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(03/15/10 3:59am)
Despite its troubles, North Carolina still got a postseason bid.The Tar Heels, mired in a 16-16 season and a tenth-place finish in the ACC, were nonetheless too attractive a candidate for the National Invitational Tournament to pass up. UNC earned a No. 4 seed.The Tar Heels host No. 5 seed William & Mary on Tuesday.
(03/15/10 1:24am)
North Carolina will get one more chance.
(03/07/10 5:33am)
DURHAM — Duke's Saturday-night thrashing of North Carolina was a tale of two seniors.
(03/07/10 3:07am)
Durham — North Carolina trails Duke by 27 points after 20 minutes of play at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 53-26.
(03/05/10 5:00am)
This Saturday night, it’s chapter two in the 2010 edition of the North Carolina-Duke rivalry.The Tar Heels are on their first win streak of 2010, with wins against Wake Forest and Miami. The Blue Devils have a No. 4 national ranking and at least a share of the regular-season conference title locked up despite a stinging loss at Maryland on Wednesday night.And it’s senior night in Durham.The last time North Carolina was so heavily an underdog to the Blue Devils, it was 2006 and senior night in Durham — and a youthful team led by Tyler Hansbrough trumped the ACC player of the year, J.J. Redick.Any real comparisons to 2006 have long since stopped for this year’s North Carolina team (16-14, 5-10 ACC), but the parallel remains, especially with Duke’s Jon Scheyer competing for ACC player of the year honors.Throw in the young and suddenly revitalized UNC squad led by a resurgent Marcus Ginyard, with 35 rebounds in the past three games, and things start to hint at interesting.“I introduced him last night after the game to the freshmen,” UNC coach Roy Williams said after UNC’s 69-62 win against Miami on Tuesday. “I said, ‘That’s the Marcus we’ve known in the past.’”Be that as it may, the Tar Heels face a tall task at Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday. The Blue Devils (25-5, 12-3 ACC) are the class of the conference.They have a point guard and leader in Scheyer. They have a bevy of electric scorers led by Nolan Smith (17.5 points per game) and Kyle Singler (17 points per game). And perhaps most importantly, they bolstered their biggest weakness of a year ago by leading the ACC in rebound margin at +6.Seven-foot-one Brian Zoubek gives Duke the rebounding that wasn’t there a year ago, and the Blue Devils continue to shoot well from beyond the arc with a .390 percentage from three-point range.Shooting remains Duke’s Achilles’ heel. When the Blue Devils connect behind the arc, they are tough to beat. But when the outside shots don’t fall, Duke gets a little more beatable, as N.C. State, Georgia Tech, and Maryland know. And the Tar Heels will remember that they had a solid shot at winning when the two teams last met in Chapel Hill. When asked if he was ready to return to Cameron Indoor Stadium, the redshirt senior Ginyard responded:“No question about it. Been looking forward to it all year.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/01/10 5:23am)
WINSTON-SALEM — With about four minutes to play in North Carolina’s game at Wake Forest, Will Graves looked up at a scoreboard and saw the improbable — a double-digit lead for UNC.“At first I thought, ‘Thank you,’” Graves said. “Then I was like, ‘Now it’s time to buckle down.’”Those sentiments haven’t been spoken in some time for this UNC team (15-14, 4-10 ACC), which snapped a three-game losing skid with a 77-68 win at Wake Forest on Saturday.
