By Seth Tow Editor-in-Chief & Dylan Mitchell Staff Writer
Recent revelations expanded on former University of North Carolina basketball player Rashad McCants’ allegations in June that academic advisors wrote his term papers at UNC. A self-report by the university revealed that over 3,000 students, including many student athletes, over an 18-year period took fake classes. The student athletes took the classes in order to remain academically eligible to play their respective sports. During this period, UNC basketball won three national championships (1993, 2005, 2009), and UNC football won eight bowl games.
This finding is beyond unacceptable, and the punishment should reflect the severity of the acts. This is the biggest scandal in NCAA history – bigger than the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, bigger than the Nevin Shapiro scandal at Miami, far bigger than SMU. Mark Emmert and the NCAA need to drop the hammer on North Carolina. Multiple key players on the 2005 national championship team would have been academically ineligible if not for these phony classes keeping their grades above the Mendoza Line, so the Tar Heels surely should be forced to vacate their championship from that year. If any player from either the 1993 or 2009 teams was found to be involved in the scandal, then the championships from those years should be vacated as well. The coaches that were involved should face a suspension from the NCAA. A ban from the college football playoff or from the NCAA basketball tournament would not be egregious either. At the very minimum, there needs to be a large loss in scholarships for an extended period of time; anything short of that would show that the NCAA is partial to North Carolina as they are a traditional basketball power.
This scandal is far worse than a single player receiving money for signing autographs, a booster giving gifts to recruits, or a coach committing disgusting, horrible acts on his own time away from the team. No, this scandal is worse than all of those, at least within the parameters of NCAA athletics. This is, quite literally, a program that has cheated, benefitted from it, and gotten away with it for nearly 20 years. Now that the truth has been revealed to the public, North Carolina must face the harsh consequences they have brought upon themselves.