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The Daily Tar Heel

Turning over a new leaf: UNC football says goodbye to a messy decade

Quarterback Marquise Williams (12) runs the ball towards the end zone. Williams had one touchdown on Saturday against Virginia Tech.

Quarterback Marquise Williams (12) runs the ball towards the end zone. Williams had one touchdown on Saturday against Virginia Tech.

Out with the old, in with the new. 

For the North Carolina football team, the saying strikes close to home after a decade plagued by NCAA violations, more than a few losing seasons and two different scandals.

Heading into the 2010 season, the Tar Heels were coming off of an 8-5 campaign after losing their bowl game for the second consecutive year. In July of that year, the NCAA started investigating UNC for violations involving improper benefits provided by agents to current players. 

As the NCAA continued its investigation, 13 players were suspended for UNC’s season opener against LSU, a 30-24 loss. 

In October 2010, three players were ruled permanently ineligible due to improperly accepting gifts from sports agents. Five more players were later found guilty of accepting gifts and/or inappropriate academic assistance.

Butch Davis, who joined UNC in 2006, was fired in July 2011 and by September, UNC decided to vacate its wins in 2008 and 2009, marking the program's only “winless” seasons. 

The program decided to reduce its athletic scholarships by three, served two years probation and paid a $50,000 fine. However, the NCAA upped the punishment to three years probation, a postseason ban of one year and a reduction of UNC’s athletic scholarships by 15. 

Larry Fedora took over the team in 2012 as the Tar Heels’ 34th head coach. During his first season, despite being ineligible for the ACC title, Fedora led the team to an 8-4 season. 

Fedora and the Tar Heels started off the 2013 season 1-5 before rebounding with a 5-1 record in their last six games and finishing the season with a win over Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl. An inconsistent defense cost UNC its season in 2014, giving up over 497 yards.

After a 6-7 record in the 2014 season, 2015 offered hope for Tar Heels as the team posted an 11-1 regular season record with a perfect record in conference play and were ranked as high as No. 8. However, they fell to Clemson in the ACC Championship game and to Baylor in a bowl game to end the year. 

Fedora led UNC to a 8-5 record in 2016, but over the following two years, North Carolina only tallied five wins. He was fired within 24 hours of the N.C. State/UNC game that ended with a brawl in 2018. 

Mack Brown returned as head coach of UNC on Nov. 27, 2018, and began the program's current turnaround. The Tar Heels are now bowl eligible after finishing the regular season 6-6. The 2019 season was an exciting one, featuring last-minute thrilling victories, like topping Duke 20-17, and heartbreaking losses, like falling to defending national champion Clemson 21-20. 

While the 2010s started messy for UNC, Brown and the Tar Heels seem to have turned the program around, putting themselves in the right direction for the decade to come. 

@mwc13_3

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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