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(11/29/06 5:00am)
On Monday morning Rams Club members received a video message from Butch Davis via e-mail, inviting them to purchase tickets for next fall.
The University also purchased a full-page ad in Tuesday's edition of The Daily Tar Heel featuring a large image of Davis and encouraging fans to buy tickets.
With the ink barely dry on Davis' contract and the dust barely settled from North Carolina's 3-9 season, the University's attention has turned to funding the coach's lucrative seven-year contract.
Davis makes the same $286,000 base salary that former head coach John Bunting did - but the University will supplement that with a $1 million payment in 2007 that will gradually rise to $1.3 million in 2013.
It's going to take more than ticket sales to pay for a contract of that size.
The supplemental compensation - which will total $8.05 million for the life of the deal - will come from a special Rams Club fundraising campaign, similar to the one launched for men's basketball coach Roy Williams' contract in 2003.
"We'll contact some of our donors who have a special interest in the program and see if they would like to support this effort," said John Montgomery, executive director of the Rams Club.
Instead of a mass campaign, the Rams Club will solicit big-time football supporters with the hopes of raising $8-9 million during the next several years.
"We're going to roll up our sleeves and go after it, and we feel like we can do it," Director of Athletics Dick Baddour said.
"People want a winning football program and so we're going to give them that opportunity."
These days, winning football programs don't come cheap.
According to a Nov. 16 report in USA Today, nine Division I-A coaches make more than $2 million per year - and that doesn't include Notre Dame's Charlie Weis, whose compensation figures are a closely guarded secret.
"We have to be competitive in the marketplace," Baddour said.
"Every trustee meeting I've been to in the last two years has talked about being competitive in our faculty salaries, and if we're going to develop a first-rate football program, this is where we're going to have to be."
Beyond the standard pay, Davis is expected to sign an individual multimedia contract with Learfield Communications and an apparel contract with Nike. All told, he'll be making about $1.7 million next year.
Davis can earn three bonuses of close to $24,000 each when the Tar Heels go to a bowl game, go to the ACC Championship game and if the team's graduation rate equals that of the student body as a whole. The University also will pay him nearly $48,000 if UNC earns a berth in a BCS bowl game.
Skyrocketing coaches' salaries in college are partially a byproduct of the NFL, which is able to pay handsomely if coaches want to leave for the pros. Davis did just that in 2000, jumping from the University of Miami to the Cleveland Browns.
Davis reportedly made more than $3 million per year with the Browns. But his UNC contract is structured so that there are plenty of financial incentives not to bolt for greener pastures.
If Davis stays for five years, he will receive a $500,000 bonus, then $300,000 for each of the final two years of his contract.
And there are buyout penalties if he leaves. Davis will owe the University $2 million if he voluntarily terminates the contract before the end of the 2010 season. The buyouts decrease to a low of $700,000 if he leaves before the end of his final contract year - the 2013 season.
And Davis said Monday that he has no intention of bringing those buyouts into play.
"Coaches in the NFL make a lot more money," Davis said, when asked what the differences were between coaching in college and the pros, drawing laughs from the crowd in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center.
"(But) to be honest with you, this is exactly where I want to be."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(11/28/06 5:00am)
Director of Athletics Dick Baddour started Monday's news conference by saying, "Thank you for your patience in getting to this day."
He was referring to the fact that the decision had been announced two weeks ago, but Butch Davis couldn't be introduced until Monday.
But it was impatience that wrought the day - an impatience with a struggling football team that led to John Bunting's firing and Davis' hiring.
In the wake of a 3-9 season, expectations have skyrocketed with Davis' arrival. His reputation for rebuilding, based on his time with both the University of Miami and the Cleveland Browns, has generated excitement around the program disproportionate to its wins this year.
Two days after a disappointing season ended, Davis, Baddour and the players struck a hopeful note for next year.
When briefly addressing the team Monday afternoon, Davis said, "We have a two-game winning streak going right now. Let's make it 14."
In addressing the media Davis aimed a little lower than that.
"I know that there is pressure to perform and to win," Davis said.
"But by the same token it will take time. There is no magic formula. It's going to take a lot of hard work by the student-athletes that are here now and by the student-athletes that we are actively recruiting."
The formula that Davis used at Miami to build a program riddled with NCAA sanctions into a national powerhouse started with just that: recruiting. Davis was able to lure future NFL stars like Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Santana Moss and Sean Taylor to Coral Gables.
Tar Heel fans hope names such as quarterback Mike Paulus, wide receiver Dwight Jones and running back Ryan Houston - the key pieces to UNC's current recruiting class - will one day be seen in the same light. Davis is doing his part to keep those talented players from bolting elsewhere after the coaching change and to bring in the kind of athletes he had at Miami.
Davis said he plans to visit every one of the 16 players who have verbally committed to UNC before Christmas. Seven of them play their high-school ball in North Carolina, and getting home-grown talent is where Davis will begin.
"If the state of North Carolina can provide all of the assets that we need in terms of student-athletes, then that would be perfect," he said.
"If we have to go out of state to find some kids, we will do that. I have a vision of the types of young men that will excel in this type of program, and we're going to go after those kids as hard as we possibly can."
Regardless of the abilities of the coach, the players ultimately will decide the outcome on the field. Junior strong safety Trimane Goddard said the key to a successful 2007 is a smooth transition between coaches.
