UNC Coach Mack Brown Responds To NCAA Statement (Video Included)

FULL REPORT BELOW:

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Football Coach Mack Brown was not expected to meet with the media following practice Wednesday morning, but briefly addressed the Minnesota game slated for Saturday before fielding questions about the NCAA statement that was released Tuesday afternoon.

Brown’s initiative wasn’t to respond to the statement, it was to spend more time discussing Minnesota, which didn’t come up much in his weekly press conference Monday. However, the only questions he received were about the statement, which was the most recent element of the ongoing Tez Walker eligibility issue.

Here is part of the 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 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."

Brown said he understands why the NCAA statement was made and what was in it, but continued standing up for the basis of UNC’s position.

“I totally respect the chairman of the Division One committee standing up for the volunteers and his staff,” Brown said. “That’s what we all do. And if somebody is harassing the staff, threatening the staff, or has wronged the staff, then that’s wrong and it should stop and it should stop immediately.

“You don’t want to create mental health problems for those families and the people that are involved, because they’re trying to do a job. So, absolutely wrong, and I agree with him. And that’s the same reason the administration and I stood up for Tez Walker because we thought he was wronged.

“And we felt like he was treated poorly, and it increased the stress for mental health… We want our players to be treated like we would want our sons to be treated, and you can’t just say that, you do it. So, when the chairman was standing up for his volunteers and the NCAA staff, that’s all we’re doing. We’re standing up for a player that we feel like was treated poorly, and there was a lack of judgment, because it’s not about the transfer rule.

“When you start looking at the transfer rule, we’re not dissatisfied with it, we’re dissatisfied with the committee reviewing the waiver. Tez’s situation is different, he should be treated like a one-time transfer. So, all this talk about, ‘you’re saying two-time transfers shouldn’t be an issue when you griped about it.’ No, we want the waiver process to be handled properly…

“Then he’s admitted on January 9th and they change the rule on January 11th, so we feel like that should be grandfathered, and there are boxes that he checked that we feel like should have been that way.”

Regarding the insinuation of inciting threats because of statements released last week by Brown and Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham, Brown strongly disagreed. Brown says he didn’t have anything to do with inciting threats, the NCAA essentially says he did.

“It’s a great country where everybody can have an opinion,” Brown said. “That’s their opinion, and I hate it that they feel that way, I hate it that somebody’s having threats. But I still feel very strong that my job is to stand up for Tez Walker because his life has changed as well.”

Brown was asked if he has any regret over his strong statement last week, in which he closed it shaming the NCAA for its decision to deny Walker once again.

“No, because nothing I did started threats,” Brown replied. “If they’re having threats, that must have come from somewhere else. Nobody I know is threatening anybody. All I’m doing is taking up for our player, and that’s my job.”

More of what Brown had to say:

On if this is it for UNC, the last time Brown is going to comment on this?

“I was already through, and I wasn’t going to mention it today until you asked me, but I figured you’d ask me,” he said. “As far as I know, I know the university and the trustees are still looking at the best options to help a young person on our campus.”

Also:

“I’m not going to apologize for standing up and trying to do what’s best for a young man.”

And:

“If I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing.”

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