Inside Carolina is reporting the NCAA could issue a ruling on its investigation into possible improper contact with agents by members of the UNC football program by Friday of this week.
According to IC:
A source close to the investigation had informed IC in July that the university had hoped for resolution by mid-August. Additional sources have confirmed since last week’s NCAA visit that the school is expecting a ruling by Friday. Whether that ruling will immediately be made public is not known.
Many sources, including Ivan Maisel (who apparently expected not good news for UNC) had stated they expected the NCAA to move quickly in the UNC case, so this news is not necessarily surprising.
What is somewhat surprising is that, in light of the revelations yesterday that Kentwan Balmer paid for Cam Thomas and Marvin Austin to attend workouts in California, the NCAA is ready to issue a ruling so soon. Unless, of course, they already knew about that, and probably about the Gary Wichard/John Blake relationship as well. It is important to remember that just because these issues only recently became public, it does not mean they have not been on the NCAA's radar screen all along.
The IC piece also notes that
On July 26, Chance Miller, the NCAA's Assistant Director of Agent, Gambling and Amateurism Activities, sent UNC an email that included "a list of people" that would need to be interviewed the first week of August. Due to privacy laws, the names were removed from the documents.
The interview schedule allowed for 19.5 hours of interviews to occur over a three-day period. The NCAA is known to have been in Chapel Hill on Wednesday and Thursday, and Baddour confirmed late Thursday afternoon that the NCAA had left town.
Draw whatever conclusions you will from the fact that after 19+ hours of new interviews the NCAA is ready to issue a ruling in just over a week. Hopefully in short time the cone of silence surrounding Carolina football and the investigation will be lifted, questions answered, and we can all see the logic of the bunker mentality, much to Caulton Tudor's chagrin.