"The faster we buy into his system, the faster we will win."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(11/21/06 5:00am)
Two writers started to chuckle as John Bunting left the room.
The last question of the press conference after North Carolina's 45-26 loss at Notre Dame had been if Bunting had thought about putting two defenders on Irish wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, who torched the UNC secondary for 177 yards.
Bunting responded in his typical gruff manner:
"No. We're not going to double-cover No. 83. He's a really good player but we're not going to double cover him. We just need to go make a play on him."
And with that, the conference ended, Bunting walked away and the local scribes began to laugh.
"No wonder he got fired," one said.
An inexplicable decision for those who don't cover UNC on a daily basis was predictable for those who know him, though.
Above all else, John Bunting is stubborn. It is his most endearing and most maddening quality.
It is why he is so beloved by his team and praised for his character. It is also why he is 26-45 as UNC's head coach heading into his final game Saturday at Duke.
Never has the coach been more stubborn than in the weeks following his Oct. 22 firing. Bunting refused to change anything.
"He just kept on the same path," senior linebacker Larry Edwards said. "He didn't give up on himself. He didn't give up on this team or this program."
Not giving up also meant not being able to see its shortcomings.
Bunting steadfastly sticks to his pro-style offense, tweaked some this year under new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti.
But quarterback Joe Dailey is at his best on the move and would benefit from an option offense. Bunting's failure to recognize that and at least attempt some option this year could have cost UNC a couple of games.
And it was the losses that cost him his job, not the admirable displays of stubbornness with his players, holding ridiculously high standards for academics and conduct.
The incidents where players are arrested and kicked off the team instantly get the headlines, but there are a thousand smaller gestures that set the tone as well.
"I have pulled in kid after kid after kid, either on the field or into my office to talk about their academics, to talk about their behavior, to talk about staying on task and finishing this season and finishing this semester," Bunting said.
And this is after he knew he wouldn't be around next year.
That's what hurt the most for Bunting, the betrayal by the administration that forced him out. He will be the first to admit he didn't win enough games, but that doesn't change his anger at the situation.
He has worn the same face since Oct. 22. Even after getting Gatorade dumped on him and being lifted on the shoulders of his grateful players after Saturday's win against N.C. State, Bunting kept the same blank expression.
In the ultimate act of stubbornness, he has refused to be happy.
The only emotion he showed in his postgame press conference was the bitterness he let slip when referencing his lame-duck status.
"I hate it," he said.
So Bunting demanded to be let down when put on his players' shoulders. He refused to take his final pregame Old Well Walk - a tradition he started - to take the focus away from himself.
The season has been filled with discussions about Bunting's performance, starting with whether he should be fired and ending with how he reacted to it.
As with everything else, the ex-linebacker remained stubborn throughout. And you can bet he won't change on Saturday.
Contact Daniel Malloy at dpmalloy@email.unc.edu.
(11/17/06 5:00am)
When North Carolina gave up 100 points in an exhibition game against Pfeiffer, it wasn't too much of a concern.
When Sacred Heart got hot from the outside and made the game closer than it should have been, it was a mild fear.
But when Winthrop rode streaky shooting to a halftime lead, defense became a huge scare for No. 2 UNC.
"I was a lot more upset halfway through the first half when we were just walking around and letting people kick our butts and it wasn't making any difference to us," head coach Roy Williams said Wednesday night.
The Tar Heels narrowly escaped with a 73-66 win. Now they return from Charlotte to the slightly friendlier confines of the Smith Center on Sunday for a contest against Gardner-Webb (1 p.m., Fox Sports Net South).
But if UNC wants to avoid an embarrassing early loss, they have to give defensive effort for 40 minutes.
Winthrop's Torrell Martin had 20 points in the first half before defensive stopper Marcus Ginyard clamped down.
The Tar Heels - with all-ACC caliber skill at every position - were coasting on talent, thinking they could out-score opponents by just out-scoring them.
Williams' halftime message, therefore, was simple.
"He just came in and basically just told us it's gut-check time," said freshman guard Wayne Ellington.
"He said, 'It all starts on the defensive end. Get stops and the offense is gonna come.'"
Gardner-Webb provided a similar scare for UNC last season, when a last-second 3-pointer by David Noel saved the Tar Heels from a season-opening loss. This year's outfit doesn't have Noel, but does boast five supremely talented newcomers - the sixth, William Graves, will redshirt this year.
With this squad, fans are making comparisons not to last year's team, but the 2005 national champions. That group was shocked in its opening loss to Santa Clara.
Center Tyler Hansbrough said he thought Winthrop could serve a similar purpose.
"We really had to dig within ourselves, find some intensity to match what they had in the first half," Hansbrough said.
"I think that's something that we needed and will prepare us down the road when we do get behind in the first half we'll be able to come back."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(11/17/06 5:00am)
During the pregame warm-ups before Saturday's game, N.C. State players started jawing across to their North Carolina counterparts.
"We're gonna send your coach out of here packing," one said.
UNC defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer was upset, almost to the point of tears, but determined.
"For them to say something like that, it just fueled our fire, baby," Balmer said.
The Tar Heels' fire burned bright at Kenan Stadium on Saturday, as for the first time this year, the team gave a solid performance on both sides of the ball and came away with a 23-9 victory.