(02/27/10 6:38pm)
Men's Basketball live blog: UNC at Wake Forest
(02/25/10 5:13am)
On Florida State’s opening possession Wednesday night, Chris Singleton spotted up from beyond the arc, pulled up and fired.Swish.On the next possession, Singleton did the same. Six quick points for the sophomore forward put him on track to lead FSU past North Carolina — and neither Singleton nor his teammates looked back.Later on in the half, UNC freshman John Henson tried to go up for what looked like an open layup. But Singleton swooped in from the other side of the lane and ripped the shot from Henson’s hands. Singleton’s final tally was 19 points. Along with the rest of his Florida State teammates, the lanky sophomore from Dunwoody, Ga., lit up the Tar Heels from beyond the arc. He hit three treys in the first half to lead all scorers with 15 points in the opening period. For the game, he shot 8-of-14 from the floor.“He’s been taking great shots,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said.Singleton’s stat line would indicate that he’s just another hot-shooting guard taking advantage of the Tar Heels aggressive, collapsing defense — but Singleton entered Wednesday night’s game shooting just 10-for-50 from beyond the arc. That’s hardly a lethal clip, but Wednesday night, Singleton buried both his shots and UNC.“He’s shooting 20 percent (in conference play), but they made them,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “We helped them because they were so open.”More so than the points, Singleton provided poise and leadership for a young Florida State team. Singleton frequently directed the older players, calling for longer possessions and calm play when FSU was up big.“He’s been developing more to become a complete floor leader,” Hamilton said. “I thought he played a great floor game in addition to giving us good offensive production.”In the second half, that production was Singleton skying for a rebound with the long-limbed and taller Henson, and it was Singleton ripping down the offensive board. He pulled down a total of eight rebounds in the game, leading a Seminole squad that out rebounded UNC 36 to 31.But perhaps the play that most exemplifies Singleton’s role came with 4:14 to play. After an FSU turnover resulted in a Marcus Ginyard dunk to cut the lead to 13, Hamilton called timeout. Out of the timeout, Singleton drove and finished a layup to put the lead back to 15.Minutes later, when the Tar Heels drew to within 11 and were frantically trapping, Singleton found Micheal Snaer for a dunk, quietly killing UNC’s comeback hopes.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/24/10 4:25am)
North Carolina coach Roy Williams will have to cross yet another name off his active roster when his Tar Heels take on Florida State tonight.David Wear’s hip injury sidelines the freshman indefinitely and leaves the Tar Heels — already decimated by injuries this season — with only three healthy post players.Deon Thompson, John Henson and Tyler Zeller are all that’s left from the talented and deep front line North Carolina fielded at the start of the season, and the offense has suffered with the rotating door of players in and out of the lineup.“Bottom line, the ball hasn’t gone in the basket as much as we want,” Williams said.All told, seven Tar Heels have missed at least one game this season: Marcus Ginyard, Zeller, both of the Wear twins, Leslie McDonald, Will Graves and Ed Davis.The remaining trio faces one of the toughest frontcourt challenges in the ACC.The Seminoles (19-7, 7-5 ACC) have the best scoring defense in the ACC, allowing only 60.8 points per game.Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton’s team is built around physical defense and long athletes like 7-foot-1 Solomon Alabi and 6-foot-9 small forward Chris Singleton.Florida State leads the ACC in blocked shots with 6.6 per game. In conference games, FSU is second in the ACC in rebounding margin, with 2.9 more rebounds per game than its opponents.Reinforcing the probability of a grind-it-out, post-oriented game is the fact that the Seminoles lack an outside scorer, unlike many of the ACC teams that have torched the Tar Heels.No guard on Florida State’s team averages more than nine points per game in conference play. Much like the Tar Heels, FSU does its damage in the paint.Alabi leads the offense with 12.3 points per game, and Singleton isn’t far behind with 11.5. Florida State is ninth in the ACC in three-point shooting and 10th in three-point defense.The Seminoles’ spotty outside defense might leave an opening for a UNC team that now must go smaller and more perimeter-oriented.But the Tar Heels have given up big numbers to wing players of all calibers this season, and FSU will look to Derwin Kitchen and freshman Michael Snaer to get hot from the perimeter.David Wear’s injury leaves both minutes and offensive production up for grabs to be distributed among Henson, McDonald, Ginyard and Graves, and the potential for a perimeter-oriented UNC squad at times.Or Wear’s twin brother Travis might recover from his ankle injury in time to return for the game.But either way, the Seminoles will remember last year’s showdown in Tallahassee, and Ty Lawson’s three-point runner at the buzzer which buried FSU’s upset bid still burns.Just don’t look for Lawson, or FSU’s former high-scoring point guard Toney Douglas, on the court tonight — it’ll be an affair for the big fellas in the post.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/17/10 6:06am)
ATLANTA — They couldn’t stop their opponents, couldn’t score, could barely hold onto the ball. They struggled with routine passes, made one good play and two bad ones.Just another Tuesday for the Tar Heels.In a season filled with the same repeating story line, North Carolina dropped another conference game by double digits. Tuesday night, it was at Georgia Tech, by a score of 68-51.
