Baker finds time to recruit for UNC, but never finds the time to sign contract(updated Wed.)

General UNC Scandal39

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The Rock Hill Herald’s Darin Gantt is reporting that Baker is leaving Chapel Hill to take the defensive line coach’s job with the Dallas Cowboys.

Baker told the Herald that the decision was “a hard one” and that he “really fell for” the coaching staff and players at UNC. The Cowboys offered Baker the job last week, but Baker said he asked for some time to help UNC complete its recruiting class.

Baker was supposed to be the eventual replacement for the infamous John Blake who previously resigned after it was discovered he had contact with NFL agent Gary Wichard and received payments and/or loans from Wichard during his time in Chapel Hill.

Read more details about the previous shenanigans here.

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Wed. update

This story is getting more interesting this morning.

According to JP Giglio of the N&O Baker never signed a contract with UNC:

Charlie Coiner replaced Blake in late September for the remainder of the 2010 season, but the former NFL assistant was brought in as a temporary solution. Baker was hired on Jan. 10 to fill Blake’s role on Davis’ staff on a full-time basis.

Baker, who was the Panthers’ defensive line coach last season, told The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald on Tuesday that the Cowboys’ undisclosed offer was too much to turn down.

“It was a huge difference … I mean huge,” Baker said Tuesday.

Baker never signed a contract with UNC, according to a school spokesman. Blake, who was in the final year of his contract, had a base salary of $240,000.

Here was UNC’s official announcement of Baker’s hire on 1/10/2001 supposedly about three weeks before the Cowboys offer came according to Baker’s quote in the original entry:

“Brian is regarded as one of the top defensive line coaches in the NFL and his experience was appealing because of his background as a college coach in the ACC,” said Davis. “He is an excellent communicator and his knowledge of our recruiting areas was critical.

“Hiring Brian was a cooperative effort among Everett Withers and our defensive coaches to bring in the best person for our program. Everett did an excellent job helping identify Brian as a top candidate and we worked together to bring him to Chapel Hill.”

So why did UNC announce his hire on January 10th, which at the time was unusual because many programs wait until after signing day to make or announce changes, when Baker hadn’t officially signed a contract to be a part of UNC’s staff?

If the Cowboys offer didn’t come until “last week” which would be around February 1st, then why wasn’t UNC able to get a deal done with Baker between when their original discussions started prior to his announcement on January 10th and February 1st?

Maybe that was because Baker was out recruiting and too busy to sit down and officially become a part of UNC’s staff because he did have enough to time to visit with the #1 recruit in the country Jadeveon Clowney who is from South Carolina:

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and new defensive ends coach Marion Hobby made their in person visit with South Pointe DE Jadeveon Clowney Tuesday afternoon at the school. “Clowney enjoyed it all,” said his coach Bobby Carroll. He liked Coach Hobby. They hit it off real good.” North Carolina’s new defensive line coach Brian Baker also met with Clowney Tuesday. Clemson and North Carolina were the only schools to visit Clowney at the school Tuesday

So here is the timeline:

-Jan 2nd – Carolina Panthers play their final home game.
-Jan 10th – UNC officially announces the hiring of Baker with Butch citing knowledge of their recruiting territory(SC maybe since he coached for the Panthers?)
-Jan 18th – visits #1 player in the country at his high school in SC
-Feb 1st(or last week relative to this week) – Baker claims the Dallas offer came
-Feb 8th – Baker officially takes job in Dallas
-Feb 9th – UNC says Baker never signed a contract with UNC

Has anyone ever heard of guys being announced as joining a coach staff before signing day that recruit for that university, never sign a contract while they recruit, and then bolt for a new job immediately after signing day? Why even announce that he was hired when he hasn’t signed an actual contract?

The Carolina Way?

General UNC Scandal

39 Responses to Baker finds time to recruit for UNC, but never finds the time to sign contract(updated Wed.)

  1. bradleyb123 02/09/2011 at 2:00 PM #

    PackerInRussia, you may have a point there. Could be they were covering their behinds by not signing him to a contract. But in doing so, they violated a rule.

