Mary Willingham

[Raising Heel]

Last night, I came across some interesting news on Twitter from a gentleman I follow named Daren Lucas. I don't know his exact background, but my understanding is that he's a UNC alumnus and former university employee [edited to add: and former UNC football player]. Like many of us, he's disgusted with the portrayal of the UNC scandal. The difference is he's doing something about it.

Daren has submitted a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the university over the past year or so. The information gathered as a result has allowed him to piece together a very different version of events than what has been widely been portrayed by the media, the Wainstein report, and the university's most vocal critics like Mary Willingham, Jay Smith, and David Ridpath.

What follows are a series of posts he made late last night on Inside Carolina. Rather than post a link to a competitor site, he granted me permission to re-post the information here. With all due respect to Scout, Rivals, and other sites covering UNC athletics, no one should "own" the rights to this information. These discoveries are important enough that they should be disseminated as widely as possible.

The evidence below definitively proves that Willingham has lied about her experiences as an academic support specialist at UNC. And this is only the first installment. Daren still has Smith and the Faculty Athletics Council squarely in the crosshairs. Stay tuned....


This post was edited on 2/11 2:21 PM by Raising Heel

 

[Raising Heel]

As many of you have read, Mary Willingham has expressed a lot of views. Changing views. First UNC was admitting "under prepared", then it was "illiterate" athletes. Then they weren't getting a "real education". Then Athletics created a "sham curriculum". Now it has expanded to a multitude of "go to easy A classes" or "pass classes".
Its been widely proven by UNC's Admissions Office that the notion of mass numbers of "under prepared" athletes is fallacy. UNC has a database of hundreds of thousands of applicants over the years yet Mary knows more about admissions protocols and standards from her brief tenure.
It was further proven by her own data as shown on the HBO special. The only glimpse was from this teaser:

As Mary said, "a judge will decide about any wrongdoings" in her research so I will move to just the data.
This brief glimpse showed very little overall data and no professional notes from her personal work (more on that later). To the keen eye however, it showed that over the 9 year span UNC only admitted 3 athletes with an SAT below 700. To experienced NCAA staffers, this is a minuscule number relative to other major schools. But David Ridpath guessed that this number would be over 30% because it was obvious that UNC had "sold its soul." It was actually 1.6%. What it showed was UNC was willing to take a small number of truly marginal kids and give them a chance (the UNC system allots 1% to all schools). I'm good with that. Oddly enough, you can tell by the shading that one of the students did not even make Mary's cohort of "illiterate". In fact, 5 of the 10 lowest SAT students also didnt make her cohort. This shows a sizable disconnect between SAT and her SATA tests.
I even spent $67 on a SATA manual and came to the same conclusion as the experts. Only months in advance. I even gave all of the analysis to Dan Kane. Perhaps someone will ask him why he never printed any of it.
As the factual scrutiny grew heavy on Mary, she pivoted the narrative to her evaluations being based on more "individual, personal interactions" with the athletes. This is subjective and hard to verify, so Mary got a pass. I mean she said she worked with the "overwhelming majority" of the 182 athletes in her study. Kind of hard to contest that. Until now.
As Jay Smith told me in reference to a player on the 2005 Championship team that couldnt read, "she worked with the guy, okay". Remember that statement.
Since "under prepared" and "illiterate" were sufficiently rebuked and the lawsuit is what it is, lets cover "real education". And since the Wainstein Report covers AFAM, we will stick to everything else.
In prep for their book Mary and Jay Smith granted following interview:
wncn.com/story/27992414/willingham-unc-had-shadow-curriculum#.VNbA6UYau0R.mailto

So she's picking on Drama, Geology and Geography and others as "Easy A's"....insinuating the athletes couldnt take real classes. Well, these are real classes. In fact, they are mostly General College classes so almost everyone takes them. So the narrative here is marginal students taking easy classes. Not sure how Mary places herself as a learning specialist in that equation but the good news is we can find out.
From my time working at UNC (1988-2000), I was aware that counselors submitted End of Year reports of their work. Its an Arts and Sciences thing. Good to see accountability.
So, in November, I filed a records request. On February 5, 2015, I received an email from the Records Office with 5 years of reports from Mary Willingham. Each report summarizes the teams and number of athletes with which she worked personally, Supplemental Instruction program enrollment by class, her yearly noted activities and a comment section.
For comparison sake, I will summarize each section across the 5 years together.

