NCAA Releases Statement Critical of UNC, Cites Threats Received

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On Tuesday afternoon, the NCAA released a statement regarding the ongoing situation surrounding North Carolina wide receiver and Kent State transfer Tez Walker.

The statement was signed by Jere Morehead, chair of D1 Board and president at the University of Georgia, and Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, vice chair of D1 Board and president at University of Evansville.

Here is the entire statement:

"The NCAA is aware of violent – and possibly criminal – threats recently directed at committee members involved in regulatory decisions. The national office is coordinating with law enforcement and will continue to do whatever possible to support the volunteers who serve on these committees.

“The Division I Board of Directors believes that NCAA staff and the committee are applying transfer waiver guidelines as intended by member schools and giving proper and full consideration to individual cases, including consulting a panel of licensed mental health experts for cases in which mental health is cited as a reason for transfer. The DI Board last year directed the DI Council to refine the guidelines for transfer waivers and apply those guidelines to the 2023-24 academic year. These new guidelines were supported unanimously by all 32 Division I conferences in January, and prior to that were widely supported by member schools and coaches associations.

“Academic data demonstrates that transferring typically slows student-athletes' progress toward a degree, especially with those who transfer later. It stands to reason that multiple transfers would further slow time to a degree. Citing extenuating factors, such as mental health, does not necessarily support a waiver request but instead may, in some situations, suggest a student-athlete should be primarily focused on addressing those critical issues during the initial transition to a third school.

“The DI Board Administrative Committee was briefed Monday on the current status of transfer waivers for this academic year. There are 21,685 student-athletes who entered the transfer portal this year. The bulk of those transfer students are first-time transfers who enrolled at their first schools and are now immediately eligible to compete at their new schools – which was the intent of the transfer rule change. Of those who entered the portal, 3% would be multiple time transfers who would require a waiver to compete immediately for this academic year if enrolled at a new school.

“The DI Board is troubled by the public remarks made last week by some of the University of North Carolina leadership. Those comments directly contradict what we and our fellow Division I members and coaches called for vociferously – including UNC's own football coach. We are a membership organization, and rather than pursue a public relations campaign that can contribute to a charged environment for our peers who volunteer on committees, we encourage members to use established and agreed upon procedures to voice concerns and propose and adopt rule or policy changes if they are dissatisfied."

Last week, upon the NCAA once again denying a waiver for Walker that would allow him to play for the Tar Heels this season, UNC Coach Mack Brown released the following statement:

“We’re absolutely crushed to learn that Tez Walker’s eligibility has been denied for this season and he won’t be able to play. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more disappointed in a person, a group of people, or an institution than I am with the NCAA right now. It’s clear that the NCAA is about process and it couldn’t care less about the young people it’s supposed to be supporting. Plain and simple, the NCAA has failed Tez and his family and I’ve lost all faith in its ability to lead and govern our sport. They’ve messed so many things up as it relates to college football, and now their failures have negatively impacted the life of one of our own.

“Just imagine what it is like for Tez to be so excited to come home and have a chance to fulfill his childhood dream of playing for North Carolina in front of all of his family and friends, only to have it taken away despite doing nothing wrong. I can’t begin to understand how this has happened. The decision makers at the NCAA and on the committee should be ashamed of themselves for doing this to a young man. As has been clearly documented, Tez should be eligible for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the mental health issues he’s faced during his time in college. And with this decision, the NCAA has placed an unnecessary burden on him.

“He’s had a rough go of it and this will surely only make it worse. How dare they ever speak about mental health and student-athlete welfare again. We’ve got complete rosters overhauled through the transfer portal, players playing in their 8th year of college, players playing at their fourth school, and the list goes on. Yet, Tez Walker, who has only played football at one school, isn’t eligible. It makes no sense and it never will.

“Moving forward, our Carolina family is strong and we need to wrap our arms around Tez, lift him up, and make sure we continue to do all we can to support him. He’s continued to work, on the field and off, and remained an amazing member of our program throughout this ordeal. I know that will continue to happen because that’s the kind of person he is. Despite this setback, Tez’s future remains bright and we’ll continue to do everything we can to help him fulfill all of his dreams.

“Shame on you, NCAA. SHAME ON YOU!”

In addition, Bubba Cunningham, UNC Director of Athletics, released the following statement:

The NCAA had an opportunity to demonstrate that this is a new membership organization by using common sense, reason and compassion to determine the eligibility of Tez Walker. On eight different occasions, the organization had the opportunity to demonstrate it can make sound and reasonable decisions in the best interest of student-athletes based on individual circumstances.

Instead, the NCAA made a maddening, frustrating and wrong decision -- for Tez, for college football and for college athletics.

To reiterate some key points:

*The COVID-19 pandemic caused the NC Central football season to be canceled twice, and Tez never played there.

*Both of his previous schools – NC Central and Kent State – support Tez’s immediate eligibility because of his unique circumstances.

*UNC and Kent State have provided overwhelming evidence detailing his mental health needs.

*Tez is a Dean’s List student on schedule to graduate in December 2024. He does not need his clock extended.

*Transfer waiver requirements were restricted after Tez established his residency at UNC.

*Tez has only played football at one school and should be allowed to be immediately eligible.

Seeing more than 50 student-athletes transfer to one school or watching a starting quarterback play for his fourth university in his sixth year doesn’t make sense to many. Arbitrarily prohibiting a student-athlete from competition -- when that student-athlete has only played two seasons of football in the last five years at one school and wants to play closer to home for legitimate family and mental health reasons -- does not make sense.

This decision undermines the fair treatment of student-athletes and further erodes the public’s confidence in our national governing body. Despite the NCAA’s failure, we will continue to support Tez Walker and his family.

Walker originally started his college football career at North Carolina Central, but NCCU canceled football in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, so Walker transferred to Kent State, where he played the last two seasons.

He enrolled in classes at UNC on January 9, but on January 11, the NCAA voted into effect a rule mandating two-time transfers sit out a year. UNC and Walker have requested he be grandfathered into the rule, thus making him immediately eligible, but it has been turned down several times, the most recent was September 7, prompting Brown’s and Cunningham’s immediate public responses.