Players embraced on the sideline. Head coach John Bunting - playing in his final game at Kenan Stadium after being fired on Oct. 22 - received an orange Gatorade dousing and was carried off the field.
Bunting and the rest of the coaching staff - whose future is in doubt as well - were cited by player after player as the reason for the team's renewed heart and strong performance.
"It was just one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I've ever experienced," said senior linebacker Larry Edwards. "Going out there and playing the type of game we played, laying it on the line and sending Coach Bunting and all the coaches out here with a victory under their belt. We went out and played our hearts out for them and they called their hearts out for us."
The Tar Heels (2-9, 1-6 in the ACC) set the tone early by pounding tailback Ronnie McGill - who had 85 rushing yards in the first quarter and 101 for the game. UNC had a 10-0 lead at the end of the first period.
"You try to set the tempo by running the ball, telling the defense that it's your line of scrimmage and you are going to do what you want to," McGill said.
"The offensive line was blowing them off the line and we were just blowing up holes getting to the second and third levels before we get hit."
But the Wolfpack bounced back as the UNC offense stalled. NCSU (3-8, 2-6) cut the lead to 10-6 by halftime on a last-second, 44-yard field goal by John Deraney.
UNC's defense - much-maligned for most of the year - bailed out the offensive failings by holding the 'Pack to field goals and forcing four turnovers.
The Tar Heels in the end were outgained 341-260 in total yards, but three field goals from Connor Barth - including a career-long 54 yarder - and defense were the difference.
"They had great pressure on the quarterback," said safety Kareen Taylor, who had two interceptions and played his finest game of the season. "We had great coverage. We said we had to force some bad throws and that's what we did."
The most important turnover came with two-and-a-half minutes to play and NCSU trailing by a touchdown. Head coach Chuck Amato decided to go for it on fourth-and-seven from his own 15 yard line, in the hopes of starting a dramatic final drive.
UNC defensive end Melik Brown came off the edge and nailed Wolfpack quarterback Daniel Evans, popping the ball in the air into the waiting arms of Brian Rackley, who dove into the end zone for the clinching score.
On the Wolfpack's next drive, Taylor picked off an Evans pass in the end zone, prompting Bunting's Gatorade shower.
Even then - with less than a minute to play and UNC only having to run one play to end the game - the coach said it was too soon.
"Very, very cold and shocking at first," Bunting said when asked to describe the feeling. "And it's always a little too early for me. I'm a guy who wants to go down to 0:00."
When the clock finally did run out on the coach's last home game, he received bear hugs from just about every player on the team and roars from the sold-out stadium that was about two-thirds UNC fans.
Balmer, Kyndraus Guy and Charlston Gray hoisted him on their shoulders, but Bunting demanded to come down. He swayed with his team to the alma mater one last time and exited to cheers at the tunnel where there have so often been boos this year.
For at least one afternoon, Tar Heel fans were content to wait a little while for Butch Davis.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(11/15/06 5:00am)
When the North Carolina football team learned Monday afternoon that its next coach would be Butch Davis, there weren't a lot of raised eyebrows.
"There had been a lot of speculation with Coach Davis hearing that he was coming here," senior offensive tackle Brian Chacos said. "So it wasn't that big of a shock."
With two games to play, starting with the final home date of the year against N.C. State on Saturday (noon, Raycom/LF), there isn't much time to worry about 2007.
(11/14/06 5:00am)
Butch Davis, the man who was Dick Baddour's target from the start of the search, will be North Carolina's next football coach, the University announced Monday afternoon.
A press release, issued shortly after 4 p.m., stated that there will be a news conference introducing Davis on Nov. 27 - the Monday after the final game of the season for the 1-9 Tar Heels. Administrators will not comment on Davis until that date.
(11/10/06 5:00am)
When the Board of Trustees meets next week, the most scrutinized item of business it will face is something it might not be facing at all - the contract of the next football coach.
(10/25/06 4:00am)
After watching the North Carolina football team lose, 34-0, to Louisville in Kenan Stadium in 2004, Matt Gers was angry.
The UNC senior was frustrated at the failures of the team, which had gone a combined 5-19 during the previous two seasons.
So Gers and a friend started firebunting.com with a mission as simple as the Web site's name.
"I felt like we should have had a coach of a higher caliber," Gers said. "If you look at the other sports, we should be better."
Gers' proposal was shot down two years ago by UNC's strong finish - "we put it on ice for a while," he said - but gained steam after the Tar Heels' sluggish start to this season.
The number of hits for firebunting.com went through the roof. Message boards, radio talk shows and Athletics Director Dick Baddour's e-mail filled with fan vitriol. In the news media, Bunting was portrayed as a coach on the hot seat.
And that reaction to the team's 1-6 start, more than anything, led to the decision to fire Bunting on Sunday.
"I felt like we were already being bombarded with those questions, that it could only create a more severe difficult situation for the players and the staff to operate in," Baddour said Monday, when asked why he announced the change in the middle of the season.
Though Gers' part in creating the maelstrom around the program was minimal, it was an example of a method that didn't exist more than a decade ago.
Former UNC head coach Carl Torbush, who is now the linebackers coach at Division II Carson-Newman, said technology can play a large role in coaching decisions at high-profile schools.
"Once they invented the Internet, once they invented talk radio, once they invented the computer, things sped up," Torbush said in a phone interview Friday.
"Things that used to take months or years now get going instantaneously."