(02/12/10 4:00am)
Fresh off a run to the national title game, Jenny Levy’s women’s lacrosse program is gunning for another trip.With the top four scorers returning from an attacking unit that averaged more than 10 goals a game last season, North Carolina fields one of the best offenses in the nation. Corey Donohoe, Kristen Taylor, Megan Bosica and Jenn Russell all topped 35 goals last season.“The core offensively with Corey and Krit and Becky (Lynch) coming back together, ... has been a huge benefit for us,” Levy said.Taylor has been a fixture in the offense for the last three seasons despite struggling with injuries two years ago and a long-running illness in 2009.“Krit has really done a great job battling through some health issues,” Levy said. “She’s been a total warrior in her approach to all of it. I think she’s gained great perspective.”On the defensive side of the ball, things start with Kristen Carr. A holding midfielder, Carr provides intimidation in the middle of the field and helps keep the action on the opponents’ half.But if opponents get through Carr, then there’s always a safety net in the hands of Logan Ripley, the 2009 national goalkeeper of the year.“We’re excited to have her back,” Levy said of Ripley. “She’s the best goalkeeper we’ve had in this program.”UNC will have to replace last season’s top defender in Amber Falcone. But on the plus side, the team returns all the other defensive starters.“Although we’d love to have Amber for another year, I’m really confident in what our returning players can do,” Levy said.Granted, UNC will have plenty of momentum to build upon after its postseason run to the title. The Tar Heels downed powerful NCAA foes Notre Dame and Maryland.“Our kids now know how hard they have to work,” Levy said.
(02/10/10 6:31am)
With 22 seconds remaining and North Carolina trailing Virginia Tech by four, Will Graves pulled up and fired. The shot looked good in the air, rattled around the basket and finally rolled — out.UNC went on to lose, 74-70. The final score was on par with the Tar Heels’ ACC scoring average for the season. It’s a low for the Roy Williams era at UNC. In six seasons before 2009-10, Williams’ UNC teams averaged almost 87 points per game in ACC play. Gone are the fast-break points, the layup-line offensive production, the quick runs that characterized recent Tar Heel teams.Williams’ vaunted secondary break system is tailored to produce easy buckets. But the Tar Heels haven’t topped 80 points in 2010 and don’t have a player averaging more than 15 points. And the next opponent is Duke, a good defense team that’s hungering for a win against UNC (13-10, 2-6 ACC).The offensive malaise starts — and ends — in the post. Great big men characterize Roy Williams’ UNC teams. First there was Sean May and Jawad Williams, then Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright, then Hansbrough and Deon Thompson. All are college forwards who could run the floor and collect those easy buckets from the quick setup.The 2009-10 team looked similar last October. There was Ed Davis and Thompson, both capable of running the floor. Thompson could score, and Davis could crash the boards and power home dunks. For the season, the two both average around 14 points per game, but in ACC play, the two only put up around 11 points per game each.“That makes it that much more frustrating when you see how good things can be,” Marcus Ginyard said. “To not play like that all the time, it makes that a little more disappointing.”The team has taken plenty of heat as losses piled up, and Thompson said it’s gotten so bad that he orders food under a different name and even hides his face under a hood so people don’t know it’s him.“It’s just hard to be around people when you’re losing,” Thompson said. “It’s just really hard for me personally.”It hasn’t helped that Tyler Zeller and his 9.6 points per game went down with an injury at the start of the ACC season. UNC’s lack of a perimeter scorer hurts as well, and without much experience in the backcourt, it is third to last in the ACC in turnovers. The lack of development from the freshman class hurts as well.“My hope was that our depth up front would be able to balance some of that out,” Williams said. “I think people would agree that our depth hasn’t been what we thought it would be.”Perhaps expectations were too high after 2006, when UNC shocked everyone with a bunch of freshmen. Perhaps the Tar Heels believed their own hype and top-10 preseason ranking a little too much.But for whatever reason, points aren’t coming anymore, and all that’s left is the last half of an ACC season that’s been forgettable thus far.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/08/10 6:07am)
