Just a few hours after UNC Athletics Director Dick Baddour publicly embarrassed himself by stating that the UNC investigation was winding down and he could see ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, the Carolina spin machine was in full effect yesterday in response to the shocking news that hit on Wednesday night.
Part of the spin machine’s mantra yesterday was to paint John Blake a poor man in need of money from when he was a coach at Oklahoma – more than a decade ago. Evidently, ten years of making more than ~ $250,000 a year isn’t enough to help a man get out of his debts. But, I am not going to tear apart everything from yesterday as this must read entry does all the work of breaking down a lot of the newest revelations.
What I am going to focus on is another of the Wichard-Blake-Carolina public positions that appears to be cracking under the current heat. One of the blatant ‘contradictions’ pointed out in Charles Robinson’s piece on Wednesday night:
In an interview with Yahoo! Sports in August, Wichard denied any impropriety between himself and Blake. He also denied that Blake was ever previously employed by Pro Tect Management, despite a brochure obtained by Yahoo! Sports which listed Blake as the vice president of football operations for the agency and described his duties. But Wichard insisted that while the two have shared a 25-year friendship, there has been no financial relationship between the two.
“I don’t get involved with him bringing me players or anything like that,†Wichard said. “It has not happened. … Would John Blake say something positive to a kid about me if he was asked? I would think so. He has seen my work over the years, just like I would say something positive about him in terms of what he can do as a coach.â€
(I expect there are direct quotes or comments from Blake in past articles denying that he has ever sent players to Wichard, but I don’t have the time to try to find them right now).
So…just to be clear…despite the odd ‘coincidence’ that 13 of the highest drafted players to have ever played for John Blake, UNC-CH’s Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Co-ordinator for the last four years, the public position remains that Blake has never steered players to Gary Wichard.
Not so fast my friend.
Today, TMZ Sports throws some a douse of reality on the Tar Heels’ newest attempt at defense as a source close to former Blake player Brian Bosworth says:
“the former University of Oklahoma football player was approached by John Blake back in the late 80s — while Bosworth was still in school. We’re told … Blake, an OU football assistant at the time, told Bosworth, “I have a guy who’s going to change your life.”
That guy was agent Gary Wichard.
Setting up a meeting between an active college athlete and an agent could be a major NCAA violation … and it’s exactly what Blake is accused of doing at UNC. Last month, Blake resigned as the defensive line coach at UNC amid allegations that he was funneling Tar Heel players to Wichard.
As for Bosworth — he eventually hired Wichard as his agent when he entered the NFL.
Clearly, Blake and Wichard have a history that goes back more than 20 years … which is interesting since their relationship is now under the NCAA microscope.
Additionally, today BobLee penned another must-read home-run.
