Baddour: NCAA investigating North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said Thursday the NCAA is investigating a sports program at the school regarding possible rules violations.

Baddour declined to say which sport, but a person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press the NCAA is looking at Butch Davis' football program. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the investigation is confidential.

"I was told that I could limit my comments to the fact that they had been here and they wanted me to say that we had indeed been cooperative," said Baddour, adding that the inquiry "has our full attention."

The investigation began with a phone call from the NCAA, Baddour said, though he didn't say when the call came or when investigators had visited the Chapel Hill campus.

"We work hard on our compliance program, a program of integrity," Baddour said. "We're proud of it. We are also proud that, or we think very strongly that, we get an inquiry from the NCAA that we would comply, we would do what they asked us to do and we would do it forthright and completely."

Davis is preparing for his fourth season in Chapel Hill and has guided the program to consecutive eight-win seasons, which includes the program's first back-to-back bowl seasons since the late 1990s when Mack Brown left for Texas.

Davis has a 20-18 record with the Tar Heels, including 11-13 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He inherited the program from John Bunting and the Tar Heels had went to just two bowl games in six seasons, during which they were a woeful 27-45.

The Tar Heels are expected to contend for the ACC's Coastal Division title with a defense that returns nine starters from a unit that ranked among the nation's best last year. North Carolina opens the season against LSU in Atlanta on Sept. 4.

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AP Sports Writer Joedy McCreary contributed to this report.