Out Of Bounds!

"Can you believe this?"

The University of North Carolina fired Head Football Coach Butch Davis on Wednesday, saying the past year of turmoil amid an NCAA investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct was doing too much damage to the school's reputation. However, none of the NCAA's investigation has been linked to Davis.

The school issued a statement announcing Davis' dismissal nine days before the start of preseason practice. Chancellor Holden Thorp said the decision was not prompted by any changes in the ongoing NCAA investigation but said he "lost confidence in our ability to come through this without harming the way people think of this institution. Our academic integrity is paramount, and we must work diligently to protect it," Thorp said in a statement. "The only way to move forward and put this behind us is to make a change."

What? Here is a clear example of a university president that doesn't have a clue! I completely respect his decision to make a change if that's what he thought was necessary. However, you can't make the change 9 days before training camp starts. You've just thrown more than a hundred kids and the assistant coaches out of the window with the bath water.

If they were going to fire the guy the best time to have done it would have been after the bowl game in December. That way the school would have had enough time to find a qualified guy for the job. Instead, they've got to give the keys to the Bentley to an assistant that isn't ready to handle the responsibility of running a major program just yet. Not to mention the deer in the head lights look that comes with it because he’s been completely caught off guard.

Remember when Indiana fired Bobby Knight two weeks before the season started? That was the biggest bone head move in the history of sports. I would admit that it was time for Knight to go but wait until after the season or until he breaks the NCAA's All-Time Wins mark as your coach. Now Texas Tech, that isn't even a basketball school, has the distinct honor of saying that it has the NCAA's All-Time Wins Leader! Complete idiot move!

Mike Davis was scared to death during his first press conference and the program hasn't been worth watching since. I'm always blown away when these chancellor’s claim to be looking out for the best interest of the school while throwing it's athletes against the wall with no regard to what happens to them.

Similarly, Ball State fired it's head football coach Stan Parrish after last season not because he wasn't winning but because he stood up to the university president which insisted on playing a dead man's walking non-conference schedule. The Cardinals will play Indiana, South Florida, Army and #1 Oklahoma as part of their non-conference show downs in 2011. Keep in mind that Ball State is in the MAC and doesn't have that caliber of athlete all over the field.

While it would be cool to play one of those schools from a major conference. It makes absolutely no sense to play all three or four? They'll be lucky to have a team available to suit up by the time they get into MAC play. However, the chancellor wanted those games because of the guaranteed pay-out that the school gets as a result of just showing up. Now are we really looking out for the best interest of the student-athletes?


These are all examples of university president's not understanding the dynamics of the athletic departments or respecting their student-athletes and completely over stepping their bounds in the process. Why in the world would you fire a coach right before the season to leave the players hanging and say that it was the best thing for them? Let the athletic director do his or her job. Sometimes, it’s OK to stay in your lane!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.