Former North Carolina DT Tydreke Powell: Coaches encouraged academic fraud

Former North Carolina defensive tackle Tydreke Powell had some explosive things to say about his college coaches in regards to the Tar Heels' academic fraud scandal.

"(Former head coach) Butch Davis came into a meeting, and he said if you all came here for an education, you should have went to Harvard," Powell said in an interview with the 3Live Crew of 102 JAMZ radio in Greensboro, N.C.

Powell, who graduated from the school with a communications degree and now plays for the Minnesota Vikings, admitted to taking the bogus African and Afro-American Studies course that has been under scrutiny.

"It was no class or anything like that. It was like a 20-15 page (paper) that you turn in by the end of the semester," he said.

Powell, who played under Davis from 2007-2011, alleged the coaches thrived on generally African-American players who came from poverty when recruiting, and emphasized everything but education in their pitches.

"It's the coaches, that's how it is man. People just look from the outside. No, man, it's coaches that's telling us stuff, what are we supposed to do? We're away from our parents, we're looking up to this guy. When they come into your house they have these Super Bowl rings, the last thing you think about is a class."

Basketball coach Roy Williams, who has been accused of knowing and even getting student-athletes involved in such courses, was called a "snake" by Powell, who claimed the coach has full knowledge of the situation. 

"One thing about Carolina, if you ain't got a class with a basketball player, you better find one, because if you got one with them you know it's an A.... When you walk into class and you seen a basketball player, if you dropped that class you were just ignorant," Powell said.