Marcus Ginyard’s breakout game didn’t change the end result for North Carolina.Despite the senior’s 17 points (tying his career high) the Tar Heels dropped their sixth game in the last seven Sunday afternoon in College Park, Md., losing 92-71 to Maryland.Deon Thompson also chipped in 16, and Will Graves scored 11 for UNC (13-10, 2-6 ACC).But UNC had no answer for Greivis Vasquez, Maryland’s senior point guard. Vasquez ripped apart UNC’s defense with 26 points and 11 assists. Maryland shot 9-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half.UNC trailed most of the game, but with less than 13 minutes to play, the Tar Heels closed the gap to four points.But, as so often happens this season for UNC, the Terrapins took advantage of turnovers and a suddenly cold Tar Heel offense. The result was a 19-5 Maryland run to put both the game and UNC’s postseason hopes further out of reach.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/07/10 6:57pm)
UNC vs. Maryland men's baksetball liveblog
(02/05/10 6:18am)
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The white towels twirled by Hokie fans before Thursday night’s game filled the Cassell Coliseum with white flecks of cloth. It looked like a snowstorm — and the 74-70 final score added another loss to the pile that’s snowing North Carolina’s season under.“It’s tough, what we’re going through,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “It doesn’t get any easier.”The loss, this time to Virginia Tech, will hurt even more because of the flashes of resiliency the Tar Heels showed Thursday. UNC showed it could compete in the ACC, but wins are still elusive.John Henson, the highly touted freshman forward, started to show his tremendous talent. He played in the post more Thursday night than in previous games, and had a career-high 14 points.“That’s what I’ve got to do,” Henson said. “We’ve got to get on a winning streak if we keep playing the way we played tonight, cut down on those mental errors.”Freshman David Wear chipped in 12 points, and sophomore Ed Davis led UNC with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Dexter Strickland started in place of a struggling Marcus Ginyard, just his fourth start of the season. Strickland played 15 minutes and hauled in seven rebounds, but didn’t add much scoring. Larry Drew II scored nine points and led UNC with six assists.During one stretch late in the first half, Drew assisted on four straight buckets, and the Tar Heels (13-9, 2-5 ACC) looked in control of the game at the close of the first half. Heck, Drew even cracked a smile in the second half, something that’s been rare for UNC in 2010.“I thought we played with much more intensity tonight,” Williams said.The Tar Heels actually took a lead into the locker room at halftime, only to get shelled by long-range shooting from Virginia Tech. Malcolm Delaney led all scorers with 21 points, including seven-for-seven free throw shooting to help VT (17-4, 4-3 ACC) close the game down the stretch.“It’s a good win,” Va. Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “It’s a good program win. It validates us.”Yet again, UNC had plenty of chances to pull out a win but gave up runs to start the game and in the middle of the second half. Those runs left UNC playing from behind for most of the game.“We put ourselves in a hole,” Williams said. “Guys got a little tougher … We were the aggressor on the offensive boards.”The Tar Heels clawed back to a one-possession game several times in the final three minutes, and Drew’s steal and layup with 1:02 to play put the score at 69-67, Virginia Tech. For a moment, UNC was thinking comeback. But Drew’s foul put Delaney at the line, and Delaney closed the game out with two makes.It didn’t help that UNC struggled yet again from beyond the arc and from the free throw line.UNC went 4-for-15 from deep, and 20-for-30 from the line. The Tar Heels couldn’t seem to get over the hump late in the game — a theme that’s become recurrent for UNC.And when with 17 seconds remaining, Will Graves’ 3-pointer rattled in and achingly out, it was the close to another chapter in the book of too little, too late that the Tar Heels are writing this season.The road stretch continues for UNC, as the Tar Heels travel to Maryland on Sunday and then come home to face Duke next week. UNC will likely have to win one or both of those games to stay in contention for an NCAA bid. UNC sits now at 10th in the ACC.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/04/10 5:12am)
Butch Davis called the recruiting class of 2010 a prototype for the future of his program at North Carolina.
