Former UNC football player apparently not working on NCAA’s investigation [Updated 11:20pm]

ACC College Football UNC Scandal36

Earlier this afternoon we tweeted that we heard the NCAA was back in Chapel Hill today continuing their investigation of the UNC-CH football program…and this evening we got mainstream media confirmation. (If you aren’t currently following us on Twitter and FaceBook then we would encourage you to get connected with us.)

With a hat tip to our email box and the Pack Pride message boards comes what could have been some pretty scary stuff —

We’d like to introduce you to a guy named, Marcus Wilson. You can click here to see Wilson’s FaceBook page and click here for Wilson’s LinkedIn profile. Marcus is originally from Jackson, MS and currently is the Assistant Director of Agent, Gambling and Amateurism Activities for the NCAA. A quick look through at his FaceBook page indicates that he is a big UNC-CH fan and is friends with A LOT of hot girls well and former UNC-CH athletes.

…wait a second…a big UNC-CH fan and friends with a lot of former UNC-CH athletes!? Hmmmm.

Upon further review, I guess that makes sense being that it appears the current Assistant Director of Agent, Gambling and Amateurism Activities for the NCAA played football at North Carolina in the early part of this decade, where he graduated with two degrees.

The best that I can tell, the NCAA has a seven-person investigative team focusing on Agents, Gambling and Amateurism – of which it appears Marcus Wilson is one.

There is nothing that explicitly or officially links Wilson to any kind role in UNC’s current investigation; and, I doubt very seriously the NCAA would ever allow an alum who played the very sport being investigated to hold a role in such an investigation. But, I do know that a seven person staff isn’t very large and therefore it would be reasonable to believe that everyone on such a small staff would at the very least have access to information related to major investigations.

I also know that it smells really odd that just the potential of this conflict of interest has not been made public by anyone at the NCAA or the University of North Carolina or has been reported by anyone in the mainstream media. (Shocker! I know)

I also know that, in addition to some interesting emails we have received the last couple of weeks, quite a few members of various UNC internet message boards have insinuated that they had good information about the current investigation and that Tarheel fans shouldn’t worry too much because they had some ‘friends in high places’ associated with the investigation.

Point here is that anything that can be construed as shady or subterfuge is not a good thing for the University of North Carolina. Over the last few weeks they have been caught with their pants down on almost every angle of this story — including the very story itself! Trips taken by athletes that supposedly didn’t happen were later proven to have happened; the NCAA publicly contradicting the University’s position on not speaking to the media; and a high school recruit who was originally quoted that Butch Davis another coach told him that all was going to be well in Chapel Hill long before the investigation has been completed don’t mix well in any kind of public relations recipe.

11:15pm Update
While we were writing this, RavensInsider Aaron Wilson confirmed our suspicions that the NCAA & Wilson are officially buttoned up on this matter as they should be. Wilson tweeted, “He has to recuse himself from UNC investigation under NCAA rules. Plenty of other investigators, though. Not a big deal.”

Good stuff for all parties. Anyone who knows the strange characters and conflicts of routing interests associated with NC State’s past brushes with the NCAA can understand how some of the Wolfpack faithful could have gotten extra paranoid with anything originating from the NCAA.

Now…it sure would be nice to figure out who are these ‘friends in high places’ to which Carolina fans keep referencing?

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ACC College Football UNC Scandal

36 Responses to Former UNC football player apparently not working on NCAA’s investigation [Updated 11:20pm]

  1. TAEdisonHokie 08/05/2010 at 2:25 PM #

    It seems like the NCAA has hit another gear…West Virginia is on the hook now.

    QUOTE:

    “CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An NCAA investigation into the West Virginia football program focuses on the activities of student managers, graduate assistants and other non-coaching staff, athletic director Oliver Luck said Thursday.

    Luck said in a statement Thursday the investigation focuses on activities between 2005 and 2009, years that span the coaching tenures of both former coach Rich Rodriguez as well as current coach Bill Stewart. Luck declined to be more specific.

    The NCAA has interviewed more than 80 people during the past nine months, Luck said. The NCAA arrived on West Virginia’s campus in April following its investigation into Rodriguez’s practices at Michigan.”

    W. Virginia receives notice from NCAA

  2. tootallorder 08/05/2010 at 3:04 PM #

    http://www.examiner.com/x-32838-Raleigh-Sports-Examiner~y2010m8d5-NCAA-Violation-2010-Rumors-and-talk-of-investigation-conflict-of-interest-at-UNC

    There’s a statefansnation mention along with this nugget:

    “With the recent announcement by the North Carolina Secretary of State, Elaine Marshal, to investigate the role of sports agents related to athletics, it is interesting to know that before joining the NCAA Enforcement staff in 2008, Wilson was a North Carolina Assistant District Attorney.”

  3. bradleyb123 08/05/2010 at 3:41 PM #

    You got to have proof. Otherwise, it is just a baseless accusation. Most people can come up with a pickup truck and some teenage boys to help them load and unload stuff.

