UNC academic investigation update expected Friday

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- UNC President Tom Ross and UNC Chancellor Carol Folt have invited Ken Wainstein, the former federal prosecutor retained to conduct an independent investigation of past academic irregularities at UNC-Chapel Hill, to provide a high-level update of his ongoing work to the Board of Governors. Wainstein is expected to brief the BOG during the open session of Friday's regular meeting of the board. Mr. Wainstein, a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Cadwalader, Wiskersham, & Taft, will address the scope of his work and the progress of his independent investigation. He has emphasized that his investigation is not complete and that he will not share any factual findings or conclusions this time.

The briefing will come a week after former North Carolina basketball star Rashad McCants went back and forth with Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams during appearances on ESPN's Outside The Lines.

McCants said his tutors wrote his term papers, he rarely went to class for about half his time at UNC and he remained able to play largely because he took bogus classes designed to keep athletes academically eligible.

Several days later, Williams told ESPN that he was in "shock" and "disbelief" over the McCants allegations, saying the experiences McCants shared did not match what he knows about his players' academic efforts and records and the basketball program he oversees. Several former players who attended the Williams interview but did not wish to speak on camera echoed Williams' points and vehemently disagreed with McCants' allegations and descriptions of being an athlete at UNC.

But McCants, in a second appearance on "Outside the Lines," stood by his allegations and called on all former players from 2004-05 to release their academic transcripts, which would show whether they, too, took bogus African-American studies classes: "If you want to find the truth, the truth is there in the transcripts," McCants said.

A copy of McCants' university transcript, labeled "unofficial" and obtained by "Outside the Lines," shows that in his non-African-American studies classes, McCants received six C's, one D and three F's. In his African-American studies classes -- many of which are referred to as "paper classes" because students did not have to attend them -- his grades were 10 A's, six B's, one C and one D.

McCants also said Wednesday that Williams' denial and distancing from what he knew about his players' academic performances and standing didn't ring true.

"How are you getting paid millions of dollars to be a coach?" McCants said. "How is that you're not accountable for what your athletes do off the floor?"

McCants also stood behind an allegation he made directly about Williams: That, when he was possibly headed toward ineligibility during the 2004-05 national championship season due to grades, Williams told him in a meeting that a summer session could be swapped out with a failed class to improve his GPA.

Williams adamantly denied that he ever discussed swapping any classes with McCants; further, he said he did not recall such a meeting "at all."

McCants said: "Maybe he's getting a little old. You know, that's something that I can't ... I don't have any control over what he remembers. All I know is the truth. And I'm not up here to lie about anything."

Williams did say that if a player were having academic trouble, he probably would talk with the player: "That's part of my job." But he repeatedly said he and his staff have drawn lines they don't cross when it comes to players' academics.