"The most popular independent college team site on the Internet"

    About Us: The Inside Carolina web site and magazine debuted in 1994, merged with the Tar Pit and joined the Scout.com network in 2000 and then merged with UNCbasketball.com in 2001. The publication is fully credentialed by UNC, the ACC and the NCAA.

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      • Mission Statement: The Inside Carolina staff is comprised of experienced, professional journalists whose job is to provide its readers with objective, independent coverage of Tar Heel sports and recruiting.

      Praise for IC: Voted by ESPN the Magazine as the top college hoops site (11/27/00) ... "Most Popular Web Site" on campus at UNC, according to Entertainment Weekly (9/21/2001) ... Identified by Sports Illustrated as the leading source for insider info on the Tar Heels (5/19/2003) ... Featured in the NY Times bestseller To Hate Like This (3/2006).

      Syndication: Over the years, InsideCarolina.com has been the official UNC syndication partner with national sites such as CNNSI.com, FoxSports.com and Yahoo.com. InsideCarolina.com is also now the exclusive syndicated parter for UNC content with the No. 1 local news station, WRAL.


      Editorial Staff

      Ben Sherman

      Ben created and maintained UNCbasketball.com for five years, earning recognition from ESPN as the top college hoops team site on the Internet, before merging with Inside Carolina in the summer of 2001. He is the editor of the IC site and the editor-in-chief of the magazine. Ben also had an editorial position at the ACC Handbook for three years (2000-2002). (Email Ben)


      J.B. Cissell
      J.B. joined Inside Carolina in the late summer of 1998 after a short stint as a contributor to UNCbasketball.com. He is a jack of all trades: writer/reporter, photographer, videographer, managing editor, columnist. Currently, he serves as assistant editor for the magazine, contributor to the web site and administrator of the message boards. (Email J.B.)


      Tommy Ashley
      Tommy began with Inside Carolina in the fall of 1998 as a writer/reporter and was managing editor of the magazine for several years. Currently, he serves as assistant editor for the magazine and is an administrator of the message boards. (Email Tommy)


      Greg Barnes
      Greg is now the football and basketball beat writer for IC. For the last few years he has been the magazine's Olympic sports writer, putting together the "Tar Heel Spotlight" section each month - profiling top performers in the lesser publicized sports at UNC. He also has compiled the special "Tar Heels of the Year" edition each summer. Now his role will expand to providing daily coverage of the football and basketball team, reporting from practices and press conferences, and covering every home and away game.


      Michelle Donahue Hillison
      After playing an integral role at UNCbasketball.com as assistant editor/producer, Michelle now has a variety of duties at IC. She is the technical, graphics and design ace as well as a site, chat and message board administrator. Outside of IC, she has been involved with sports web development since 1997. For seven years, she produced nchometeam.com and northcarolina.ihigh.com. A fourth generation Chapel Hill native, she now runs Game Plan Development. (Email Michelle)


      Photographer

      Jim Hawkins

      Jim is in his seventh year as the Inside Carolina photo editor, shooting all games and other events, as well as conducting photo shoots, for the magazine and web site. He has been photographing ACC sporting events for three decades, beginning as a freelancer for the Winston-Salem Journal in 1977. His employers have included the Sports Information offices at Wake Forest, Duke and UNC. In addition, he was the staff photographer for the ACC Basketball Handbook for 12 years (1981-1993) and he was one of the key photo contributors for the official UNC National Championship books published in 1982, 1993 and 2005.


      Director of Sales & Marketing

      Audrey Bilsborrow

      Audrey joined the Inside Carolina team in the fall of 2003. She serves as Director of Sales and Marketing for the web site and magazine and is involved in pretty much any sport ever invented. Audrey has lived in the area (on the Chapel Hill side of Durham) since her days as a Tar Heel undergrad. Want to promote your company to the Tar Heel community? Drop her a line! (Email Audrey)


      In The Magazine

      Alfred Hamilton

      The resume of Alfred Hamilton Jr., a 1965 UNC graduate, includes Managing Editor of the Greensboro Record, major contributor to the 1982 championship book March To The Top, co-writer of the annual Carolina Court yearbook and columnist for the GoHeels.com website.


      Tommy Jenkins
      Tommy is a freelance editor and writer, and he authors the "On the Hill" section in the magazine devoted to the sights and sounds of Chapel Hill.


      Andrew Jones
      Andrew is a regular contributor to the magazine. His full time job is covering the ACC for the Wilmington Star-News. Prior to his current newspaper gig, he was the beat writer for Inside Carolina and hosted a daily radio show on Wilmington's ESPN Radio affiliate.


