UNC announced it has self-reported additional potential infractions to the NCAA.

The next chapter in the seemingly never-ending scandal at Carolina was unfurled on Friday with UNC announcing new potential violations were submitted to the NCAA regarding improper academic assistance with women’s basketball and the finding of possible recruiting violations with the men’s soccer program.

Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham spoke to the media on Friday, saying the ball is now in the NCAA’s court to review the submissions.

“We share the confidence, with the NCAA,” he says, “that this additional review can be concluded quickly – and within 60 days – to bring closure to the investigation.”

That means that the response from UNC to the NCAA regarding the Notice of Allegations that was issued in May, which was scheduled to be sent on Tuesday of next week, will be delayed until the conclusion of the NCAA’s review of the new material.

“I’m still hopeful that we can get through this portion of the investigation, receive the amended notice – if that is what is required – and still bring this to closure by the spring of [2016],” he says. “Intermediate dates, or even that date, are highly speculative. But that’s what I’m hopeful that we can achieve.”

Cunningham says the potential infractions with women’s basketball are consistent with what was put forward in the Notice of Allegations regarding impermissible academic assistance being given through Dr. Jan Boxill, who was the academic advisor for the Tar Heel women’s basketball team.

Cunningham says the new material was found while going through nearly six million files in preparation for the response to the Notice of Allegations. He did say he feels officials have gotten to the end of the most pertinent information; meaning new accusations are less likely to develop.

On the other hand, the new submissions from men’s soccer are unrelated to the Wainstein Report and the Notice of Allegations. Cunningham says the new revelations came about after the coaches took a compliance test.

“One of our coaches got a question wrong and came to get clarity on it,” he says. “We realized that the coaches misunderstood the rule and created some violations. And we immediately turned that in.

“So I feel reasonably good that the system somewhat worked.”

But Cunningham says this is still a negative mark overall.

“I’m very disappointed in the timing,” he says. “I’m very disappointed in the impact it’s going to have on the institution, on the program, and how it delays where we were.

“But I’m proud of the fact that people own the mistakes when it happens.”

The university continues to tout the 70-plus reforms that have been implemented to ensure the academic scandal that dates back to the 1990’s does not happen again.

Cunningham says he’s confident the review will be completed in the next two months. If the NCAA decides to amend the Notice of Allegations, Carolina would then have another full 90 days to formulate and submit its renewed response.

Cunningham adds he is frustrated by the process and knows that fans are, but points out this is the “Carolina culture” to want to know what happened, understand it, and fix it.

“We have been open. We have been transparent. We have followed all of these various processes,” he says. “Each time we did a different review, it wasn’t thought to be thorough enough, or long enough, or deep enough. And we felt that Ken Wainstein and his group created that sense of closure.

“But as you review all of those additional documents, some things do pop up that require a view through an NCAA lens.”

Listen to the full press conference with Bubba Cunningham here:

 

UNC men’s soccer coach Carlos Somoano released the following statement regarding the accusations facing his staff:

“We strive to run a program that abides by all University and NCAA regulations. However, our coaching staff unknowingly made a mistake and I immediately notified our compliance office.

“I would like to discuss specifics of the alleged violations but I am bound by confidentiality rules that apply during an active NCAA investigation. My staff and I will cooperate completely with the University and the NCAA. I can say that the investigation does not affect our current or former players on the men’s soccer team.”

You can read the full statement from UNC below:

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has notified the NCAA’s enforcement staff that, in the course of responding to the NCAA’s notice of allegations of May 20, 2015, it identified two new pieces of information potentially requiring further review. The University is fully cooperating with the NCAA and working within the NCAA’s processes to bring closure to the investigation as soon as possible.

First, while preparing for public release of a series of emails from the independent investigation conducted by Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, the University found additional examples of possible instances of improper academic assistance provided to a few former women’s basketball players, directly related to allegation number two in the May 20, 2015, notice of allegations.

“We identified this new information as part of our due diligence in preparing our response to the notice of allegations and materials for public release,” said Director of Athletics Lawrence R. (Bubba) Cunningham. “Consistent with NCAA process, we promptly notified the NCAA’s enforcement staff. We continue to work cooperatively and expeditiously with the enforcement staff to complete our review, and we are confident this can be done quickly to allow the NCAA to bring closure to the investigation.

“There is no question this has been a long and challenging process, and it is one we are committed to finishing as we started – by cooperating fully with the NCAA, adhering to obligations under the NCAA’s rules, and working tirelessly to secure a fair and just outcome for Carolina.”

The second piece of new information involves potential recruiting violations in the men’s soccer program that allegedly occurred over the past two years. While these potential violations are completely unrelated to the allegations in the NCAA’s current notice of allegations, the University is obligated to report this new information and did so as soon as athletics compliance staff became aware of the information. NCAA infractions procedures require that if this new information is deemed to be a Level I or Level II violation, the existing notice of allegations must be amended to include it even though they are unrelated to the prior allegations.

Said Cunningham, “The information we self-reported to the NCAA regarding our men’s soccer program does not meet the high expectations of conduct that I have set for Carolina’s coaches and our entire athletics program. We expect excellence in everything we do, including NCAA compliance, and we will accept nothing less. We will continue to work closely with the NCAA to investigate this matter and avoid unnecessary delays. While this development is very disappointing, it is important to recognize that our athletics compliance procedures detected the potential violations and our coaching staff came forward to report them.”

The University reported the new information to the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Aug. 10 as required by the NCAA infractions program. The University shares the NCAA’s confidence that the additional review to address both issues can be concluded quickly – within 60 days – to bring closure to this investigation. Upon receiving the results of the review, the NCAA enforcement staff will decide whether its current notice of allegations needs to be amended. Under these circumstances, the University will delay submitting its response to the current notice on the original Aug. 18 due date, consistent with NCAA procedures. The NCAA will set a new response date following the supplemental review of the new information.

“I know today’s announcement will cause some to ask when all of this will end,” Cunningham said. “I want to assure everyone that Carolina is doing all it can to bring these matters to closure as quickly as possible while also strictly adhering to the NCAA’s infractions process. While we need to address these new developments, we have already completed the majority of the work necessary to respond to the NCAA’s notice. We fully believe that we will be able to bring the investigation to a conclusion in spring 2016, as previously anticipated.”

After the University submits its response to the NCAA Notice of Allegations, it also will be posted on the Carolina Commitment website. The University can only comment about NCAA process and policies; it cannot comment on the substance of the case until its completion.