Report: North Carolina’s 2005 Squad Took 35 “Bogus” Classes

The North Carolina Tar Heels are about to have a big problem as a report released yesterday by News Observer revealed the 2005 team, who won the title, were in enrolled in 35 “bogus” classes over both semesters.

"During the season that the UNC men’s basketball team made its run to the 2005 NCAA championship, its players accounted for 35 enrollments in classes that didn’t meet and yielded easy, high grades awarded by the architect of the university’s academic scandal.Of the 35 bogus class enrollments, nine came during the fall semester of 2004, when eligibility for the spring was determined. Twenty-six were during the spring semester, when the season climaxed with a victory over Illinois in St. Louis."

This report adds to the accusations of academic fraud that have been around UNC for many years. However, this is not the first associated with the basketball team, specifically this title team.

The report goes into detail of the 18-year academic fraud called the biggest in college athletics history.

"They illustrate the depths of an 18-year scandal that experts say is the biggest academic fraud in college athletics. Nearly half of the 3,100 students in the classes were athletes, and the report cites pressure from the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes as a driver behind the classes."

Even more damning for the Tar Heels basketball program is the amount of players associated with the fraud.

"In the 18 years of paper classes, men’s basketball players accounted for 363 enrollments, an average of 20 enrollments per year."

These are incriminating facts revealed by News Observer. If true, we could be seeing a vacated title, incredibly harsh penalties across UNC athletics, and the dismissal of many prominent members of the athletic department. While Roy Williams has maintained his ignorance to the situation, the fact such wide fraud was occurring right under his nose is incredibly unacceptable.