And nothing starts an Internet controversy faster than a losing streak.
"You've got to win enough ballgames to make sure the stands are full," said Torbush, who was fired in 2000 after three seasons as head coach and a 17-18 record. "You've got to win enough ballgames to balance the budget. You've got to win enough ballgames to keep lots of people happy."
Balancing the budget for the athletics department now includes several expensive contracts.
Bunting's $286,200 per year contract runs through the 2009 season, and five of his assistants have multi-year deals remaining as well.
The University will pay the remainder of those contracts, making up any difference in pay if any of the coaches gets a new job with a lower salary. As a result, the decision could cost more than $1.2 million.
But lost revenues from ticket sales and alumni contributions could have been more costly if Bunting stayed.
Attendance was declining through the first four home games of the year. The announced crowd for UNC's 34-20 loss to South Florida was 44,000, in the 60,000-seat Kenan Stadium.
But Baddour and Nelson Schwab, the chairman of the Board of Trustees, said revenue was not a prime concern.
"I don't think it's proper to say that finances drive this decision," said the ninth-year athletics director. "Certainly support of your fan base, their willingness to come and support this program and the unity of this program is important, but it's not always demonstrated in a financial way."
Schwab said he was more concerned about all of the program's negative attention.
"I don't think (money is) the driver," Schwab said. "The integrity of the program, where it's headed, and how that reflects on the University is the prime focus."
Money is a powerful motivator, though. Maurice Koury, the millionaire namesake of Koury Natatorium, said he thought the Bunting decision was made with revenue in mind.
"It's got to be about money, because if it's the integrity of the program, nobody's finer than John Bunting," said Koury, a 1948 UNC graduate.
"They know that if the record is not any better it's going to be difficult to sell seats next year and that's the name of the game, to produce revenue."
Whether the finances were a consideration or not, many key alumni think the decision was the necessary one.
"I could see there wasn't any progress," said former Rams Club executive committee member Tom Shores, a 1956 graduate.
"They shouldn't be upset about doing it in the middle of the season. Just something had to be done."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/24/06 4:00am)
Larry Edwards didn't want to let go.
As John Bunting left the news conference to announce his firing, Edwards embraced his coach and held on tight, whispering in Bunting's ear - one linebacker to another.
Bunting and his assistant coaches had consoled the team Sunday night, after Athletics Director Dick Baddour told the coach he would remain for the final five games of the season but would not return in 2007.
Monday morning, it was Edwards' turn to console.
"Coach Bunting and his staff helped us become better people that we are today," Edwards said, flanked by fellow seniors Brian Chacos and Ronnie McGill.
"Hearing the news they're not going to be back next year, it really hurt me."
Bunting's character was brought up repeatedly Monday by his players and Baddour.
But in the end, the coach's 25-42 record, including 1-6 so far this season, was enough for Baddour to justify a regime change.
Bunting repeatedly asserted this season that the program was going in the right direction - citing improvements in recruiting and the fact that a great majority of the freshman class is red-shirting.
But those reasons weren't enough to keep his job.
"Not everything do John and I agree on," Baddour said.
"We are a bit, or a lot, in a numbers game. Wins and losses and productivity and assessing where things are headed. To suffice it to say, I felt like we needed a new direction."
Though he was the only University official at the news conference, Baddour consulted others when making the decision.
Throughout the season, the ninth-year athletics director was in contact with Nelson Schwab, chairman of the Board of Trustees, as well as other trustees. Those conversations intensified after Thursday's 23-0 loss at Virginia, along with the outcry from fans and media.
"There had been so much focus on the coaching position that it was to the detriment of the football program," Schwab said in a phone interview Monday evening.
"We felt the timing would give the program, the players and the coaches time to focus on the remainder of the season with some clarity."
But for the players, it makes the rest of the season difficult, playing with the additional distraction of a lame-duck coach.
"Nobody really saw this happening right now during the middle of the season," McGill said. "From the whole players' standpoint, it's just shocking and a little bit frustrating that it happened now."
For many fans, though, the news was met with joy.
"This should have been done a long time ago," said Matt Gers, a 2005 graduate and co-founder of firebunting.com.
And with site's original aim now accomplished, Gers is contemplating directing his ire elsewhere.
"I think Dick Baddour is floating on the line here," he said. "We'll see how the coaching search goes."
Baddour was vague Monday when asked about the search.
"Together we will start focusing on the future," Baddour said.
"We will use the efforts of Chuck Neinas. We will seek advisers from other avenues. We'll leave it at that at this point."
Neinas is known for his ability to seek out coaches and match them up with high-profile programs.
He helped bring Urban Meyer to Florida and, ironically, ex-UNC coach Mack Brown to Texas.
But this might not turn into a nationwide search.
"I said to (the assistant coaches) yesterday if they had any interest, they should let me know," Baddour said. "So the position is wide open."
A few hours after the staff was informed, Bunting was sitting at home when he heard a knock on the door. It was Roy Williams, there to offer his support.
On Sunday afternoon at ACC media day - hours before Bunting was fired - Williams was visibly upset with what his colleague was going through.
"It's a shame that he and his family have to go through that," Williams said. "They go off the field with people yelling at them, and that's not right."
Now Bunting has five games left to go off the field wearing Carolina blue. And he's not sure if he ever wants to wear another color.
"We will go on," said Bunting, who was the UNC's co-captain in 1971.
