***SCROLL FOR UPDATES***
There has been an considerable increase in activity on the Inside Carolina message board stating that Butch Davis has officially signed on to become the next football coach at UNC.
Now, I have a policy not to post or link message board material for for obvious reasons. This rule is doubly enforced in a coaching search but based on the way I have seen the message boards behave over there this has a feel like it could be the real deal. That being said I am waiting for some kind of official confirmation from known good sources such as the N&O, David Glenn, or 850 the Buzz before commenting further(or removing the question mark above)
More later....
UPDATE:
James Conklin at AOL Sports Blog is reporting it is a done deal:
Several sources close to the UNC coaching search have reported that Butch Davis has signed a contract to become the next head coach at the University of North Carolina.
According to the sources, the only details remaining to be worked out are when UNC will make an official announcement.
The timing of the announcement is a sticky issue since current coach John Bunting remains at the helm of the UNC program through the end of the season.
More details to come as they are leaked released.
I am still waiting on some reliable local media guys to confirm this however...
UPDATE #2
The Winston-Salem Journal is now saying the contract has been signed:
The University of North Carolina has reached an agreement with Butch Davis for him to become its next football coach, two sources close to the search process said this afternoon.
One of the sources said that a contract has been signed.
Both sources indicated that school officials are trying to decide when to announce the hiring and introduce Davis as the coach. UNC will play Georgia Tech in its homecoming game Saturday at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.
As far as I know that constitutes the first such confirmation in the regular media.
UPDATE #3
Inside Carolina has broken the premium seal on the news, well because the WSJ broke the story and they can no longer entice people into paying money to read about it.
Over at 850, Joe Ovies has gone all "Drudge Report" on us and posted a siren next to their linking of the WSJ story.
Still no word from UNC officials on this or from the N&O, WRAL, and David Glenn. According to the reports we do have there appears to be some debate over when to announce the hiring. There is some indication it might be delayed until after homecoming. I would imagine with it leaking faster my kids inflatable pool some sort of press release is in the offing.
UPDATE #4:
This is fun isn't it?
According to David Glenn, UNC is stongly denying the report and there is no signed contract in place as reported by other sources. This is all according to Associate AD Steve Krischner who spoke with David Glenn earlier. Obviously speculation will be rampant as to what is really going on here.
I will offer my own rampant speculation later this evening.
UPDATE #5:
Now here is a source you can trust. David Glenn posted the details of UNC's denial on his blog:
According to a few on-line media reports this afternoon, Davis finalized contract details with UNC on Wednesday morning, about 10 days after Baddour's update to the BOT, and university officials are debating the right time to make a public announcement.
According to UNC officials, however, those reports are inaccurate.
"The reports are wrong," said Steve Kirschner, UNC's associate athletic director for communications, late Wednesday afternoon. "There is no signed contract. There is no new news to report on the UNC football coaching search."
I will have more later..