| 1 | FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2014, file photo, University of North Carolina Chancellor Carol Folt, center, addresses the media following a special joint meeting of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees in Chapel Hill, N.C. From left are, Kenneth Wainstein, lead investigator, University President Tom Ross and Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham at right. |
| 2 | North Carolina continues to be plagued by its long-running academic scandal. |
| 3 | University officials say they have discovered more violations related to the scandal while preparing UNC's response to the notice of allegations they received from the NCAA in May. The response, due next week, has been delayed. |
| 4 | CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina uncovered possibly additional NCAA violations in women's basketball and men's soccer while preparing the response to its long-running academic scandal, the school announced Friday. |
| 5 | Its response to the NCAA, due next week, has been delayed. |
| 6 | The NCAA will set a date after a review of the new information, school officials said. |
| 7 | ''As painful as it is, it's part of the Carolina culture that we want to know what happened, we want to understand it, we want to fix it,'' he said. |
| 8 | Cunningham said the new information in women's basketball was discovered when officials prepared to release emails from former U.S. Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein's eight-month investigation. |
| 9 | In their review of up to 6 million pages of information, they uncovered more examples of possible improper academic assistance to players. |
| 10 | They also discovered potential recruiting violations over two years in men's soccer that were unrelated to the current NCAA probe. |
| 11 | ''I'm very disappointed in the timing. |
| 12 | I'm very disappointed in the impact it's going to have on the institution, on the program and how it delays where we were,'' Cunningham said. |
| 13 | He said those possible violations came to light when the school administered a compliance test to its men's soccer coaches and one of them got a question wrong. |
| 14 | The AD didn't identify the coach and declined to disclose additional details because the investigation is ongoing. |
| 15 | ''We came to understand the coaches misunderstood the rules, and we immediately turned that in,'' Cunningham said. |
| 16 | Under NCAA procedures, if those are determined to be Level I or II violations, the notice of allegations must be amended to include them. |
| 17 | The school would then have 90 days from the day it receives the amended notice to respond, Cunningham said. |
| 18 | It is unclear exactly when the new possible violations were discovered. |
| 19 | The school says they were reported to the NCAA's committee on infractions on Aug. 10. |
| 20 | Cunningham said he still hopes the investigation will be resolved by spring 2016. |
| 21 | The NCAA regarded issues surrounding academic irregularities within the formerly named African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM) department as potential improper benefits by saying athletes received ''special arrangements,'' such as access to courses and other assistance generally unavailable to non-athletes. |
| 22 | The lack of institutional control focused on the AFAM department and the academic support program for athletes, including the conduct of a women's basketball adviser for providing too much help on assignments. |
| 23 | ''But I will say I have a lot of confidence in our coaching staff,'' he added. |
| 24 | The academic investigation grew out a 2010 investigation into the football program, with the committee issuing sanctions in March 2012 in that case about nine months after the notice of allegations arrived. |
| 25 | ''We are fully cooperating with the NCAA and continue to work with them to bring closure to this long, arduous process,'' Cunningham said. |