"I'm not sure how much football I'll coach from here on out, if any, but this is the place I wanted to be. And we were that close - that close."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/23/06 4:00am)
John Bunting will not be North Carolina's football coach next season, the University announced Sunday night.
Bunting will coach the remaining five games of the season, but not return for 2007, according to a press release issued by the Athletic Department shortly before 9 p.m.
Neither the coach nor any players were available for comment, and Athletic Director Dick Baddour did not return a phone message seeking comment.
A news conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Kenan Stadium.
Radio station WCHL reported Friday that Bunting was going to resign, but the decision was Baddour's according to the release.
"I am disappointed, and of course I don't agree with the decision, but I know I must accept it," Bunting said in the release.
"I am very proud of the many great things we have accomplished over the past six years. We simply have not won enough games this year."
The Tar Heels are 1-6 after a 23-0 loss at Virginia on Thursday night that proved to be the final straw.
But as late as Sunday evening, in his weekly teleconference, Bunting did not seem to know his job was in jeopardy.
When asked if he would resign, he responded: "Absolutely not. I'm here to talk to you about the Virginia and Wake Forest (games)."
With five games remaining in his tenure as head coach, Bunting is 25-42 at UNC, and 16-28 in ACC play.
His first season proved to be his most successful, as the 2001 Tar Heels went 8-5 and won the Peach Bowl. But disappointing seasons of 3-9 and 2-10 followed.
In 2004 Bunting faced criticism similar to this year, but quieted naysayers with dramatic home wins against N.C. State and No. 4 Miami. After UNC beat Duke to finish the regular season 6-5, Baddour rewarded the coach with a two-year contract extension.
Bunting is under contract through the 2009 season for $286,200 per year.
Last season, a possible bowl bid was derailed by a home loss to Maryland, and the team finished 5-6.
Off the field, Bunting earned praise with his work in the community and discipline within his team. Character problems were dealt with quickly and harshly, and for the first time in the program's memory, each returning player entered training camp with at least a 2.0 GPA this season.
"Changing coaches is never a pleasant experience, but it is even more difficult when you consider the character and integrity of someone like John Bunting," Baddour said in the release.
But regardless of integrity and character, Bunting's fate was sealed by wins and losses.
"Hopefully our football team will start experiencing some success after this," said freshman Philip Chauncey, after being informed of the news outside of the Undergraduate Library.
"And we get a coach in here that can experience more success than Bunting. I thought he was a really good guy, and he was obviously liked by the public. It's just a shame that we struggled as bad as we did."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/18/06 4:00am)
With a Thursday night game at Virginia looming, the North Carolina football team has a stressful, abbreviated week of practice to rebound from last week's loss to South Florida.
And that could be the best remedy for what ails the Tar Heels after their 1-5 start to the season.
"It's a lot more film-watching. It's a lot more intense as the week goes on," said kicker Connor Barth.
"But I think it's going to help us a lot to turn around and go out there and play."
The game in Charlottesville (ESPN, 7:45 p.m.) is a quick chance to put the first half of the season in the rearview mirror, but it also shakes up the weekly routine.
During the past three weeks the Tar Heels have done a lot of scrimmaging, but won't spend a lot of time in pads this week, instead looking more at scouting the Cavaliers.
"This is a time where all of our focus is on the mental aspect of the game and doing the fundamentals as best we possibly can in a short period of time," head coach John Bunting said. "Practice is shorter. The gear is different."
The excitement might be tempered on the practice field, but the time slot and national attention remain a big motivator. With North Carolina not cracking the national radar - except in discussions of coaches on the hot seat - it's a chance for some big exposure.
"It's always an awesome experience to get to play on national television. It's a chance to show this program, show what we're made of," Barth said.
Edwards leaves hole in 'D'
After taking a couple of shots in warmups for the South Florida game, Larry Edwards' shoulder started to hurt, but he didn't think much about it.
The senior, who leads the team with 42 tackles, went out and played the entire game with a fractured collar bone.
"I thought I was fine," Edwards said Tuesday. "So I went in the game and I kept banging on it and banging on it. It was hurt but I never expected that it was broken."
After hearing the result of the MRI on Sunday - which meant that he likely will miss the rest of the season - Edwards was shocked. But even though his collegiate career likely is over, he plans to remain a big part of the team.
Edwards will attend every practice and game, and has taken on a tutoring role for the younger linebackers who will take his place.
"I spent a lot of time with them this week just trying to get them ready, getting them prepared for what kind of atmosphere they're going into," Edwards said.
Junior Martel Thatch and sophomore Garrett White are listed as possible replacements on the depth chart, but Bunting said true freshman Wesley Flagg and redshirt freshman Kennedy Tinsley also could see time in that spot when the Tar Heels go to their nickel package - with five defensive backs on the field.
Too many men on the field
Free safety D.J. Walker has battled injuries this season, causing him to miss portions of several games. That meant that his backup, sophomore Cooter Arnold, was playing on game day but not getting starter-caliber repetitions in practice.
Bunting decided to play them both in practice this week. When Walker is on the practice field this week, Arnold will play a few steps behind.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/18/06 4:00am)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - With the chance to show off the North Carolina football program on ESPN's Thursday Night Football, the Tar Heels gave the nation the storylines that have defined them this season: poor quarterbacking, poor run defense and momentum-killing penalties.
