Here’s another way Carolina overcame the academic scandal:
Despite UNC missing its usual spot in the top ten of the Learfield Directors Cup (Carolina placed 13th), the Tar Heels finished atop an ESPN ranking of producing overall pro draft talent with their athletes since 2009.
While men’s basketball had 15 NBA draft picks compared to Duke’s 22, UNC had the most athletes drafted in all professional sports. As far as NFL draft picks go, ESPN called Carolina a football school with 37 players from Butch Davis’ and Larry Fedora’s programs getting drafted, seven of those in the first round.
The football list is impressive – Mitch Trubisky, Eric Ebron, Jonathan Cooper, Sylvester Williams, Quinton Coples, Robert Quinn and Hakeem Nicks all were first-round picks. Only Florida State had more among ACC schools in the final overall draft rankings. Duke had one first-round NFL draft pick.
The Tar Heels went to the top of this particular ranking by having 32 and 26 players drafted, respectively, by Major League Lacrosse and Major League Baseball; 21 soccer players went in the men’s and women’s MLS draft.
The total of 140 draft picks gave Carolina the ultimate score of 1705.4. Maryland from the Big Ten was a distant second at 1580.4. Duke was third at 1480. Notre Dame was fifth, Syracuse sixth and FSU only 13th overall. Virginia at No. 15 and Louisville at No. 18 were the other ACC schools in the top 25.
Surprisingly, Clemson, with its 51 football draft picks, didn’t make it at all. More surprisingly, Stanford, perennial winner of the Directors Cup, finished only 22nd in athletes being drafted by the pros.
Very impressive over any period of time, but especially since seven years of the decade UNC was either on NCAA probation or under investigation with the academic scandal for which it was never penalized. That says Carolina coaches overcame negative recruiting they faced in almost every home, and most of their teams performed at exceptionally high levels.
Not another top ten finish in the Directors Cup, but this particular ranking came out at a very good time to show how well the overall athletic program performed under adverse circumstances to produce pro talent in almost all sports.
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