    I won’t go as far as to accuse them of doing this intentionally. Maybe they wanted him to sign the contract, but he thought something was in the works from the NFL, and to save everyone some trouble, he just hesitated to sign until he knew something.

    Nothing would surprise me, though.

  2. Bowlpack 02/09/2011 at 2:17 PM #

    I believe that he had to be made aware and understand the rules before being allowed to recruit. If he was aware of the rules and still violated them then UNC is in violation and if he wasn’t aware of the rules then he wasn’t compliant with NCAA policy and was in violation. It sounds like it’s set up to disallow any claims of negligence. Maybe I’m a wishful thinker and want bad things to happen to UNC Football, but it sounds a little bit suspicious to me…

  3. Daily Update 02/09/2011 at 2:56 PM #

    Gowolves: Probably nothing shady about it, but it certainly represents more staff turnover in Chapel Hill and should be publicized. If kids are choosing UNC because of their position coaches, then they need to know they can’t rely on that coach being there when they arrive even if they were just hired like Baker was.

    They could be forced out because of connections with agents or leave after only a few weeks on the job. You just never know with the Carolina Way.

  4. triadwolf 02/09/2011 at 3:55 PM #

    Maybe Carolina found a loop hole, but wasn’t Lowe prohibited from contacting recruits,even the ones already signed, until he had contract and was officially employed? Wasn’t that one of the issues we had with falling behind on recruiting while Sidney finished up his degree?

  5. Bowlpack 02/09/2011 at 4:08 PM #

    Rules don’t apply to UNC.

  6. bradleyb123 02/09/2011 at 6:14 PM #

    Good point, triadwolf. Excellent point.

  7. PhillyPack 02/09/2011 at 6:46 PM #

    Maybe I’m missing something here, but how did he get paid without a contract. Did he recruit pro bono? Paid from petty cash…?

  8. bigwolfpacker 02/09/2011 at 6:59 PM #

    Yeah in reading the recruiting rules, id say this is another infraction.

  9. choppack1 02/09/2011 at 7:57 PM #

    In other news out of Chapel Hill – McAdoo’s appeal was denied by the NCAA:

    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college_football/story/9087104/

  10. Primewolf 02/09/2011 at 8:16 PM #

    I do not think this will go over well with the NCAA “review”. Very shady, intent to deceive, no contract, who knows what was going on.

    If I am NCAA, I am more than pissed with the continued crap. Not everything has to be proven. The accumulation of this shi$ really stinks.

  11. highstick 02/09/2011 at 8:20 PM #

    Excellent point, Triad…I was thinking the same thing until I got to your post.

    Sid had to finish a class to sign the contract(because of the degree issue), but think he also had to take the NCAA test before recruiting also..

    Not sure what other UNC employment issues were violated. Sure sound like the State Auditor needs to go over there and kick some butt for UNC violating internal control issues. Wonder what else she could find??

  12. packbackr04 02/10/2011 at 5:44 PM #

    highstick is right, Sid had to pass a recruiting violations test before contacting recruits.

  13. triadwolf 02/11/2011 at 12:07 PM #

    I think it becomes clear that UNC paid Baker to make a few stratigic visits while he was looking for his next NFL gig. Baker had no intention of taking position with UNC and UNC had no intention of hiring him. It was simply a case of “Hey, do you want to make some extra cash while you’re interviewing for your next job?”

    I may be a bit cynical (actually quite a bit in my not so old age), but this doesn’t pass the smell test or any other test you choose to utilize. I’m sure it’ll be hard or impossible to prove, but the circumstantial evidence is hard to ignore if you’re looking.

  14. MatSci94 02/12/2011 at 8:59 PM #

    As much ad I don’t like how UNC does things, “employed by the university” is not the same as “signed a contract”. There was a story about the BB coach at Kentucky (the one Calapari replaced) that didn’t sign a contract for years, but was presumably able to recruit.

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