The result - a 23-0 loss to Virginia dropping the team to 1-6, 0-4 in the ACC and continuing the team's rapid downward spiral.
"We've been in that locker room too many times, with the same speech," said quarterback Cam Sexton.
"We just talked about the feeling. You sit around and you feel the same way after these games. Like always, it's kind of a broken record, but you have to move on, move past it and keep working. We're not done."
The last time the Tar Heels won in Charlottesville, on Nov. 14, 1981, Ronald Reagan was in his first year as president, Hall & Oates had the No. 1 song on the Billboard charts and no one on the North Carolina football roster - not even sixth-year senior Brian Chacos - was alive.
But that disappointing past isn't as tough as the present right now for the Tar Heels, who dropped another game to a struggling opponent. The Cavaliers' only ACC win before Thursday was against Duke, and a "Groh must go" sign - referencing to head coach Al Groh - hung from a dorm window before the game showed the growing fan discontent akin to that in Chapel Hill.
But the crowd of 56,632 - far less than capacity - had plenty to cheer about from the start. Though the Virginia offense stalled three times in the first half deep in Tar Heel territory, the Cavaliers still had a 9-0 lead at the break thanks to a woeful performance from the UNC offense.
The Tar Heels' second drive of the night was the most predictable, yet the most promising. UNC called eight straight rushes - five for Ronnie McGill and three for Barrington Edwards - for 60 yards, getting the Tar Heels down to the Virginia 20. The first pass of the drive was a screen to McGill on third-and-six, but the senior was stripped by UVa. cornerback Chris Cook for a costly turnover.
"The turnovers - we're not getting enough and we're giving up too many," said UNC coach John Bunting. "That margin must be really really ugly at this point in the season. It's hard to win when you're on the minus side of that."
Sexton was pulled from the game after a 3-for-8, 22-yard first half. But Joe Dailey faired no better. The two combined, in the end, for a 9-of-20, 84-yard night.
"We did not resemble any type of passing game and that has to happen at this level," Bunting said.
On Dailey's first series, the junior tried a swing pass to Brooks Foster, but the pass was tipped down behind the line and - after a replay review - ruled a fumble to the Cavaliers.
On the ensuing Virginia drive the Cavliers scored the first touchdown of the night thanks to Tar Heel miscues. With UVa. backed up by penalties, facing second-and-22, cornerback Jacoby Watkins committed a blatant pass interference penalty, giving Virginia a first down at the Tar Heel 18 yard line.
On the next play, Sewell ran an option keeper to the right side, bursting through a gaping hole and shrugging off linebacker Durell Mapp for the score.
The Cavaliers next score came early in the fourth quarter - when even Virginia fans started heading for the exits - after a Dailey interception that set UVa. up for a Jason Snelling touchdown. The pick was the thirteenth thrown by a UNC quarterback this season.
Interceptions are just one of this year's recurring themes. The Tar Heels also racked up 64 penalty yards and made another opposing running back look like a Heisman candidate. Snelling had the best game of his career, scampering for 131 yards and a touchdown.
"We just have to make tackles," said safety Kareen Taylor. "We have them wrapped up in the backfield and then we let them go."
The Tar Heels stressed after the game that they're not letting the season go, with a bowl game still mathematically possible. But frustration is setting in.
"We've got five games left. You are probably going to hear this week in and week out. We need to get the passion going and be consistent," Dailey said. "We've got the talent, we just need more passion."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(10/13/06 4:00am)
Through the first five games of the season, the North Carolina football team ranked 118th out of 119 Division 1-A teams in turnover margin.
Once again, Saturday, giveaways were the Tar Heels' undoing.
In the second quarter quarterback Cam Sexton tossed his seventh and eighth interceptions of the season - despite only playing in about four-and-a-half games so far - which led to consecutive South Florida touchdowns and, eventually, a 37-20 loss.
It was a picturesque fall day at Kenan Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 44,000, the lowest home crowd of the season for the Tar Heels (1-5).
As head coach John Bunting put it: "It was a beautiful day until the game started."
Actually the game started well for the coach - who dodged a direct question about his job security after the game - when his Tar Heels took a 7-0 lead on a 15-yard Ronnie McGill touchdown in the first quarter.
But the Bulls (5-2) tied the score on a 19-yard reverse to Taurus Johnson that fooled the entire Tar Heel defense, and then came the consecutive interceptions
On the first, with Sexton facing a third-and-21, linebacker Stephen Nicholas jumped in front of a slant route to Brooks Foster.
"I didn't see the guy in there," said Sexton, who finished 9-for-26 for 117 yards, a touchdown and the pair of picks.
"I should have seen him. I don't know what happened. That's a bad, bad throw on my part."
On the ensuing possession South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe lofted a perfect ball over safety Kareen Taylor into the hands of wide receiver S.J. Green for a 21-yard score. Then it only took two plays for Sexton to give the Bulls the ball back again, this time when Danny Verpaele snagged a ball intended for Jesse Holley on a deep post.
The Bulls marched 21 yards for the touchdown, though a failed extra point kept the score at 20-7, and a Connor Barth field goal cut the deficit to 10 before the half.
But the hole felt a lot larger, at least to McGill.
"It was a lot of first half things that really got us," said the running back, who finished with 16 carries for 66 yards
"And it takes us out of our game when you come out of the half and you're already down by 20 something points."
