John Steigerwald, a Pittsburgh-based columnist, talk show host, and ex-TV sportscaster, argues in a Daily Caller column that the recent scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill merits the “death penalty” for its athletics program.
UNC Chancellor Carol Folt has already fired four people and put five others under disciplinary review. Personnel laws prevent her from making their names public.
I’m betting that Williams still has his job.
Folt has some plausible deniability since she’s only been on the job since 2013, but, based on the pervasiveness and long history of the corruption, it’s hard to believe that someone didn’t at least mention it to her at a cocktail party.
Folt could do the right thing — fire multiple coaches and impose the death penalty on her own football and basketball programs instead of waiting for the NCAA to come up with reasons not to do it — but I wouldn’t bet on that happening.
The NCAA will get around to ruling on the UNC case after it conducts a study on the effectiveness of allowing athletes to spread cream cheese on their bagels.
Don’t bet on the national media putting much pressure on the NCAA. The reaction, based on what I’ve seen since the results of the investigation were released on Wednesday, has been a long, collective yawn.
And this story is not one that should only interest the sports media. It’s not just about basketball and football. It’s about lousy high schools that graduate kids (mostly black) who have trouble reading “The Cat in the Hat.”
Where’s the outrage over kids who read at the fourth grade level being able to get a high school diploma?
And who thinks that the University of North Carolina is the only institution of higher learning that allows this to go on in the interest of justifying billion-dollar TV contracts?
