North Carolina coach Roy Williams insists he had no knowledge of any academic fraud involving former Tar Heels star Rashad McCants, as the player alleged in an interview with ESPN's Outside The Lines.
McCants told OTL that Williams was aware of classes in the university's African and African American Studies (AFAM) department in which Tar Heels players were not required to attend but only to turn in a paper near the close of the semester.
"I strongly disagree with what Rashad has said," Williams said in a statement released by the athletic department. "In no way did I know about or do anything close to what he says, and I think the players whom I have coached over the years will agree with me.
"I have spent 63 years on this Earth trying to do things the right way, and the picture he portrays is not fair to the university or me."
Williams has been North Carolina's basketball coach since the 2003-04 season, McCants' second at the school. He coached McCants for two seasons, the second of which ended with an NCAA championship, before McCants departed for the NBA Draft.
UNC acknowledged following an internal investigation more than 50 "aberrant" courses existed in the AFAM department from 2007 through 2011. The Raleigh News & Observer has reported a disproportionate number of the students in many of those classes were football or basketball players. But the university report concluded the discrepancies did not exist to favor those programs.
"Our players have been deeply hurt over the last couple of years, and again today, by the comments and innuendo concerning their academic achievements," Williams said in the statement. "The young men who accepted scholarships to play basketball at this university have done so expecting a world-class basketball experience, in addition to a world-class education. Obviously, we pride ourselves on being one of the top basketball programs in the country, but equally important, in helping our players grow academically and socially, as we promised their parents we would.
"Our student-athletes understand the value of a degree from the University of North Carolina and accept their academic responsibilities in earning that degree. They take seriously their efforts to, in some cases, become the first member of their families to graduate from college.
"I love them for all they have meant to UNC and to me, and I will continue to believe in and support them."