 

[Raising Heel]

TEAMS
2003-04 (table mislabeled)

Notes:
- Mary did not work with any basketball players until the 2005-06 team. That means she never worked with Rashad McCants or any member of the 2005 Championship team.
- That means she had no cause to ever access their transcripts.
- That means she could not have worked with a player "who could not read" from that team.
- Over the 5 years, she only worked with 17 total football players (8 in one semester) and 8 total basketball players. Last time I checked, 25 out of 182 equaled 14%. How is that a critical mass on which to base assumptions of the entire 182? How does that square with her assertions of "personal experiences" with the "overwhelming majority"?
- The 17 football players amounts to 4% of the 425 total scholarship team members over that 5 years (85 X 5). She worked with 4% of the football team. I had to write that twice.
- Remember the December 2013 tweets and blog posts by Mary regarding all those football players and the bowl? She could not have been their counselor and thus, had no official purpose to be accessing their student records.

 

[Raising Heel]

SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION
From the interviews I have done with Mary's chief detractors, they are unanimous in praise for her work with proposing and launching a Supplemental Instruction program. In short, they assign a team of counselors to attend classes with the students and mentor throughout the semester. All with the approval of the professor. The idea is to identify "at risk" freshmen and sophomores and support them. She called it "proactive support". Awesome.

This program launched in 2004-05. This is where the many views of Mary are hard to understand. She champions this program and its success. The classes are legitimate general college courses. The classes are a mix of Drama, Geology, Geography.....wait what? Yes, those classes and Biology 11 (ouch for me), Sociology and several History classes. Oh and the best, one taught in the Fall of 2006 by Jay Smith (more on that later).
Here are the classes:

Notes:
- Notice that Mary touts Pass Rates (A, B or C) of 97%+. That is amazing. What she is saying is UNC's most "at risk" athletes are succeeding in real classes with the support of this program. I find that amazing.
- This looks like a "read education".
- How can Mary claim UNC was not providing a "real education" when her program was proving it was possible? Mind boggling.

 

[Raising Heel]

Lets cover Jay Smith. Back in the fall, I filed a records request for any class Jay had taught more than 10 times. We were debating whether or not classes over time were morphing to meet the challenges of an ever-brighter student base. So I wanted to see.
UNC sent me records for HIST 11/151 that Jay taught 15 times. Jay teaches a serious class. I am bound by copyright not to show a syllabus, but trust me Jay teaches a rigorous class.
In Fall 2006, 15 of these supplemental instruction athletes took HIST 151. Jay taught section 6. I have no way of knowing how many of the 15 were in Jay's section, but for this argument, I will assume HIST 151 is HIST 151 no matter who taught it. I have also had several tenured professors tell me this is an accurate assumption.
According to Mary, all athletes that semester in supplemental instruction had a pass rate of 97%.
Here are the stats from Jay's 15 years of teaching HIST 151:

So, Jay historically had a pass rate of 85% and 88% in the Fall of 2006. So that tells me supplemental instruction allowed UNC's most "at risk" students to beat the general population average by 9% and the historical average by 12%. That is phenomenal.
Can someone explain how these kids that Jay and Mary say don't belong just beat the general population by 9%?
Also, can someone explain why Jay and Mary in their latest blog want to tear down the Loudermilk Center and disband academic support?

 

[Raising Heel]

ACTIVITIES
Mary listed activities she felt were important during the year. Two each year stick out. They are the same every year so I will just post one.

So, Jay has derided the Athletic Department for its outreach program in bringing professors to practice and events. "Cozy".
Did he realize that Mary was championing her efforts on behalf of women's basketball?
Which professors did Mary entertain and did players take those classes?
Why when Jay wrote a recent blog about Jan Boxill, did he omit that for at least 4 years, Mary assisted her with counseling?
When Jay made special mention of the Boxill/Crowder emails about a struggling student and a late entry into class, where was Mary in that chain?

This is a Jan Boxill Independent Study class from the Wainstein Report:

I happen to think its a weak class but notice the book "Season of Life". Probably a fine book.

