— North Carolina State University began the public release this week of thousands of documents the university provided as part of a federal investigation into college basketball.

The trove of more than 5,000 documents, provided to WRAL News in response to a public records request, consists mostly of email messages between university leadership and representatives of Adidas as they negotiate and implement a deal that makes the company NC State's official provider of athletics apparel.

Since last fall, the university has been "proactively" working to find and share relevant information after the U.S. Attorney's Office announced a series of complaints in September against Adidas, several college basketball programs including NC State and top prospects, Chancellor Randy Woodson has said.

Woodson said NC State's general counsel and athletics compliance staff contacted current and former basketball coaches in response to the initial federal complaints "asking whether they had any knowledge or involvement related to the allegations coming from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. All stated they had neither any knowledge of nor involvement in the subject matter related to the FBI’s investigation."

According to Woodson, the school's general counsel spoke on Oct. 19 with Wilmington-based agent Gary Shipman, who said that he believed Dennis Smith Jr. attended NC State due to "influence by Adidas through Dennis Smith Sr."

In the documents released this week, the name "Dennis Smith" is nowhere to be found.

Smith, a Fayetteville native, came to NC State as one of the most highly touted players in his high school class. He played just one year for then-head coach Mark Gottfried before leaving for the NBA. Smith was a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Mavericks.

Shipman said he contacted NC State to share his impressions about Smith not long after the federal charges were announced.