How a former governor and new information helped UNC's Tez Walker get on the field

By Brian Murphy, WRAL News

Former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley played a key role in negotiating a $206-billion settlement with Big Tobacco in the late 1990s during his two terms as attorney general.

So bridging the divide between UNC, his alma mater, and the NCAA over the eligibility of wide receiver Tez Walker seemed like an easy task.

"It seemed to be a very sad situation that needed addressing," Easley said this week.

Easley, who didn't represent UNC or Walker, spoke to officials at the NCAA and others, including Walker's Raleigh-based attorney and former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, to help find a way forward.

"I just got interested in it because I know how much integrity the university has and they were really adamant about mistreatment," said Easley, who served as North Carolina governor from 2001 to 2009.

"And I know how complicated things have gotten at the NCAA," he said. "There had to be some confusion somewhere. The best thing to do was to get on the telephone and try to figure out what it was and how to get it resolved."

After seven months of denying Walker's waiver for immediate eligibility at North Carolina, the NCAA changed course and approved the Kent State transfer's waiver on Oct. 5, citing new information presented by the school that applied to a new NCAA standard related to transfers such as Walker.

Elliot Abrams, Walker's attorney, confirmed there was "unquestionably new evidence" and it was "additional medical evidence." Easley said the information was given to the NCAA the week before Walker was deemed eligible.

Walker suited up for the undefeated Tar Heels two days later. After running onto the field carrying the North Carolina flag, he caught six passes against Syracuse.

"It was very shocking," Walker said after his first game. "I was surprised. I was just glad it was over. It just felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders."

In his second game, Walker hauled in six passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns in the Tar Heels' victory against Miami.

“His presence is a game changer,” coach Mack Brown said after the game. “We were 4-0 without him. Obviously we have a chance to be much better with him.”

A former governor's involvement

Easley discussed the situation with Orr, a vocal critic of the NCAA who has worked with athletes in the past on eligibility fights. Orr alerted him to a new evidence path, one he used to help former UNC running back Devon Ramsey earn reinstatement from the NCAA in 2011.

"The quickest way I saw [to get Walker on the field] was to have new evidence that could be submitted to the NCAA compliance group," Orr said. "If there is potential new evidence that better complies with these vague NCAA standards, they ought to get that new evidence and UNC should submit it to the NCAA for consideration."

Easley took that to Abrams.

In the NCAA waiver process, schools can request reconsideration if new information arises that is germane to the original waiver request.

"In my opinion, Tez Isn’t playing but for Mike Easley," Orr said. "If he doesn’t take the new evidence idea and run with it to Elliot Abrams."

Abrams had been preparing a lawsuit against the NCAA. But he was not eager to go that route, which would involve exposing undisclosed details about Walker's mental health. Also, that path offered no assurances that Walker could return to the field this year, likely the final season with star quarterback Drake Maye in Chapel Hill.

"Governor Easley was incredibly important in the process from how to think about it and having tremendous credibility with various people throughout this process," said Abrams, while also crediting others like current attorney general Josh Stein, Brown, the UNC administration and Walker for their persistence in the fight.

New evidence

On Jan. 11, the NCAA's Division I Council unanimously updated its guidelines for two-time undergraduate transfers. Walker was at North Carolina Central for the 2020 season, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and 2021 spring season. He transferred to Kent State where he played in 2021 and 2022 before his head coach left for Colorado.

Walker, who is from Charlotte, entered the transfer portal, committed to UNC and began classes on Jan. 9.

As part of the new transfer rule, the NCAA said athletes must have "a demonstrated physical injury or illness or mental health condition that necessitated the student's transfer (supporting documentation, care plans and proximity of the student's support system will be considered)" in order to obtain a waiver.

Athletic and/or academic reasons are not sufficient to obtain a waiver, the NCAA said.

According to NCAA guidelines, relief should be provided in cases where a mental health condition "impaired the student-athlete's daily function at the previous institution and necessitated transfer to applicant institution." Distance from support system should also be considered.