Look at one of Mary's Personal Development entries:

I would say that speaks to the "cozy" relations between Mary and Boxill.
If we do have NCAA exposure in regards to women's basketball, has Mary been interviewed? She has clamored to be interviewed numerous times. Here is a great topic.

 

[Raising Heel]

CONCLUSION
This entry appears every year:

"Pleasure to work" and "supports the needs of students"? Wait, I thought we were cheating them out of a "real education".

Here's my conclusion:
One Mary says we have "under prepared" athletes getting by on "sham classes" and "go to easy A's" and another Mary showing excellence in real classes with "proactive support" that she championed.
Both cannot be true.
One is an ever-changing narrative and one is filled with facts.

Hopefully this information will get widely disseminated and we can end the narratives. There are two national media organizations reviewing this data presently. Hopefully, they will start printing facts not narratives.

THE TRUTH IS IN THE REPORT

 

[TarHeelNation11]

EXCELLENT work!! Awesome stuff.

Don't hold your breath for any retractions from CNN, et al though

 

[BillyL]

First thing, is I'd like to say thanks for RH getting permission to post that over here on our board. I read Daren's 5 or 6 posts over on TOS this AM while drinking my morning cup of Joe . . man 'o man did that coffee taste better with every word I read. That man put a lot of time into his work and research and once again, someone with facts in hand, has shed an even bigger spotlight on Mary's fraud . .

The more this is put out the better . .

Kudos to Daren Lucas



.



This post was edited on 2/11 1:22 PM by BillyL

 

[heelbent]

Daren has worked his butt of doing this research and I for appreciate it. But it doesn't matter unless the national media follows through. Does anyone really think that POS Kane is going to take it and run? The narrative that is out there is the only one they care about. Unless it throws more dirt on UNC it's never going to see the light of day IMO.

 

[Raising Heel]

According to Daren:


The N&O, the AP, The Chronicle of Higher Education and several websites and media personalities have this. I cant control what they do with it.
Dan Kane says he likes facts......well I gave him some.
And that's all he can do, really. You would think somewhere, within the ranks of UNC Journalism graduates, we would have a well-placed individual interested in stoking this discussion.

 

[Raising Heel]

Oh, and for what it's worth, the university's attorneys are well aware of this (and other) information. The odds of them settling with Willingham are close to nil. I think they'd prefer to put her on the stand and let the games begin. Among the other revelations from Daren's FOIA is strong evidence that she shared identifiable student information with parties not named in her IRB and not affiliated with the university.

 

[UNC71-00]

This whole thing is over and done with in as far as the media is concerned until the NCAA findings are out. And then the story will be either that UNC got off easy or justice was finally served.

At this point the media has already cast judgement and nothing will ever lead to retraction or publishing stories to the contrary. The moral is always stay out in front of the story, deny and circle the wagons. You can't placate these people, so best to fight them as hard as possible.

 

[TVJ]

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

At this point the media has already cast judgement and nothing will ever lead to retraction or publishing stories to the contrary. The moral is always stay out in front of the story, deny and circle the wagons. You can't placate these people, so best to fight them as hard as possible.

Often true, for sure. But I do remember that the N&O lost a ton of credibility when the truth came out about the Duke lacrosse case. So maybe there's hope for us yet.

 

[UNC71-00]

The N&O is safe in so far as they can point to Wainstein as proof that their stories had merit. The Duke case was different- the accused were totally exonerated. We have already admitted some guilt on some levels, so it will take a careful eye to realize the N&O is FOS. And at this point, we and moo are the only ones who care.

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

The moral is always stay out in front of the story, deny and circle the wagons. You can't placate these people, so best to fight them as hard as possible.

Painfully on point.

I don't disagree with anything else you've said, either. I know nobody else cares, but I do. The events of the last five years have unfairly hurt a lot of people while others who should shoulder some of the blame are walking around scot free. I want justice and fairness for all parties, at least as much as possible. And yes, I know I'm being completely unrealistic about all of this.

 

[UNC71-00]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

The moral is always stay out in front of the story, deny and circle the wagons. You can't placate these people, so best to fight them as hard as possible.

Painfully on point.

I don't disagree with anything else you've said, either. I know nobody else cares, but I do. The events of the last five years have unfairly hurt a lot of people while others who should shoulder some of the blame are walking around scot free. I want justice and fairness for all parties, at least as much as possible. And yes, I know I'm being completely unrealistic about all of this.

