Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim said he didn't want to say much about the investigation at North Carolina during his media day news conference last Friday, but he raised questions about the application of the NCAA's head coach responsibility rule and failure to monitor rules.

Boeheim was found guilty of both violations when the NCAA investigated Syracuse for a handful of issues, most notably academic fraud committed on behalf of former center Fab Melo.

North Carolina, meanwhile, offered 18 years of classes that often required little effort. They were utilized to a great extent, although not exclusively, by athletes looking to maintain their eligibility.

North Carolina's issues were far more troubling than Syracuse's, yet the Tar Heels and head coach Roy Williams were unpunished, while the Orange and Boeheim were hit hard compared to NCAA precedent.

"I'm not going to comment on anything about that," Boeheim said when asked about the disproportionate penalties. "But, as you mentioned many times, in your writings, head coach responsibility. That didn't apply to North Carolina. Screamingly obvious. And I'm surprised that you, in particular, haven't been all over that. I'm supposed to know about a 10-page paper and they don't know about 18 years of As?"

As written, the head coach responsibility bylaw says: "A head coach is presumed to be responsible for the actions of all assistant coaches and administrators who report, directly or indirectly, to him or her. The head coach shall promote an atmosphere of compliance within his or her program and shall monitor the activities of all personnel involved with the program who report, directly or indirectly, to him or her."

At Syracuse, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions noted that this made Boeheim responsible for the actions of director of basketball operations Stan Kissel, who aided Melo in writing his paper. It did not note whether or not Boeheim was also deemed responsible for the behavior of a basketball receptionist and tutor that the NCAA believed did work for three other players.

At North Carolina, the NCAA found that the only people who committed rules violations were the head of the African-American studies program Julius Nyang'oro and his secretary, Debbie Crowder, two members of the school's academic side who would not have reported to the coach.

This ruling was made in spite of public arguments that went unmentioned in the NCAA's report.

Roy Williams brought Wayne Walden, an academic adviser, with him from Kansas to North Carolina and the two were considered to have worked closely together. Walden had regular contact with Crowder, as displayed by this e-mail unearthed by UNC's Weinstein investigation.

Academic advisers who worked with the football program noted that the end of the classes meant the end of classes where players could avoid taking notes, staying awake or engaging with material.

Multiple academic advisers even suggested grades that players receive, something that helped maintain eligibility.

Former player Rashad McCants told ESPN's Outside the Lines that he believed Williams was aware of the scheme. He recalled a conversation with Williams when he was dealing with academic issues, and the head coach telling him they were going to resolve it by shifting around his transcript.

To the frustration of many, the NCAA resolved that that knowing classes were incredibly easy was different than knowing they were fraudulent.

"While others had suspicions, or knew something was occurring in the department, only they knew the true nature of the courses," the NCAA said of Crowder and Nyang'oro.

An even better case can likely be made for a failure to monitor charge, which committee on infractions chair Greg Sankey noted was the charge that was debated most closely by the committee on infractions.

The idea that the classes could have gone on for 18 years, without anyone from the school catching onto their nature, seems to most to fit the logical definition of a failure to monitor.

McCants told ESPN that he went from getting Fs in his previous classes to As in the African-American studies classes. Presumably, that would raise some questions for those tasked with monitoring a college basketball program, particularly when that player was known to have academic issues. There is no evidence that anyone in the athletic department did anything to stop or report the classes.

"I know every year what my players get and what courses they get them in," Boeheim said. "I get a report every semester. What course. What grades."

During an investigation led by Ken Weinstein and paid for by North Carolina, Williams said that he encouraged players to stop taking the paper classes due to concerns. Prior to that, though, Williams hadn't acknowledged playing any role in the basketball program's move away from the classes. The change in story was pointed out by various reporters.

Ultimately, the NCAA allowed North Carolina to dodge these charges by ruling that the structure of the classes didn't violate any of UNC's academic policies in place at the time and that the school could not be charged with failing to monitor a rule that didn't exist. The only violations, they argued, were only committed by those who adminiserted the classes poorly.

While some critics applauded this ruling by saying an organization like the NCAA has no place judging a school's academic rigor, a more cynical reading is that the NCAA was comfortable handing out traditional punishments to Syracuse but didn't have the stomach to deliver the type of harsh sanctions that a scandal of North Carolina's magnitude would have required.

Said Boeheim of the NCAA's rules: "Well, it's certainly applied differently."

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