    I think he was just suggesting that maybe that’s why the NCAA went to Clemson recently, to inquire about these things. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. Maybe they did and decided they couldn’t prove anything. Maybe they were able to prove something.

    It’s all speculation at this point. I just took it as food for thought.

  4. Wufpacker 08/05/2010 at 4:37 PM #

    Of course it will catch our attention if one of the seven on this staff has ties to UNC. We are, after all, NC State fans. But I’d be much more (concerned, appalled, suspicious…pick your favorite) if he was on the ground in Chapel Hill.

    Of course there are folks on this staff who have graduated from various universities that will eventually be investigated in one form or another. Of course rules and guidelines are in place to govern how these sorts of conflicts of interest are dealt with.

    Should no one who has graduated from anywhere but community college be permitted to work for the NCAA in an investigative capacity?

    And yes, perhaps he could affect the UNC angle from a distance. But the question is, “would he?” I don’t know, but I have to ask myself a couple of questions.

    First, if I worked for the NCAA in the same capacity as he does, and a similar investigation was begun in Raleigh. I’d be chomping a the bit to be in on it. They wouldn’t let me, of course. But I’d sure want to, and I’d do anything I could to bring the truth to light. Anyone that’s doing that crap at my alma mater would be trashing something I love, and causing my degrees to become worthless, in the public eye at least. I’d leave no stone unturned to root out the problem and get rid of it.

    Second question is, if anyone with whom he works thought he was remotely willing or capable of doing damage to an investigation, would he have reached this level with the NCAA’s investigative wing?

    Now, scumbags exist everywhere. He might be one. But just because he went to UNC, and just because he works for the NCAA doesn’t make him one. I realize both of those things increase the odds (Sorry, that’s a joke I couldn’t resist, not true, of course 😉 ).

    But this guy worries me not one bit. Not until I see a reason why he should bother me. I’m much more concerned about the media, which has a much more influential role in public opinion, and has much less accountability, too anyone.

  5. 61Packer 08/06/2010 at 9:40 AM #

    Nothing’s going to change. UNC will skate relatively clear of this and have a good bowl season while our football team will suck with no bowl again. Our basketball will be better, but will come up way short of UNC and overall will disappoint. Our baseball will struggle to make the ACC tournament. On a brighter note, though, maybe women’s basketball and fishing will be better.

  6. GAWolf 08/06/2010 at 10:16 AM #

    Have we ever had a family of a player relocate to Raleigh just to be closer to their kid playing ball? I cannot recall of one except for River’s dad who came to Raleigh to coach and did a freaking phenomenal job. He was a wildly successful coach in Alabama where high school football is head and shoulders above ours here. That move made great sense. Have we ever had one, let’s say, go from being a brick layer to a CEO of Acme Corp with the move? That’s the bigger issue to me, not the mere fact that a parent relocated. If I had the means and my child played a college sport out-of-state, I would love to think I would do the same.

  7. Wufpacker 08/06/2010 at 12:53 PM #

    I know this does not fit your criteria, many of them actually, but the Wilkins clan was here, at least during the season. Not really a relocation, and they weren’t brick-layers…well, Damian arguably was, but that’s beside the point.

    Gerald and Dom have enough money, I’m sure, that they could afford to season in Raleigh without any issues being suspected.

    Aside from them, No, I can think of no others.

  8. coach13 08/06/2010 at 1:11 PM #

    Moving is a bigger deal if you are middle class income. The rich can move at will and pay others to do it. Low income (and I have seen first hand) can pick and go state to state with not alot of hassle. They leave some crap in one spot and inherit some crap at another. Alot of their “close” belongings can go in 1 car load. NOT KNOWING the kid’s financial situation, I would be more interested to see what and how she got what she got and what she got set up with when she got here.

    Meantime, sounds like alot of nasty shady things going on at UNC. Just reading blogs on all sites (and taking into acount a majority being off or dead wrong) still not a pretty picture. They may get away scott free, but I hope they get turned on their head.

  9. Red Rider 08/06/2010 at 2:34 PM #

    ^^Damien the Brick-layer, NICE!!!

  10. john of sparta 08/06/2010 at 8:21 PM #

    my wife says i “gotta move” if i wanna watch Watkins Glen.
    hey, the Rolling Stones said “you gotta move” when the law
    says so. too much detail i know.

  11. goforit 08/08/2010 at 6:53 PM #

    “Have we ever had a family of a player relocate to Raleigh just to be closer to their kid playing ball? I cannot recall of one except for River’s dad who came to Raleigh to coach and did a freaking phenomenal job. He was a wildly successful coach in Alabama where high school football is head and shoulders above ours here. That move made great sense. Have we ever had one, let’s say, go from being a brick layer to a CEO of Acme Corp with the move? That’s the bigger issue to me, not the mere fact that a parent relocated. If I had the means and my child played a college sport out-of-state, I would love to think I would do the same.”

    I seem to remember the family of basketball brothers back in late 70’s? Can’t remember their names, but I believe their family relocated from Indiana to Raleigh.

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