Hold on- when I meant no one else cares, I meant no one outside of UNC people and the sheep fondlers. And I agree with the rest of your point, but the only justice we have a chance of getting at this point is a clean bill of health from the NCAA. At that point, the rest of them can GF themselves. No one is going to buy this stupid book of Mary and Jay's, outside of the same people who list Rob J Anderson as their favorite author.

Oh, and Mary getting lambasted at trial too would be good (and likely). And maybe Jay getting fired for cause (not likely).

I appreciate what Daren Lucas did, but at this point it's almost all water under the bridge.

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

Hold on- when I meant no one else cares, I meant no one outside of UNC people and the sheep fondlers.

I heard you the first time.

Mary is toast, and her lawyers would be insane to continue with the lawsuit against the university. They should be more concerned about the possibility she gets sued for the FERPA violations, and the possible civil/criminal penalties for violating HIPAA.

Jay is too slippery to have done anything that would get him fired. Maybe he'll be censured. It's a shame because his arrogance makes me want to see him crash and burn harder than anyone.

 

[WoadBlue]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

Hold on- when I meant no one else cares, I meant no one outside of UNC people and the sheep fondlers.

I heard you the first time.

Mary is toast, and her lawyers would be insane to continue with the lawsuit against the university. They should be more concerned about the possibility she gets sued for the FERPA violations, and the possible civil/criminal penalties for violating HIPAA.

Jay is too slippery to have done anything that would get him fired. Maybe he'll be censured. It's a shame because his arrogance makes me want to see him crash and burn harder than anyone.

I agree on both counts. I love that Bradley Bethel emphasizes that Smith is an expert in mythological French monsters from the 18th century.

 

[UNCWayno]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

Hold on- when I meant no one else cares, I meant no one outside of UNC people and the sheep fondlers.

I heard you the first time.

Mary is toast, and her lawyers would be insane to continue with the lawsuit against the university. They should be more concerned about the possibility she gets sued for the FERPA violations, and the possible civil/criminal penalties for violating HIPAA.

Jay is too slippery to have done anything that would get him fired. Maybe he'll be censured. It's a shame because his arrogance makes me want to see him crash and burn harder than anyone.

This is some absolutely awesome information. The hard work to put all of this together is soooooo appreciated.

 

[Tigertown_a_Rick]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

Hold on- when I meant no one else cares, I meant no one outside of UNC people and the sheep fondlers.

I heard you the first time.

Mary is toast, and her lawyers would be insane to continue with the lawsuit against the university. They should be more concerned about the possibility she gets sued for the FERPA violations, and the possible civil/criminal penalties for violating HIPAA.

Jay is too slippery to have done anything that would get him fired. Maybe he'll be censured. It's a shame because his arrogance makes me want to see him crash and burn harder than anyone.

I agree with you, but why should the Lawyers care?...........They are going to get paid win or lose?

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by Tigertown@Rick:
I agree with you, but why should the Lawyers care?...........They are going to get paid win or lose?

Touché

 

[94tarheel]

I am not sure if "all" of the media is done with this story. 60 minutes would be a great place to shop this story, especially if true journalism is the main focus. CNN, Real Sports, Outside the Lines, etc are all programs that seek ratings through sensationalism. When you think of 60 Minutes, you see that they actually report the news story without sensationalizing it.

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by 94tarheel:
I am not sure if "all" of the media is done with this story.

Sporting News is following the developments. Confirmed by their social media editor (@clinesikes), who I believe is a UNC alumna.

[Edit:] Just noted I had her twitter handle incorrect. Fixed.
This post was edited on 2/24 9:57 AM by Raising Heel

 

[gunslingerdick]

 

[heelbent]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Sporting News is following the developments. Confirmed by their social media editor (@CarolineSikes), who I believe is a UNC alumna.

Be still my beating heart...

 

[BillyL]

Jay Smith has tweeted a couple of things since Daren has posted this info, seems a few UNC peeps have gotten under his skin besides Brad Bethel . . . my Lord, that guy is such a freaking douchebag.

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by BillyL:

Jay Smith has tweeted a couple of things since Daren has posted this info, seems a few UNC peeps have gotten under his skin besides Brad Bethel . . . my Lord, that guy is such a freaking douchebag.

