Yahoo!Sports has uncovered a paper trail that ties sports agent Gary Wichard to former UNC assistant coach football coach John Blake. There are documents that prove that over the past three years there were six wire transfers from Wichard’s private bank, The First National Bank of Long Island, to Blake. Blake also had a credit card issued to him by Wichard’s agency, Pro Tect Management.
John Blake resigned from UNC on Sept. 5, the day after the Tar Heels first football game of the season.
The report also shows a hotel receipt from a trip that defensive tackle Marvin Austin took to a California training facility in July 2009, before his junior season.
Austin’s name on the receipt is listed above the name Pro Tect Management. At least five other trips that Austin took that are in question by the NCAA, according to the report.
If Wichard, or anyone the NCAA defines as an agent, arranged for a free hotel stay for Austin in the summer of 2009, that would have violated NCAA and NFL Players Association rules and possibly North Carolina state statutes.
The NCAA could rule that Austin was ineligible for the 2009 season. If UNC used an ineligible player, the team could be forced to vacate any wins from that season.
Austin has not been allowed to play or practice with the team since Sept. 2. Head football coach Butch Davis has attributed his suspension to an undefined violation of team rules and has said it is unrelated to the NCAA’s investigation of the program.
source: Yahoo!Sports
