So after yesterday's flurry of activity we enter into today with less of an expectation of something concrete happening, mainly because that is what Butch Davis' agent is telling us according to the Charlotte Observer:
Marvin Demoff, Davis' agent, said Wednesday evening that nothing has been finalized. He said reports indicating that Davis has signed with North Carolina are inaccurate, and it will be next week before anything is "really going to happen."
"I think there's interest in both parties," Demoff said. "We look forward to continuing discussions with that, but there is no agreement."
The N&O, whose silence was somewhat conspicuous throughout the afternoon, went as far as to ask the UNC General Counsel Leslie Strohm if anything had been signed:
UNC General Counsel Leslie Strohm was asked by The N&O via e-mail Wednesday for any "contracts, documents or agreements that have been signed with Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis in regard to the football program at UNC," Strohm responded at 6:48 p.m.: "The University has no documents responsive to this request."
So at this point what we have is two outlets, Inside Carolina and the WSJ standing by their stories that Davis has been hired. In fact the WSJ updated their original story to say they had "three sources" now instead of the two they initially discussed yesterday. This is understandable since the Journal has a ton of credibility riding on this one. On the other side UNC and Davis' agent have said the negotiations continue and something could be afoot next week which also lends weight to the so called "Homecoming Theory." The HC Theory is based on the possibility that UNC does not want the announcement of Davis as head coach to take away the focus from UNC and it's homecoming activity, particularly because it will be John Bunting's last one and seeing that he "bleeds Carolina blue" it probably means a lot to him. On the other hand, UNC put themselves in this position by firing Bunting mid-season and this is one of the consequences.
My guess is things well go quiet until Monday.
UPDATE:
David Glenn posted the following comment on his blog (late) last night:
Yes, I believe Butch Davis will be the next coach at UNC. I just can't prove that in a journalistic fashion right now. (Cue Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men: "It doesn't matter what I KNOW. It only matters what I can PROVE!!") There's a BIG difference, and those who e-mail me can tell you that I'm often able to share info via e-mail that I can't report in the ACC Sports Journal, 850 The Buzz or here at WRAL. That's just the way journalism works sometimes.
So, I think we can kind of put this thing on hold until Monday knowing that a deal is probably close to being done except for minor details and the present denials from both parties is for the express purpose of delaying until after homecoming. And I really have no opinion on when they announce, this is what they are doing so we have to roll with it.
UPDATE #2:
David Glenn was on 620's The Bullpen with Chris Clark and Joe Ovies at noon. Glenn said that based on the information he could gather the contract had been agreed upon and they had refrained from signing it to maintain plausible deniability. This is why both UNC and Davis can forcefully refute the previous reports because there is technically no signed contract but one nearly completed with the exception of crossing a few t's and dotting some i's. Glenn also said that based on his conversations UNC had asked John Bunting how he would want to handle the hiring of a new coach while there were games on the schedule. Apparently Bunting asked that the homecoming weekend be about the team and the coaches so UNC is stalling until next week. Glenn also speculated that Davis might be concerned how the players he is about to inherit react and wants to show proper respect to their coach as not to get off on the wrong foot.
So, again, we are waiting until Monday.