(02/02/10 5:57am)
Roy Williams sits at a midweek press conference early this season in the Smith Center, answering questions about collegiate athletics.“If we play one fewer home game, it affects field hockey, it affects baseball, it affects everything we do here,” Williams said. Williams’ statement was in response to a potential shortening of the college basketball schedule, but his overarching point is true as well: Non-revenue sports depend on men’s basketball and football for funding.And North Carolina’s broad-based athletics program is becoming a rarity as collegiate athletics drifts toward big money, bringing UNC along for a ride it may not be able to keep up with.Non-revenue commitmentNorth Carolina’s athletic program contains 28 varsity programs and more than 867 varsity athletes, supported by more than $70 million of annual revenue. More than half of that revenue comes from football and men’s basketball.In the past four years, UNC either won the NCAA title or finished as the runner-up seven times — in field hockey twice, women’s soccer three times, women’s lacrosse and men’s basketball.Athletic Director Dick Baddour and the University are committed to supporting those non-revenue sports.“I look at the broad-based program as a core value of the University,” Baddour said. “I believe that’s what our fans want, our students want, our faculty wants.”But UNC and Baddour compete against a host of major universities with huge cash flows and fewer programs to support, and the Tar Heels struggle to keep pace. Many major universities opt to support the minimum 16 varsity teams required for Division-I status.Take the University of Texas. The athletics department reported revenue of more than $138 million last year — almost double UNC’s. But the Longhorn athletic department fields only 19 varsity teams.“When athletic directors get together, we talk about this model,” Baddour said. “We have the same concerns. It’s like OK, does this thing blow up on us? It’s my job to see that it doesn’t.”The stories are similar at schools in powerful football conferences like the Big 12 and SEC. Florida easily supports 16 varsity teams on its $108 million in revenue for 2008-2009.Those schools can not only outspend UNC in football, but also in basketball, women’s soccer, gymnastics and everything else. It puts UNC sports at a competitive disadvantage across the board.Big-money universities also report sizeable surpluses in the athletic department. Texas reported $25 million more revenue than expenses in 2008-09. Both LSU and Florida topped $6 million in surplus. On the other hand, UNC finished 2008-09 year reporting less than $200,000 in surplus. Making ends meetThat small and tenuous surplus is the reason that UNC pumps money into building up the football program. Success on the field can jump-start increased revenue from football and help cushion the athletic department budget.But UNC remains just middle-class in wins and losses despite massive investments in enclosing Kenan Stadium with premium luxury seating.And while UNC isn’t currently close to cutting any programs, UNC’s broad-based model is under strain to fund all 28 programs.“Sometimes when we’re putting the budget together, I’m wondering where’s that extra $25,000, $100,000 going to come from,” Baddour said.For the non-revenue sports, that manifests itself in second-rate facilities and budget crunches. Non-revenue sports routinely go over budget, both at UNC and elsewhere in the ACC. Coaches fill the holes with money from off-season camps, money that they could keep, based on their contracts.“The myth is that UNC has a lot of money,” women’s lacrosse coach Jenny Levy said.Fetzer Field, home to lacrosse, soccer, and track and field programs, is in dire need of renovations. Carmichael Arena offers a shiny new home for women’s basketball as well as extensive office space, but it’s harder to get donors to give to operating budgets. What suffers is team travel, recruiting and daily operations — tough choices that big-money programs don’t have to make.A ‘zero-sum game’The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has already done some probing on the subject. In October, it released a survey of 119 university presidents. Many felt that the current model is unsustainable.Hodding Carter III is a former president of the Knight Foundation, a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate athletics and a professor at UNC. Carter and the commission are concerned by what he says is a “zero-sum game” in college athletics.“Today’s expansion is just a predicate for the next one,” Carter said. “I just think it’s a dog’s game to be constantly pursuing your own tail in this steady buildup.”Some UNC coaches say that the solution might be to take college football out of the equation for compliance rules. Carter said that one option might be to make big-time football a semiprofessional sport. Baddour said he just wants to run a program that operates in the black.But even Baddour agrees that changes could be in the works, saying that continuing along the trend toward big-time sports might not be infinitely sustainable.“If we have the growth (across the board) in the next four or five years that we’ve had in the last four or five, it might not be,” he said.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/01/10 6:10am)
