University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football scandal

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football scandal is an incident in which the football program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was investigated and punished for multiple violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules and regulations, including academic fraud and improper benefits to student-athletes from sports agents. The NCAA investigation found that a tutor had completed coursework for several football players, among other improper services. Additionally, the investigation found that seven football players received thousands of dollars in valuables from sports agents or people associated with agents. The NCAA sanctions led to a postseason ban, reduction of 15 scholarships, and 3 years of probation. It was only the second major infractions case in North Carolina's history, and the first since the men's basketball program was sanctioned in 1960 for recruiting violations.

Additionally, North Carolina football disassociated itself with several players involved in NCAA violations and fired football head coach Butch Davis in the summer before the 2011 season. In 2013, the district attorney of Orange County, North Carolina, the county where the university is located, initiated prosecution against five people involved in the scandal for violations of the state law about sports agents. Among the charged included the tutor found by the NCAA to have provided inappropriate academic assistance to players. The charges were later dropped.

On July 15, 2010, ESPN reported that the NCAA interviewed several North Carolina football players over alleged gifts, extra benefits, and sports agent involvement. Defensive tackle Marvin Austin, among players interviewed by the NCAA, made a post on Twitter on May 29. The post contained a reference to Club LIV, a nightclub in Miami, Florida in which a sports agent's party had taken place two months earlier. Austin was reported to have attended that party with North Carolina wide receiver Greg Little and South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders, among other college football players.

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