Basketball,” Cunningham said. “I am proud to see the outpouring of support from former players and the basketball community at large, which reinforces the respect, integrity and care of student-athletes that Coach Williams ahas shown throughout his career. Current and former players from across the country have told me that Coach Williams and his staff have always place a priority on self-accountability inside the classroom. I have witness this myself.”

“Everyone here at Carolina wants to know all we can about past academic and athletic anomalies. But speculation and innuendo should not replace the independent investigation currently being conducted by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein. We must allow his work to be complete and thorough.”

Keep in mind while you read these denials: the Raleigh News & Observer, reporting facts dug up by whistleblower Mary Willingham, has found that “five members of [the 2005 national title-winning] team, including at least four key players, accounted for a combined 39 enrollments in classes that have been identified as confirmed or suspected lecture classes that never met":

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Raleigh News & Observer

North Carolina can deny as much as they want, but the data is damning.