It’s pretty typical for schools to self-penalize when an NCAA penalty looms. UNC chose not to do that in its response to the NCAA Letter of Allegations, which is arrogant and pretty revealing: the school is essentially giving the NCAA the finger because it figures it can get away with massive academic fraud.
There was a time when UNC was prepared to sacrifice athletics for integrity; Tuesday’s announcement means that it’s pretty much the opposite now. UNC will do anything to protect the brand - or what’s left of it anyway.
It’s not much.
The whole idea of the UNC Way, the noble public school which did things the right way - that’s over.