By Brian Murphy, WRAL

North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham received high-level support Thursday, just days after of the school’s trustees publicly questioned his management of the department.

UNC interim chancellor Lee Roberts, who top legislative leaders have endorsed for the permanent job, defended the Tar Heels’ long-time athletics director, shooting down any suggestion of poor leadership.

Trustees said they want an in-depth discussion with Cunningham about the finances of the athletic department and, previously, said such a meeting would happen in closed session Thursday.

Cunningham cut short his trip to the ACC Spring Meetings in Florida to return for the two-day meetings. But the chairman of the committee announced Thursday that an athletics budget discussion would not take place.

“Trustees obviously have a right to the information,” Roberts said. “It’s obviously a time of significant upheaval. In college athletics. I’d be very surprised if there was any mismanagement, let alone malfeasance in our athletics department. They’re audited routinely. They’ve been audited 10 times in the last five years. They’re audited every year by the NCAA.

And I would just add that our athletic director is one of the most senior, well respected, well regarded, admired athletic directors in the country. He has broad respect from his peers and we don’t have a more capable, more experienced, more talented senior administrator here at Carolina.”

Trustees approved an internal audit of the athletics department Monday and complained about projected deficits in the department. The audit is expected to take several months.

“There are real issues here, a real concern that one of the most valuable assets and something that really generates revenue is not being managed properly,” trustee Jennifer Halsey Evans said Monday. “That is the need for the question and answer and that is the need for the audit.”

Cunningham attended the open portion of Thursday meeting, which last about 40 minutes. He left when the board went into closed session. His availability to answer questions fro trustees was one of the complaints made Monday. Cunningham said that he always tries to be available to the board.

Trustee Ralph Meekins, who defended Cunningham during Monday’s meeting, again backed the athletic director.

“I didn’t think it was fair,” Meekins said.

The ACC, UNC’s long-time conference home, is involved in five lawsuits involving two members schools and the state of Florida. Other conferences are set to distribute tens of millions more each year to its members than the ACC. And the NCAA is facing a host of legal challenges to its amateurism system, some, perhaps, existential.

“It’s a difficult, difficult world,” Meekins said. “And there’s nobody I’d rather have helping us than Bubba Cunningham.”

Cunningham, 62, has been at UNC since 2011. The Tar Heels, with a successful broad-based athletic department, have won more than 20 national titles under his leadership. Cunningham will be the chairman of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee next season.

Some trustees, notably chairman John Preyer and past chair Dave Boliek, have been outspoken about the need of UNC to be in a conference that distributes more revenue — whether that’s another conference or a new-look ACC. Meekins did not disagree.

“I share what’s best for UNC and I love the affiliation with the ACC,” he said. “And if we can do it within the ACC, let’s do it. But when I say do it, we got to stay competitive. Can we stay competitive in the ACC with the structure and the way it is now with a significant gap in the revenue that other schools are getting? For whatever reason, that’s where we are. What can we do about it? I don’t know because I’m not the expert. Bubba Cunningham is. And I believe he is going to get us through this.”

Roberts laid out some of the challenges facing UNC, the ACC and the wider world of college sports.

“Given how much is is influx, how much is changing, we just need to stay abreast of these dynamics and make sure that we’re doing that with the best interest of Carolina in mind,” he said.

Roberts and other ACC school presidents and chancellors may have to vote soon on whether or not to accept a settlement in the House v. NCAA case.

“I do believe that most folks think settling the litigation is going to be better than taking it through to a trial,” Roberts said. The settlement would lead to UNC paying athletes directly from its athletic revenue. “I haven’t heard any possible settlement that that doesn’t involve some kind of revenue sharing.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com