Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Butch Davis had seemingly survived the most dangerous days of the NCAA investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct within his North Carolina program.

He kept his job all last season even as embarrassing allegations kept surfacing, from the conduct of his associate head coach to the behavior of players and their tutor. He won supporters by leading a team decimated by suspensions to top players to eight wins and a bowl victory, earning the praise of his bosses along with the assurance that he'd be back for a fifth season.

Yet on Wednesday, the school reversed itself and fired Davis, saying the past year of turmoil amid the NCAA probe was doing too much damage to the university's reputation. Now the Tar Heels are heading into next week's training camp with no long-term coach and an entirely new set of distractions hanging over their heads.

Davis arrived in Chapel Hill in 2006 with a clean reputation after bringing probation-saddled Miami back among the nation's elite in the 1990s. But in a statement from the school, Chancellor Holden Thorp said that while there had been no changes in the NCAA investigation, he had "lost confidence in our ability to come through this without harming the way people think of this institution."

Last month, the NCAA sent a notice of allegations to the school outlining numerous potential major violations, though none connected to Davis himself. The school is scheduled to appear before the NCAA infractions committee in October.

"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."

The school has scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning to discuss the change, which followed a closed-door meeting of the school's board of trustees. Team spokesman Kevin Best said plans for an interim coach would be discussed Thursday. North Carolina's players report for training camp Aug. 4 and start practice the following day.

In a statement to The News & Observer of Raleigh on Wednesday night, Davis said he was "surprised and saddened" by the change, and said he has done nothing wrong.

"I have worked as hard as possible to address all aspects of the program that have been questioned," Davis said. "I fully believe we were on our way to getting past these issues and moving ahead in a positive direction."

The news caught current and former players off guard, including T.J. Yates — the quarterback who served as defacto team spokesman last season during the height of NCAA scrutiny.

"In shock about Coach Davis, that man put Carolina football back on the map," Yates, a Houston Texans draftee, posted on Twitter. "And to do it right before training camp starts is just wrong."

Another former Tar Heel now in the NFL, Kansas City offensive lineman Mike Ingersoll, tweeted: "I have always supported my alma mater... but I can't support this. I support Coach Davis. Thank you for all you did for Carolina football."