The NCAA has denied an appeal by North Carolina transfer wide receiver Devontez “Tez” Walker and declared him ineligible this season, causing Tar Heels coach Mack Brown to deliver a blistering rebuke of college sports’ governing body.

Walker had sought an eligibility waiver to play this season after transferring to UNC from Kent State, to which he had previously transferred from North Carolina A&T. NCAA rules require a waiver for second-time transfers, but Walker appealed the original August ruling against him, citing “mental health challenges” and the fact that he never played at North Carolina A&T because the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID.

Brown expressed shock and disbelief in a lengthy statement released on Thursday, saying in part “I don’t know that I have ever been more disappointed in a person, a group of people or an institution than I am right now with the NCAA.” He noted that both Kent State and North Carolina A&T had publicly supported Walker’s appeal for immediate eligibility at North Carolina.

The NCAA “couldn’t care less about the young people it’s supposed to be supporting,” Brown said, adding that the “decision makers at the NCAA and on the (transfer) committee should be ashamed of themselves.”

Here’s the full statement, which Brown ended with the phrase “Shame on you, NCAA. SHAME ON YOU!”

Walker signed with East Tennessee State out of a Charlotte high school in 2019, but never enrolled due a knee injury. He landed the next season at North Carolina A&T — like ETSU an FCS school — but also never played there before heading to Kent State in 2021.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Walker was a first-team All-MAC selection at Kent State in 2022. In his second season for the Golden Flashes, he totaled 58 receptions for 921 yards and 11 touchdowns before entering the NCAA transfer portal.

Walker committed to North Carolina on Dec. 21, and enrolled in school on Jan. 9. Two days later, the NCAA changed its transfer rules to make it more difficult for second-time transfers to achieve immediate eligibility.

“When I made the decision to transfer from Kent State back to my home area at UNC, I did so thinking I would be able to play this year,” Walker said in a statement released on Aug. 8, via 247 Sports. “The way the rules were set up at the time, we knew we’d have to file a waiver as a two-time transfer, and in previous years, those waivers were being granted.”

North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham also waded into the controversy, saying the NCAA decision “undermines the fair treatment of student-athletes and further erodes the public’s confidence in our national governing body.” He also took thinly veiled shots at Colorado — more than half of whose roster under first-year coach Deion Sanders is comprised of transfers — and Rice, which is starting three-time transfer J.T. Daniels at quarterback this season.

“Seeing more than 50 student-athletes transfer to one school or watching a starting quarterback play for his fourth university in his sixth year doesn’t make sense to many,” Cunningham said. “Arbitrarily prohibiting a student-athlete from competition — when that student-athlete has only played two seasons of football in the last five years at one school and wants to play closer to home for legitimate family and mental health reasons — does not make sense.”

Walker will be eligible to play at North Carolina in 2024, though he could also enter the NFL draft. The 17th-ranked Tar Heels (1-0) are at Appalachian State on Saturday.