
So while the NCAA is continuing to deal with the nightmare that is Penn State, it now finds itself facing what just might be the largest scheme of academic fraud in history at the University of North Carolina. The scale of the alleged fraud is simply mind-boggling. Two department chairs and other assorted academic advisors purportedly placed dozens of athletes in bogus classes with no work. All you had to do is just register and you got an A and some credit. Wow. If anything is worthy of “death-penalty” type sanctions this would be it. It goes to the heart of preserving academic integrity while meeting the textbook definition of “lack of institutional control.”
Now, I don’t normally write about other programs’ woes, because schadenfreude is not a feeling one should enjoy. But the level of cynicism this story has received from certain parts of major sports media is truly offensive. On that score, ladies and gentlemen, I give you noted Notre Dame hater, Colin Cowherd, on the steaming mess coming out of Chapel Hill (sharing has been disabled on the four-letter site so you can watch at this link).
If you don’t care to listen to Cowherd-- which is understandable-- I have a rough transcript with some commentary as to why Cowherd’s take particularly rankled. So read more after the jump!