1957 Men's Basketball Team, National Champions
Like Frank Porter Graham, Friday believed athletics should be secondary to the university's educational mission. As Atlantic Coast Conference basketball grew more popular, however, it became increasingly commercial and divorced from traditional academic values. In 1946, N. C. State hired its first prominent basketball coach, Everett Case. Chapel Hill followed suit by hiring Frank McGuire for basketball in 1952. In this competitive atmosphere, some supporters offered financial inducements to promising players. These recruiting violations forced the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to punish both the Chapel Hill and N.C. State basketball teams.