Yeah, he's definitely rattled. Somebody pointedly asked him why MW had the transcripts of the 2005 title team starters when she never counseled them. His response: "Why can't you figure this one out yourself?"

His level of condescension and self-righteousness is off the charts.

 

[heelbent]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Somebody pointedly asked him why MW had the transcripts of the 2005 title team starters when she never counseled them. His response: "Why can't you figure this one out yourself?"

That's the point...we can figure it out ourselves, dear Professor Croissant.

There's a reckoning coming. And since you've aligned yourself with a lying, cheating, thieving and coniving little skank I reckon it's coming for you too.

 

[UNC71-00]

Originally posted by heelbent:

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Somebody pointedly asked him why MW had the transcripts of the 2005 title team starters when she never counseled them. His response: "Why can't you figure this one out yourself?"

That's the point...we can figure it out ourselves, dear Professor Croissant.

There's a reckoning coming. And since you've aligned yourself with a lying, cheating, thieving and coniving little skank I reckon it's coming for you too.

Speaking of Professor Croissant (of twitter fame), I want to meet that guy so I can shake his hand and buy him a beer. That wouldn't happen to be you, Jim, would it?

 

[heelbent]

Originally posted by UNC71-00:

Speaking of Professor Croissant (of twitter fame), I want to meet that guy so I can shake his hand and buy him a beer. That wouldn't happen to be you, Jim, would it?

Unlike Willingham, I can't take credit for that work....

 

[BillyL]

Saw a tweet from Bradley Bethel that implies that UNC has a settlement with this fraudulent b*tch . .

 

[gteeitup]

where are these emails i keep reading about with that c nt jay smith?

 

[TarHeelNation11]

Originally posted by BillyL:
Saw a tweet from Bradley Bethel that implies that UNC has a settlement with this fraudulent b*tch . .

That would disappoint me.

 

[Raising Heel]

Saw the same message, Billy. Really hoping it's not true, because that only gives her lawsuit credibility IMO. I want to see her publicly humiliated for the damage she's done.

gtee, the JS emails are coming. Bethel has said they'll be in his next blog entry. Cannot wait.

 

[BillyL]

Seems to me that BB is the only one in Chapel Hill that has any balls . .

I have no idea what may be in the settlement, or if UNC viewed it as a best option on how to move forward, but, I can tell you that if true, I am absolutely in one of those terrible moods right now that only alcohol can remedy . .

I'll be at Glory Days Sports Restaurant at 11 am, if anyone wants to join me . .

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by BillyL:

I have no idea what may be in the settlement, or if UNC viewed it as a best option on how to move forward,

That's my guess. Sounds like UNC just wants this to all go away, but with a class action suit on the radar screen they might want the attorneys to focus on the bigger fish. It's amusing that Little Miss "I'm in this for the kids" was willing to cede her moral high ground for a payday, though. What a sell out.

 

[TarHeelNation11]

Originally posted by BillyL:

Seems to me that BB is the only one in Chapel Hill that has any balls . .

I have no idea what may be in the settlement, or if UNC viewed it as a best option on how to move forward, but, I can tell you that if true, I am absolutely in one of those terrible moods right now that only alcohol can remedy . .

I'll be at Glory Days Sports Restaurant at 11 am, if anyone wants to join me . .

Years and years and years of spineless leadership in Chapel Hill led to the problems we are in now.

This is why I don't donate to the academic side of UNC.

 

[gunslingerdick]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Originally posted by BillyL:

I have no idea what may be in the settlement, or if UNC viewed it as a best option on how to move forward,

That's my guess. Sounds like UNC just wants this to all go away, but with a class action suit on the radar screen they might want the attorneys to focus on the bigger fish. It's amusing that Little Miss "I'm in this for the kids" was willing to cede her moral high ground for a payday, though. What a sell out.

While I kind of agree that a settlement gives her credibility, as you point out, it also exposes her as not having the purest of intentions.

I wouldn't piss on her if she were on fire.

 

[UNC71-00]

It's the nature of the litigious society in which we live. Most cases never go to trial because it is cheaper to pay a settlement.

It is absolute BS though, unless there are things of which we are not aware.

Side note- when the hell is the NCAA gonna poop or get off the pot?