On their first possession of the second half the Bulls again used a trick play, setting up a touchdown with an end around to wide receiver Amarri Jackson, who then fired a left-handed floater to Cedric Hill at the one-yard line.
The Tar Heels tried to respond with a little trickery of their own. Following a career long 52-yard field goal by Connor Barth, UNC tried to execute a sneaky onsides kick, with Barth attempting to kick the ball to himself.
The kick was almost perfectly executed, but stopped rolling about a foot short of the required 10 yards, a microcosm of a season full of a constant chorus of "missed opportunities."
Mental errors like Sexton's interceptions and the Tar Heels' 87 penalty yards were cited after the game as prime examples of the team's struggles as the season reached its halfway point.
"We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot," McGill said. "Something good's going and then we have a turnover or we have too many penalties and you just can't have that and expect to win games."
The Tar Heels have a short week ahead before a Thursday night, nationally televised game at Virginia. It's the next chance to try to resurrect a season that has descended into almost Groundhog Day-like repetition.
"We came out here. We penalized ourselves. I threw a couple of interceptions. We dropped some balls," Sexton said.
"It's just missed opportunities. But sooner or later we're going to have to stop talking about it and go out there and do it."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/29/06 4:00am)
Fresh off the practice field Thursday, North Carolina offensive tackle Brian Chacos was dripping sweat and ready to go home.
"It's been unbelievable. To tell you the truth, I'm glad I've got the weekend off," Chacos said. "Coach busted our butts this week."
Coming off a 52-7 rout at the hands of Clemson in Death Valley last Saturday, head coach John Bunting pledged that he and his staff would take a training camp approach to the bye week.
And for the past three days the Tar Heels have been doing just that - nothing but scrimmaging.
Bunting said he's taking the approach the man who coached him at North Carolina would take.
"It's been back to a Bill Dooley thing - playing football," Bunting said.
"I think the only thing left right now, as far as talent aside, is the ability to take it from the practice field to games."
Games, thus far, have been the difficult part, but the team said this week's regimen will get them in shape for the upcoming game to Miami.
"Going fullspeed and having people tackling and cutting, it really gives you a game situation," said running back Ronnie McGill.
"We're not worried about how bad we got beat or if we're 1-3 right now.
"We're just worrying about what we can do to get ourselves back into a good situation and get people looking at us in a positive way again."
Despite the howls of disappointed Tar Heel fans, there is precedent for that.
Two years ago, UNC responded to a blowout loss at Utah with a home shocker against Miami.
A year later, the 69-14 whipping at Louisville was followed up with a victory against Virginia.
Both times, Carolina had bye weeks in between to lick their wounds.
Bunting said the key to those two teams was the leadership provided by now-departed "warriors" like Madison Hedgecock and Tommy Richardson.
As for this year's squad?
"The whole team is still kind of struggling a little bit trying to find its identity," Bunting said.
"That's why we've played a lot of football the last three days."
The key to bouncing back from the disaster in Death Valley, said McGill, is the team's attitude.
"It's getting the toughness back around," he said.
"It's making people pick up the slack we've been having going around."
If the Tar Heels don't pick up the slack immediately with the kickoff against the Hurricanes, the result could be the same as last week, when they were behind 21-0 before the end of the first quarter.
In that game, North Carolina never appeared to have a chance and showed few signs of resiliency.
The Tigers out-gained the Tar Heels by more than 350 yards and accumulated 30 first downs - compared to just eight by UNC.
"It's just got to be our effort. We went down to Clemson and we weren't completely focused," Chacos said.
"We've got to pick up our intensity and leadership - myself and some of these other guys.
"And we're going to get that fixed and we're going to have a good showing against Miami."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(09/15/06 4:00am)
Throughout John Bunting's tenure at the helm of the North Carolina football program, the Tar Heels' schedule has been one of the toughest in the country.
Three times during his first five seasons, UNC was in the top five in Sagarin's strength-of-schedule rankings.
"Coach Bunting came in here all along saying, 'I want to play the tough teams. If we're going to be good we've got to play with good teams,'" says Director of Athletics Dick Baddour, who consults Bunting when making scheduling decisions.
But it's not that simple.
When building a schedule the primary concern for both Bunting and Baddour is balance. That is why Furman will step onto the Kenan Stadium turf this evening and not Ohio State.
Because most decisions are made years in advance, this year is the first Bunting has been heavily involved in crafting the nonconference schedule.
And his philosophy has become clear:
Schedule one game against a top-tier program, two against competitive but beatable opponents and one against a team the Tar Heels will be favored to beat. This formula became possible when the NCAA added a 12th game this year, allowing UNC to play four nonconference games.
The program's outlook has changed since Bunting's first season, when he jumped at the chance to add a trip to Oklahoma for the season opener, even though the Tar Heels were scheduled to play at Texas two weeks later. The prime reason the coach has strayed from his suicidal scheduling is the expanded ACC, which is now loaded with football powerhouses.
"You need to have balance in your schedule with the new ACC," Bunting says. "You don't want to have three or four out-of-conference games with top-10 perennial teams. You are asking for disaster."
Thus, the 2006 Tar Heels have only one game against such a team - Notre Dame - and the trend continues in the coming seasons with scheduled games against Tennessee and South Carolina.
