Mark Schwarz ESPN Reporter
UNC men's basketball coach Roy Williams spent nearly ten hours inside a heavily secured conference room bordered by ropes and shuttered by shades, as the NCAA questioned Williams and other UNC officials about their knowledge or involvement in an academic scandal that spanned nearly two decades in Chapel Hill. The NCAA has slapped UNC with five allegations, most notably a lack of institutional control and with providing athletes with impermissible benefits. Williams, accompanied by his attorney Jim Cooney, was joined by Carolina women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell, current football coach Larry Fedora, Chancellor Carol Folt, athletic director Bubba Cunningham and Deborah Crowder, a retired administrator in the African Studies department who played a central role in creating a bogus curriculum that the NCAA says disproportionately benefited UNC athletes more than it did the rest of the student body. None of the coaches has yet been accused of wrongdoing and the school has adamantly denied violating any NCAA bylaws. The hearings are scheduled to continue Thursday morning and Williams is expected to face another day of questions. The NCAA's ruling may be weeks if not months away.