Further, according to the NCAA guidance, "In cases where the documentation submitted by the applicant institution does not clearly demonstrate the guidelines or information standards are satisfied the request may be shared with an expert or panel of experts in the field."

Walker's team gathered more and more medical opinions.

"The way I think about is if you go to different types of doctors and you get the same opinion from each doctor, you can go to more and more specialized people with better and better credentials that cost more and more money," Abrams said. "We did that and we got the most credentialed person who said this is unquestionable that he meets this standard from a medical standpoint. Everybody else said that. It is true. It's new in the sense that it's a more credentialed person who can testify in court."

UNC first submitted Walker's waiver on April 5.

On May 31, staff denied the request, saying, in part, "the chronology of events does not support the (student-athlete)'s transfer to applicant institution was necessitated due to mental health challenges." The same line was used in a second denial by staff on June 21 and by the NCAA's Committee on Legislative Relief on July 5. A similar line was in the denial by staff came on Oct. 31 and a seemingly final denial by the committee on Sept. 7.

"It shows a remarkable insensitivity to the very people the NCAA professes to exist to serve and does the opposite of what they're saying they're doing which is protecting people’s mental health," Abrams said.

Walker was resigned to not playing this season. He worked on the scout team at practice.

"I was just prepping for next year," he said. "I didn't think there was no chance I was going to get cleared."

Many rallied to Walker's cause. Brown blasted the NCAA repeatedly. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper wrote a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts. Walker's plight was covered in sports media, including during game broadcasts. Stein laid out legal arguments against the NCAA in a letter. UNC's Board of Trustees met to consider how best to support Walker. Abrams readied the lawsuit.

"It wasn't that UNC hadn't done enough in my view," Abrams said. "It was a more powerful way of packaging largely the same facts with some new facts. Things that you wouldn't think you would need. It worked."

Easley said it seemed to him that UNC and the NCAA were caught up in whether to use the 2022 waiver standard or the 2023 waiver standard. The sides were dug in, he said.

"That was when I just tried to figure out what did we need for 2023," Easley said. "Why don’t we do whatever we got to do for both of them? Now Tez is eligible for both years."

The NCAA said it had no additional comment on the case, but referenced statements, including one from UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, and several NCAA guidelines. The organization took a shot at UNC when it reinstated Walker.

"It is unfortunate that UNC failed to provide this important information previously," Baker said. "While we must be careful not to compromise a student-athlete's right to privacy when it comes to sensitive issues, we want to assure the Division I membership and everyone watching how the new transfer rules are applied, that this meets the new transfer waiver standards."

After the NCAA's decision, UNC officials offered somewhat contradictory statements about whether or not new information was brought in the case though Guskiewicz confirmed that new information was submitted.

"In our stated effort to exhaust all avenues, new information about this matter came to our attention and we immediately gathered and submitted it for consideration," he said in a statement.

A bad rule

Abrams said the NCAA is not a "villain" in the case. He credited the organization with taking steps to correct "a wrong choice." Abrams said the NCAA should scrap the new transfer rule and start over.

He said the organization recognizes that these types of eligibility decisions are "disastrous" for mental health.

"I have real questions about the viability of a rule that puts an athletic organization in the seat of second-guessing medical doctors' medical decisions," Abrams said. "I have questions about whether the NCAA is actually trying to evaluate these waivers or whether its just trying to deny all of them and only granting them if they're forced to."

Stein's Sept. 26 letter called the decision to stop Walker from playing at UNC "wrong — and likely illegal." He wrote that he could issue civil investigative demands to the NCAA, start an investigation into the NCAA along with other attorneys general or pursue litigation alleging violations of state and federal law.

Abrams said he would have "absolutely" taken the case to court.

"North Carolina’s antitrust law is the same as the federal antitrust law and experts say this rule is not legal," Abrams said, "which means this rule is illegal and it’s a crime to impose an unreasonable restraint of trade."