      Mike McCracken
      Mike is a senior writer who has been an Inside Carolina staff member for over a decade. His contributions of late have been his back-page editorial column for the magazine. A lifelong Tar Heel, he is a professional fundraiser and small business owner in Birmingham, Ala. who founded the company Tar Heel Moments. (Email Mike)


      Jack Morton
      Jack authors monthly feature stories in the magazine about former North Carolina players. He can also be found on the sidelines with his camera, following in the footsteps of his famed grandfather, Hugh, a legendary photographer of Tar Heel sports and the state of North Carolina.


      Buck Sanders
      Buck was a founder of the The Tar Pit site, which joined with Inside Carolina in 2001. He provides regular analysis on the gridiron Heels for the site and the magazine. (Email Buck)


      Mark Simpson-Vos
      Mark pens the cover story of each issue of the IC Magazine. Mark grew up in Big Ten country, but moved to Chapel Hill for keeps more than a decade ago. His full-time gig is in publishing and he debuted as a freelancer in 1998 with postgame commentary at UNCbasketball.com. (Email Mark)


      Jim Sumner
      Jim is the author of numerous book and articles on southern sports history and was a public historian for the North Carolina Division of Archives and History for 30 years. This makes him supremely qualified for his monthly task of writing the "This Month in Tar Heel History" feature in the magazine. You can also find Jim's work at theacc.com, where he's a columnist for the ACC’s official website.


      Recruiting Staff

      Don Callahan

      Don first emerged on the North Carolina high school football scene in 2001 with the launch of NCHSFootball.com. As the recognition grew for the site, so did Don's recognition as one of the most knowledgeable analysts in the Tar Heel State. In late 2003, Don joined Inside Carolina. He is now the full time football recruiting reporter for the site and is widely recognized as the industry's leading Tar Heel football recruiting expert. (Email Don)


      Tyler Brooks
      Tyler is the newest member of the IC staff, and his initial role on the site is two-fold. On one front, he authors the special basketball postgame Xs and Os analysis on the subscriber message board called "Upon Further Review." His second duty is he's embarking as IC's first baseball recruiting writer and that role on the baseball beat is sure to expand to team coverage in the near future. A native of Wilkesboro, N.C., Tyler is a 2007 graduate of UNC and served as a manager on the Tar Heel basketball team from 2004-06. (Email Tyler)


      Eric Bossi
      Based out of the Midwest, Eric's success as an analyst and reporter has grown to the point where he now covers the circuit full time. He joined the IC staff in the summer of '04 and much of his work on the site involves reporting from various tournaments across the country. Eric operates a local scouting service for college coaches and his work can be found in a number of publications, including the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook.


      Evan Daniels
      Evan is a rising star in the industry and now works side-by-side with Dave Telep at ScoutHoops.com. He joined the Inside Carolina staff in 2006 and his IC responsibilities center on daily basketball recruiting coverage. He's also logged experience in TV news, working at CBS affiliate WLKY and as the sports anchor at WKYU.


      Dave Telep
      Simply put, Dave Telep is the most respected recruiting analyst and high school scout in the nation. The Raleigh native started with Prep Stars and the Recruiter's Handbook in 1997 and has since worked for Rivals, CNNSI, The Sporting News and the ACC Handbook before joining Scout and forming ScoutHoops.com in 2001. Telep also runs the nation's most popular high school scouting service for college coaches and is a voting member of the McDonald's All-American Game.


      Miller Safrit
      ACC football recruiting analyst Miller Safrit came to Scout.com after reporting on recruiting with PrepAtlantic in 2000, followed by starting the independent site ACPreps.com in the spring of 2002. His contributions to Inside Carolina include running the Scout.com Combines, producing prospect videos and providing his expertise to IC readers on a regular basis on the message boards. (Email Miller)


      Honorary Staff

      Thad Williamson

      Thad has elevated into an elite category of respected Carolina basketball columnists and we are proud and honored that he resides at Inside Carolina. He is is the author of More Than a Game: Why North Carolina Basketball Means So Much To So Many (available HERE) and has provided his "Thoughts" at IC for years. A Chapel Hill native, he operated the manual scoreboard formerly located at the end of the UNC bench between the 1982-83 and 1987-88 seasons in Carmichael and the Smith Center. His Inside Carolina contributions are now limited since he's taken on a full-time professor position at the University of Richmond. (Email Thad)


      Message Board Moderators

      Buck Sanders, Tommy Ashley, J.B. Cissell, Mark Ellington, Jim Nichols, Ben Sherman, Michelle Hillison, Steve Leggett, David Thompson, Dan Helias, and Scott Cline.