Former Tar Heel calls UNC's academic environment for athletes 'a scam'

Michael McAdoo, a former North Carolina defensive end who was kicked off the team in 2010 for improper work with a tutor, has spoken out about the academics for athletes at the university, telling The News and Observer it's "a scam."

McAdoo told The News and Observer that academic counselors directed him to enroll in so-called "no-show classes" that were created for football players to get their credits without actually attending a class.  One example McAdoo gave was AFAM 280: Blacks in North Carolina, a class full of football players that eventually led to fraud charges against the professor who was supposed to be in charge.

"The pretty much put me in that class," McAdoo said.  "They pretty much told me... that I might want to consider that class and I really don't have much time to think about it, so [I might] want to take that class while it was available."

McAdoo's claims lend credence to those made by researcher Mary Willingham who last week released a report that blasted the academic levels of players on the football and basketball teams at UNC.  

Willingham is set to be a witness in a lawsuit against the NCAA by former athletes who counter the NCAA's claims that student-athletes shouldn't be paid for playing their sports because they get free education.  The lawsuit contends that the student-athletes don't receive the same level of education as other students (and McAdoo's case seems to back this up). 

"I felt like I was done wrong," McAdoo said.  "The university didn't stand up; they didn't have my back.  They said academics is the first thing they were going to push - 'You are going to do academics and then play sports.'  But come to find out it just felt like it was all a scam."