University of North Carolina fans have seen the last of McDonald’s All-American shooting guard P.J. Hairston in the Dean Smith Center. UNC will not seek reinstatement from the NCAA for the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Hairston, the school announced Friday, Dec. 20.
"Unfortunately, P.J. made a number of mistakes that placed his eligibility at risk, and the University's joint review with the NCAA made it clear that seeking reinstatement for P.J. would not be possible," UNC director of athletics Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. "The University thanks him for his contributions to Carolina Basketball."
Hairston is no stranger to Chapel Hill law enforcement and its complicated relationship began last spring with three separate traffic incidents. According to reports, his first run-in back in May revealed possible links to impermissible benefits from third parties, including a rental car provided by the felon and party promoter Haydn “Fats” Thomas. In his second incident in June, he was pulled over in a 2013 SUV and arrested on a misdemeanor drug charge that was later dismissed. Finally, Hairston was suspended indefinitely from the Tar Heels in July after being cited for speeding and careless and reckless driving.
There has been an ongoing investigation by the university over past few months to determine the status of Hairston’s eligibility as well as disciplinary action for potential rules violations.
Although not playing the first 10 games of this season, Hairston had been practicing with the team since official practices began in September.
There were some negative reactions to this initial decision of allowing him to remain on the team. Jack Halperin, a UNC athletic academic tutor, sent a letter to UNC head coach Roy Williams after hearing that and ended his academic employment affiliation with the university.
"Roy, after 23 years as an academic tutor, and after going through the devastating football scandal, I am resigning in protest of your disgraceful decision to allow P.J. Hairston to remain on the team. If I were arrested driving with no license, illegal drugs and a gun in a felon's car, my employment at this University would end immediately. Hairston's DTH headline quote was, 'I will play this season.' Since when does the criminal decide his fate?"
Hairston knew what he was signing up for when he signed his letter of intent to play for the University of North Carolina. Being a star for a top tier ACC program has its perks and drawbacks. You are going to be in the spotlight and have to be held accountable for your actions. Unfortunately for Hairston, he made some big mistakes that couldn’t go unnoticed, which cost him his college career.
https://twitter.com/InsideCarolina/status/414135049790169088
This is going to hurt the Tar Heels on the court as they are losing arguably their best guard. Hairston led UNC in scoring last year at 14.6 points per game while draining 89 three-pointers. He was also expected to be a leader on the court as a returning junior and a projected first round draft pick in the NBA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBYGqSnmFnw
Although UNC has seen success with big wins over Michigan State University, University of Louisville and University of Kentucky, they have also fallen to lesser teams such as Belmont University. And having Hairston on the court would only make the Tar Heels better. Roy Williams has noted before that Hairston had been "the most dominating player on the perimeter in practice that I've ever coached."
Regardless of his juvenile mistakes, Hairston’s talent is undeniable and this isn’t likely to be the end of Hairston’s career as the NBA draft nears.