It's the story that has everything! A former star quarterback. Questionable fundraising activities. Corruption. UNC shadiness. And, yeah, Tyler Hansbrough's mom.
Tami Hansbrough works in the UNC fundraising office. It's a pretty sweet gig, $95K a year, and the cynical sort might say she got it because she was sleeping with the guy running the joint. That'd be Matt Kupec, who quarterbacked the Tar Heels for three seasons back in the '70s. When Kupec hired Hansbrough, back in 2010, she had long been divorced from the father of players Tyler and Ben, and the two were already in a relationship. (Kupec was separated from his wife, who finalized a divorce in 2011, citing his "marital misconduct.")
But that's all kosher. Two consenting adults, and UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said Hansbrough's hire was after a legit job search, involving multiple candidates. Not cool, reports the News & Observer: an internal investigation revealed Kupec and Hansbrough took a number of personal trips, including to watch Ben Hansbrough play for Notre Dame, and did it all at the university's expense.
"Last night I told Matt what I had been finding and I was going to have to do a thorough investigation of his travel, and he offered his resignation," Thorp said, adding he accepted it.
"It was difficult because Matt has been such a great person for the university and has raised billions of dollars for us," Thorp added, "but I had to share with him what we had been finding and it didn't look good and that it's likely that this sort of personally driven travel was unacceptable, and we are going to need to do a pretty thorough investigation of it."
It's not the first time Tami Hansbrough has put some questionable travel on the corporate card. Back in 2008-09, when she was a fundraiser for UNC's dental school, an audit found that she had taken trips to watch Tyler and UNC play. In that case, her travel was retroactively okayed because away games qualified as legitimate fundraising opportunities.
Kupec resigned Sunday night when confronted with the findings. Tami Hansbrough has been placed on leave while the investigation continues.
Top UNC fundraiser resigns amid questions [News & Observer]