I, too, am a graduate of UNC. I find Dr. Harmon’s letter to Deems May interesting, at best, and honestly he makes a couple of legitimate points. My question to the good Dr. would be why he fails to mention that Butch Davis, as far as I know, was mentioned nowhere in the NCAA findings? That it was, in fact, Holden Thorp that oversaw and approved the tutoring program that led to the academic problems and it is, in fact, Holden Thorp that oversees the Honor Court which absolved some of the players of wrongdoing.
That, coupled with Holden Thorp’s repeated lies and false support for Coach Davis is something that Dr. Harmon also fails to mention. Surely no one with Dr. Harmon’s intelligence can deny any of the facts I’ve posed above.
Do I believe that Holden Thorp intended from day one to remove Coach Davis? Yes, and the facts support it.
Do I believe that Butch Davis knew the breadth and depth of the problems? I don’t know. But Holden Thorp himself said in the news conference that he DID NOT believe Coach Davis knew.
Was he lying???
Deems May is much, much closer to the football program than Dr. Harmon and the majority of the rest of us. And honestly, much like Dr. Harmon writes about Deems, I frankly don’t care if he’s an M.D. or a UNC graduate… the bottom line is that Holden Thorp is a poor leader with very little integrity and questionable decision making capability.
That, in itself, is reason for his removal as the leader of one of the greatest universities in the world.
John M. Brown
MSRA 85
Click To Read Dr. Harmon’s T.W.O. Cents Piece “A Letter to Deems May”.