In 2008-09, North Carolina became known for the killer run — a spurt of unanswered scoring that put opposing teams away. This season UNC has proven more prone to be the killed than the killer.Virginia’s death blow Sunday night was an 18-0 second-half run, one the Tar Heels ultimately couldn’t come back from, falling 75-60 and dropping further behind in the ACC.“I’ve had some great moments, but this is not one of them,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “I’ve got to find a better way to reach our kids. … I’ve gotten awfully dumb in the last six months.”The second half opened looking good for North Carolina. Ed Davis opened with a dunk to bring the score to 35-32 and make it a one-possession game. But the next six minutes would be all Cavaliers, as UVa. (13-6, 4-2 ACC) shut the door on the Tar Heels (13-8, 2-4), who never managed a meaningful rally.“When things go wrong, they all go wrong,” Williams said. “Those things sort of mushroom on you.”It wasn’t until seven minutes passed in the second half that UNC managed another point, and by then it was 53-33 Virginia.UNC has been prone to giving up big runs this season. With a youthful backcourt, the Tar Heel offense often stagnates for long stretches, beset by turnovers or general ineffectiveness.Sunday night, another culprit was missed free throws. UNC went 5-of-12 from the line in the first half and missed 11 of 22 for the game. At one point late in the first half, Davis missed four straight.UNC will remain at the bottom of the ACC in turnover margin with 17 giveaways. Time and again, Tar Heel rallies stalled as balls slipped out of bounds and hands fumbled passes.“Guys just need to care more,” senior Deon Thompson said. “Just need to care more about this Carolina, this jersey, this name that we wear on the front of our chest.”On the defensive side, Virginia muscled UNC around with physical play and a constant motion offense. The motion offense of first-year UVa. coach Tony Bennett produced plenty of easy buckets, and the Cavaliers shot 52 percent for the game.“This was probably the best we’ve moved the ball,” Bennett said. “We cut with purpose.”UNC, on the other hand, struggled to get any traction offensively. The Tar Heels couldn’t get the ball into primary scorers Davis and Thompson, who scored four and seven points, respectively.“We get it inside, and we had a difficult time scoring,” Williams said. Instead, North Carolina launched 22 three-point shots, connecting on nine of them. Larry Drew II and Will Graves led UNC with 15 points apiece.The loss pushes UNC even further behind in the ACC. With four conference losses already, the Tar Heels face an uphill battle just to finish .500 in the conference. And with games at Virginia Tech, at ACC-leading Maryland, and against Duke, UNC’s road isn’t getting any easier. Sunday’s loss leaves little room for error if the Tar Heels want to even make the NCAA tournament.“We’re certainly not playing like (a tournament team),” senior Marcus Ginyard said.Williams took the loss especially hard. He seemed close to tears in the post-game press conference.“Ol’ Roy’s been very lucky my entire life, and things have been pretty smooth,” Williams said. “But now they’re not. I’ve got to do a better job with my team. … It’s not weariness, it’s ticked off.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/01/10 5:47am)
Marvin Austin writhed in the thrill of victory as he stomped off the field at Kenan Stadium, convulsing with the emotion of North Carolina’s 33-24 win against Miami last November.His dreadlocks snapped at the air, flicking drops of sweat toward the crowd pounding at the tunnel into the locker rooms. Spit flew as he howled at the bright lights, the TV cameras, the 58,000 fans.