Along with those teams are competitive but not overpowering teams such as Rutgers and East Carolina and 1-AA lightweights such as James Madison and William and Mary.
The formula is far from foolproof, though, considering that scheduling is usually done at least five years in advance. When Utah and Louisville originally were booked to UNC's 2004 schedule, they were middle-of-the-pack schools. But they ascended into the top 10 that season and handed the Tar Heels their two biggest blowouts of the year.
The Tar Heels' approach differs from most of their conference peers, who would rather not put any more powerhouses on the schedule than necessary.
Virginia Tech, for example, plays Northeastern, Southern Mississippi, Cincinnati and Kent State this year.
Those mighty foes were a combined 14-31 a year ago.
Neither Bunting nor his players would prefer an easier road, believing that such tests are essential when trying to build a consistent winner.
"We need that exposure against better teams," defensive tackle Shelton Bynum says.
"I always look for a good challenge. I don't back down from no challenge. That's just more people to prove wrong."
In addition to competitiveness, Bunting says he looks at vacation opportunities.
"What I look for in out-of-conference games is a team that is competitive, yet one that we have a very good chance of beating, and one that would be a great return trip," he says.
"South Florida - very competitive. And we're going to get to play in Tampa Bay Stadium. . We've gotta go play (Rutgers) up in New Brunswick. And I'll get a chance to maybe take our football team into New York City. It would be a great trip for them, great experience."
While Bunting can enjoy the scenery, Baddour must look at the bottom line. Bringing Furman to Chapel Hill cost $300,000, but some teams can bring in much more. The New York Times reported last month that perennial cupcake Buffalo commands $600,000 per nonconference road game.
"We have not had to do that as of yet but it concerns us," Baddour says. "Some of the Mid-American Conference schools were getting really high dollars to go to the big stadiums. We would like to play a more regional game if we could."
So because Furman is relatively inexpensive, is located just one state away and fits into the competitive formula, the Paladins are this week's opponent.
But these things don't always work out as coaches and athletic directors plan them. The last time the Paladins came to Chapel Hill, in 1999, they won 28-3.
(09/13/06 4:00am)
After Saturday's 35-10 loss to Virginia Tech, in which each of his quarterbacks threw two interceptions, North Carolina coach John Bunting wasn't sure about who his starting quarterback should be.
With the team desperate for a win this Saturday against Furman (7 p.m., ESPNU), Bunting decided Tuesday morning to shake up the rotation and start redshirt freshman Cam Sexton.
(08/30/06 4:00am)
The question that has perplexed followers of North Carolina football since spring practice finally was answered Tuesday.
Well, sort of.
Head coach John Bunting named junior Joe Dailey the team's starting quarterback for Saturday's opener against Rutgers, but he stressed that redshirt freshman Cam Sexton would see significant snaps.
Other than that, it's anyone's guess as to how the quarterback shuffle will play out.
(04/27/06 4:00am)
It was a play indicative of Wednesday's sloppy, sluggish game.
In the sixth inning, North Carolina shortstop Josh Horton mishandled a grounder from High Point's Justin Pinyan, then nudged it across the dirt toward second baseman Garrett Gore, who picked the ball up, then dropped it.
Ideally, the play would have been an inning-ending double play. At the very least, one out should have been recorded.
Instead, it was Horton's third error in the last two games, and it set the stage for a two out single from Panther Matt Gantner that tied the game at three.
But the first batter in the bottom of the frame was Horton, who - in a play indicative of No. 3 UNC's remarkable season thus far - smoked a line drive over the right-center field fence to give the home squad the lead. The Tar Heels would go on to a 7-3 victory.
"It's always great to help out the team," Horton said. "I was just frustrated with that play."
On paper, the Panthers (21-24) had no business making this game close, though they did have recent near-miss history on their side.
Last year the Panthers fell 10-9 in Boshamer Stadium, and two years ago the Tar Heels took 10 innings to dispatch their in-state foe 9-7.
The Tar Heels (36-8) looked listless, perhaps because of a crowd that was smaller than a concession stand line during the N.C. State series, the off-and-on rain or the fact that it was the team's fifth game in six days.
In all, it was a dreary atmosphere. UNC didn't even get a full warm-up because the tarp was on the field to fight off the pregame downpour.
"I'm supposed to say this is just like any other day," Horton said. "But it's tough coming out when you don't take batting practice."
High Point took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third until the Tar Heels solved Panther pitcher Chris Marks - who looks more like an offensive lineman than a hurler.
Horton drove in two teammates and tied the score with a double to the right-center field gap. An inning later, Jay Cox launched his team-leading ninth home run of the season - though it was his first since March 19.
"Where's that been?" quipped Fox to Cox as he rounded third.
The Tar Heels ended strong, with a pinch-hit three-run homer by Benji Johnson providing insurance in the eighth.
But the slow start still left a bad taste in the coach's mouth after the game.
Said Fox: "We weren't quite ready to go."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(04/26/06 4:00am)
Charges in Chapel Hill against UNC men's lacrosse players on the 2006 roster
They have been charged with underage consumption of alcohol, possession of an open alcohol container, slapping the back of a police patrol car while drunk and willful damage to property.
And that's just in the past year.
Eight members of the 43-man North Carolina men's lacrosse team have been arrested or cited in Chapel Hill during the past two-and-a-half years. Two - Billy Staines and Ben Mark - have had more than one incident with local law enforcement.