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After 20 years, ECU-UNC series to resume in 2001
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Former North Carolina tailback Kelvin Bryant (44) (011114416 end zone six times
the last time UNC and ECU met on the football field. The Tar Heels won 56-0.
Swofford squashes rumors
of UNC player-agent deals
By Adam Davis
Sports Editor
After a three-day investigation into the
appearance of four North Carolina foot
ball players’ names on a list belonging to
an agent, UNC Directorof Athleticsjohn
Swofford said Tuesday he is satisfied that
all the players involved are innocent.
“I think we’ve done about everything
we can possibly do in terms of talking
with the players themselves and any indi
viduals whose names might have sur
faced during the discussion, as well as the
fact that the NCAA information from the
West Coast does not implicate our play
ers in doing anything wrong, and I think
that’s extremely important,” he said.
Following a report in Saturday’s Los
Angeles Times that the names of tailback
Leon Johnson, receiver Marcus Wall,
cornerback Fuzzy Lee and safety Sean
Boyd were on a list held by agent Robert
Caron, Swofford, executive associate ath
letic director Dick Baddour and coach
Mack Brown questioned the players.
Brown said Swofford and Baddour
worked extensively Sunday and Mon
day, talking again with the players and
with others who may have been involved.
“I think John Swofford and Dickie
Baddour have done a tremendous job,”
Brown said. “I think they’ve done more
than would’ve been done in most places
across the country. There’s no question it
was a distraction for me. It was a distrac
tion for our players, and it was a neces
sary distraction in both cases because
we’re not gonna break any rules around
here.”
Over the weekend, Swofford fired a
pre-emptive strike of sorts by calling the
NCAA. Usually, it’s the NCAA contact
ing the school.
“It’s a breath of fresh air, because
institutions are supposed to monitor their
own situations, and what John Swofford
did took the bull by the horns,” said Bill
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The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that free safety Sean Boyd (28) and
three other Tar Heels' names appeared on a list that belonged to an agent
Saum, the NCAA investigator handling
Caron’s alleged dealings with athletes at
Southern Cal.
“We reviewed the issues at hand and
talked about who needed to be inter
viewed and what issues should be re
viewed in those interviews.”
Saum said that neither he nor any
NCAA representative was present when
ECU-UNC Series
By Jonathan Hart
Assistant Sport Saturday Editor
When the North Carolina and East
Carolina football teams walked off the
field at Kenan Stadium on Sept. 12,
1981, it seemed that it would be the last
time the two schools would meet on the
football field.
It wasn’t because the Pirates had pro
vided too difficult a test for Dick Crum’s
squad. Running back Kelvin Bryant
scored six touchdowns, leading UNC to a
56-0 spanking of the Pirates. That day
was indicative of the series, which fin
ished 6-1-1 in favor of the Tar Heels.
Instead, the cancellation was a result
of a 1978 Athletic Council decision that
mandated that UNC’s football and men’s
basketball teams would no longer play in
state, non-ACC schools.
Until now.
On Sept. 28, the two schools an
nounced the resumption of their rivalry,
UNC officials interviewed the four play
ers. But Saum didn’t rule out speaking
with the players in the future.
“At this point, I can’t answer that
question,” he said when asked ifhe would
contact the players. “The enforcement
staff and the institution are continuing to
monitor the situation. At this time, I have
no plans to come to North Carolina.”
which dates back to 1972. Under the
plan, the Pirates will face UNC on Oct. 6,
2001, at Kenan Stadium. Two years later,
the Tar Heels will travel to Greenville to
take on East Carolina for the first time
ever at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
According to UNC DirectorofAthlet
ics John Swofford, there were two rea
sons the council made the decision to end
the series after 1981.
“One (reason), and this is fairly unique
as you look across the country,” Swofford
said, “is that we already have three in
state rivalries within the ACC, with Duke,
State and Wake Forest.
“Secondly, we want to maintain, as
much as we can, an intersectional sched
uling philosophy that takes our teams to
other parts of the country and brings
teams from other parts of the country
into Kenan Stadium.”
Scheduling ECU, Swofford said, makes
it difficult to bring quality national oppo
nents into town, because it cuts down
what little flexibility there is to fit in those
national teams.
“In football, we only have three non
conference games that we can play,”
Swofford said. “When we play an addi
tional in-state team, then we have four
games out of an eleven game schedule
that are against in-state teams. Of course,
that then reduces an intersectional game
that we might be able to schedule.”
Why, then, would North Carolina
agree to schedule the Pirates? If the Tar
Heels want to position themselves as a
national football power, why do they fill
valuable slots on their schedule with two
games against an in-state opponent?
The answer lies in Raleigh, where the
General Assembly hoped to get both UNC
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13
October
and N.C. State to agree to play East
Carolina. Sen. Ed Warren, D-Pitt, even
went so far as to introduce a bill that
would require the two schools to play the
Pirateseveryyear,startingin 1999. While
the bill never made it to a vote, the action
helped spark the two sides to get together,
Swofford said.
“The legislature had a great deal of
interest in Carolina and N.C. State play
ing East Carolina,” he said. “We had a lot
of discussions about it within the Univer
sity, and generally, after discussions with
the chancellor and discussions with the
Athletic Council, it was felt that it was in
the University’s best interest to re-estab
lish that series.
“We’re an athletic program, and most
of our decisions are based on what’s best
athletically,” Swofford said. “This is a
decision that’s been based on, quite
frankly, broader implications.”
Swofford said UNC and ECU agree
ing on their own to resume the series
created “a much healthier situation than
the legislature getting into scheduling in
tercollegiate athletic events.”
Scheduling a college football team is a
difficult process, said Mike Hamrick, East
Carolina’s athletic director. Schedulers
must make sure they have the correct
balance of home and road games each
season, and schedules are set years in
advance.
The reason for the far-off date,
Hamrick said, was that Swofford indi
cated to him that UNC would not have
an open date until 2001. Despite that
fact, Hamrick said the reaction he has
received from Pirate fans has been posi-
See ECU-UNC, Page 15