“We’re The U! F--k them! We’re The U!”Austin invoked the popular moniker of the Miami football program that dominated college football in the 1980s and 1990s. The program, despite its rampant scandal, personified swagger.The U represented winning, unparalleled talent and NFL draft picks. That legacy — without the scandal — is one which Austin, UNC and coach Butch Davis want to recreate in Chapel Hill.For the University and the athletic department, that legacy is important more for what it could bring: lucrative TV contracts, packed stadiums, potential donors and bigwigs in luxury boxes. In short, millions of dollars in revenue.But UNC’s entrance into the arms race of college football could also bring with it the sting of a fruitless investment as the football powerhouses continue to rack up both wins and dollars.The beginningCoveting the huge profit margins of the major football conferences, the ACC entered into this race with a three-team expansion in 2003 – bringing in perennial football heavyweights Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.The shift toward football left North Carolina with the option to sink millions into creating an elite football program and hope for a hefty payday in the future, or watch as the rest of the conference passed by.North Carolina chose the former.To generate revenue, though, the team first had to generate wins.It started with hiring Davis, the coach who built Miami’s 2001 national championship team. He replaced John Bunting, who struggled in his final few seasons leading the Tar Heels.“When the program is struggling, it’s hard to get people excited about buying some premium seating or giving to renovations,” athletic director Dick Baddour said. “But when we hired Butch, it was a strong statement.”Davis’ hiring generated excitement, but he came at a price. Davis’ contract and incentives are worth $2 million annually, and he’s signed through 2014.His resume and early success have jump-started the cycle the athletic department hopes will carry it to financial success.After highly regarded recruiting classes and 16 wins in the last two years, donors opened their wallets to pay for several facility improvements.First to be announced was the $25 million renovation of Kenan Stadium, then a $10 million sports medicine facility opening in 2010.And finally, the New Kenan project adds three levels of luxury seating in the east end zone and a new student-athlete center. The project will cost an estimated $70 million to $85 million.The combined investment is up to $132 million, coming mostly from private gifts.Slow startDespite the building projects, overall profits have been slow to arrive for both UNC and the ACC.Since 2003, the first year after expansion, the ACC’s football revenue has grown from $180 million to $258 million last year. But in truth, the conference fell further behind the leaders.The SEC reeled in $537 million in football revenue, and the Big 12 reported $398 million.Baddour said he’s reserving judgment on the expansion until the new television contract negotiations in 2011.“I think that the major impact of (expansion) is not yet known,” Baddour said. “And that will be how successful the conference is in negotiating the new television contracts. “…We’ve seen some impact financially, but I think we’ll know better in a year, year-and-a-half.”As a university, North Carolina is also struggling to keep pace. UNC’s athletic department reported $9 million in surplus from football. That’s still less than men’s basketball, which produced $12 million in 2008, and it’s a sum that’s dwarfed by other major football schools.“It’s a challenge to keep up,” Baddour said. “What’s happening in football right now is mind-boggling. What’s happening on the salary side, we’ve got to be very mindful of that and work hard to see that we stay competitive.”Keeping up with TexasStill, UNC teeters between the haves and the have-nots in collegiate athletics. Texas’ $138 million annual revenue almost doubles UNC’s $70 million, and UNC’s football program needs to bring in more money to keep the program in the black.Profits like that generate an arms race in collegiate athletics as coach salaries skyrocket, facilities require $100 million investments and recruiting is uber-competitive.The cycle of one-ups shows no signs of slowing or stopping. That trend will be central to the discussion of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics when it meets this spring. The commission, which studies intercollegiate athletics in cooperation with the NCAA, already administered a survey of 119 presidents of Football Bowl Subdivison colleges. The consensus was that the current model for collegiate athletics was breaking the bank for many universities.“You can never buy victory,” said Hodding Carter III, UNC professor and member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. “You get into an arms race, and everybody else is out there buying victory.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/01/10 2:44am)
North Carolina suffered its fourth ACC loss Sunday night at the hands of Virginia. The Tar Heels were felled by a 15-0 Virginia run at the start of the second half and never got back into the game, falling 60-76.