PINEHURST North Carolina football coach Butch Davis defended university officials Monday, saying they have been "cooperative" and "diligent" in the NCAA's investigation of the Tar Heels' program.

Davis spoke at the ACC football kickoff in his first extended interview since the NCAA charged the school with nine major violations in a Notice of Allegations delivered last month. Echoing comments he made in October, Davis said he "fully and completely" takes responsibility for the NCAA troubles, which he called the most important issue the school has faced in "many, many, many years."

"I'm the head football coach," Davis said. "And things that happen, anything I can do to make sure these things don't occur again, whether it's from education of the players, whether it's rules and regulations and policies, anything that we can do to make sure that doesn't happen again, that's part of my responsibility."

Davis said he never considered resigning.

Commending the university administration's handling of the NCAA investigation, Davis called North Carolina's officials diligent in their efforts.

"They've worked as hard as they can to be as cooperative and help expediate and help the NCAA to get to a resolution on this," he said.

University officials consistently have said they were thorough and helpful to the NCAA throughout the investigation. After the NCAA launched a probe into impermissible benefits, the school uncovered academic improprieties last year and reported them to the NCAA.

Media crush

Davis' interview was highly anticipated by the ACC media. Thirty minutes before his interview, reporters were camped out at the table where he was to sit. By the time Davis sat down, more than 30 reporters had surrounded him.

Davis was not personally cited in the NCAA's Notice of Allegations and said he felt like he always has had the North Carolina administration's support but added that he regrets what's happened.

"It's caused a tremendous amount of embarrassment and a tremendous amount of hard times for Carolina alums and fans and stuff, but we're going to get through this," Davis said. "And because of it, we're going to come out of this, and we're going to be better than we were before."

Davis also took responsibility for hiring former associate head coach John Blake, who was cited in three of the violations, accusing him of working for the late sports agent Gary Wichard while at North Carolina.

According to Davis, there were no red flags in the initial university personnel review of Blake. Davis said he hired Blake based on what he knew of Blake as a high school athlete and student, and as a fellow assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys.

The discovery this month by fans on an N.C. State message board of apparent plagiarism in a term paper written by former Tar Heels player Michael McAdoo has caused school officials more headaches.

Athletics director Dick Baddour and school lawyer Steve Keady had vouched for the authenticity of McAdoo's work in a failed appeal to the NCAA to restore McAdoo's eligibility. When McAdoo sought an injunction to get reinstated, the paper in question appeared in court documents.

Plagiarism check

N.C. State fans and later the media ran the paper through online plagiarism checkers that revealed long sections apparently copied from other texts.

North Carolina Chancellor Holden Thorp has said he regrets that nobody at the university discovered the apparent plagiarism in McAdoo's paper. Davis said Monday that though he isn't privy to all the information, he is confident in school administrators' handling of the investigation.

The NCAA first visited North Carolina's campus during July 2010 in an investigation that led to 14 players missing at least one game and seven missing the entire 2010 season.

A media victory in a lawsuit gaining the release of players' parking tickets in June showed fewer than 12 players had amassed 395 tickets over 31/2 years, with fines totaling $13,125. The Notice of Allegations also came in June, followed by the release of McAdoo's paper this month.

North Carolina has until Sept. 19 to provide the NCAA with a written response to the Notice of Allegations. School officials are scheduled to appear in front of the Committee on Infractions on Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.