Davis, Carolina Blue Appear to Be a Match

General68

Dick Baddour may be quiet on the current Carolina coaching search, but this link has a great round-up of good articles.

ESPN has reported that Butch Davis has been inquiring into potential assistant coaches and ESPN’s Insider Blog had a ‘Top 10’ list from Notre Dame (Link)

(8) North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour looked shocked when I walked into the visiting AD box at halftime on Saturday. I extended a hand and assured him I was with ESPN. And that, well, they’d sent me here to find out who the North Carolina coach is. “It’s John Bunting,” Baddour quipped. A fine sense of humor. He didn’t confirm it will be Butch Davis. But I (sort of) read his mind. He hopes it is.

If you are concerned about Carolina landing the Head Coach that rebuilt Miami into a national power and has held an NFL coaching job, then your primary hope for the Davis/Tarheel match to fall apart currently lies in the developments in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Yesterday Mississippi State defeated the Crimson Tide and provided a major blow to the job security of (already) embattled head coach, Mike Shula.

Shula

Earlier this season it was widely believed (and reported by some media outlets) that of all of the potential football jobs that may be available this season, Butch Davis coveted the job Alabama the most. With Alabama fans already covering their faces with bags, yesterday’s loss to the Bulldogs MAY serve as a catalyst to make some changes in Tuscaloosa.

The problem with this scenario is why Dick Badoour and Carolina deserve major credit for the manner in which they have executed this change – timing! Carolina is out in front on the coaching search by more than a month. Any other school that wants Davis has GOT to make a move RIGHT NOW before giving their coach a chance to finish the season (which is not customary in the world of college football).

In unrelated coaching news, but something that we just cannot ignore is this article from ESPN regarding the excellence of Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe. We expect Michigan State to be very interested in Grobe but wonder if Grobe is willing to roll the dice and wait for Joe Paterno to retire at Penn State. This would be quite a risk as Grobe will probably never be a hotter commodity than he is this year.

Parting shot – Before one of you smart asses decide to embarass yourself by criticizing Davis’ NFL performance, you would be well served to remember that NC State hired Sidney Lowe who also struggled as a head coach with expansion teams in the NBA. Not much difference there except Davis is considered one of the top college coaches in America based on previous experience.

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68 Responses to Davis, Carolina Blue Appear to Be a Match

  1. waxhaw 11/06/2006 at 5:32 PM #

    “your time frame seems to be give them as much time as needed.”

    … not sure where you got that idea

    I was making a general observation about “fringe” fans for all schools. I think NC State (and many other programs) have some people who want to fire a coach at the first sign of trouble. I also think many people don’t take a school’s history into account. I’ve seen plenty of threads on SFN, where someone outlines thier “expectations” for football and it’s something that only 2 or 3 schools in the country actually live up to.

    For the most part, I think state fans are reasonable. I have no problem with people calling for Amato’s job at this point. I’m not there yet, but I certainly wouldn’t characterize my position as “as much time as it takes.”

    My feeling, as I’ve said many times, is that we were screwed at QB. We had at least 2 (3 depending on your definition) can’t miss prospects that didn’t pan out. I think the last few years would have been very different with a QB other than Jay Davis/Marcus Stone. (Not saying that’s our only issue but it’s definitely a big one) Yet even with that issue, we’ve had success above average for our history. That doesn’t warrant unlimited time to me, but it warrants an opportunity to right the ship (at least for me).

  2. Packaholic1 11/06/2006 at 5:34 PM #

    There’s probably a reason Davis is not coaching now, and I’d want to know why before I even gave him a second thought. If he’s that great, he’d be somewhere now.

  3. highstick 11/06/2006 at 6:48 PM #

    Co-head coaches will never work as much as it might seem appealing. Too much ego is ingrained in these guys to give up half control. Do you want Fowler to be the tie-breaker when there’s a disagreement? I shutter at that thought.

  4. ldr of pk 75 11/06/2006 at 6:59 PM #

    Waxhaw- you’re probably right ,there are many who are ready to dump a coach for very little reason other than the slump any team might experience. They do represent the “fringe”. I’ve always liked talking to the multitudes of the Tarheel faithful….don’t even know where Orange County is let alone having been there. At any rate, maybe I also overspoke in saying as much time as needed. I was simply trying to say that 7 years is enough time for any atheletic team to show major strides if the coaching talent is there. There can’t be any debate over the direction our program is taking. Chuck has raised plenty of expectations, plenty of money, and has been provided with facilities never dreamed of. He has recruited well, Quarterback not withstanding. A Phillip Rivers comes along once in a career if you’re lucky. Our history as a power is nil, however our history certainly says we can do it. Chuck has never had a final ranking anywhere near his predecessors that did some mighty fine things with much less talent and facilities. So, in 7 years he isn’t up to the history of at least 3 coaches. The entry above yours, though, addresses some of what is really wearing Chucks welcome out with people. The highly undisciplined nature of alot of our squad that keeps us from acheiving any real reputation other than being talkers. Undisciplined is continually false starting series after series, game after game into what is it, the 9th 10th game of the season. Undisciplined is a flagrant personal foul Saturday night, knocking a GT man to the ground after the play is over and after we had stopped them on 3rd down. Undisciplined is getting all worked up and in the other teams face over things that “real” teams just execute and then go back to the sideline. Let your play do your talking, act like you’ve been there before. Our coaching staff doesn’t have expectations of better and worse no consequences to the average eye that would dispell that notion. No one coach or program can win all the time, but good coaches and disciplined programs have a way of being there year after year even if they lose a big game or two along the way. I just feel enough time has elapsed to expect better than what is being shown now.

  5. redfred2 11/06/2006 at 10:46 PM #

    Roy, 1.2 a year? He spends more than that on hair spray.

  6. waxhaw 11/06/2006 at 11:01 PM #

    “Chuck has never had a final ranking anywhere near his predecessors”

    I understand where you are coming from but this isn’t true. He has had one of our best seasons ever. (just not lately)

    IMO, the best argument for getting rid of Chuck is his post Rivers record, his lack of discipline and his micromanagment?? of staff.

    I don’t want to spend anymore time than I already have defending Chuck. I’m not 100% on the bandwagon, I’m just not leading hte posse either.

  7. legacyman 11/07/2006 at 9:25 AM #

    ldr,

    I agree with most of what you are saying but if you look at a replay of the “push” you will see that it was nothing more than someone coming up and hitting you in the chest with two hands but not hurting you. The “offended” player did a back dive as if he were on a diving board.

    That doesn’t excuse our player from a stupid move but it was very much like someone running past a kicker and the kicker flops and wiggles as if he were dying. The officials should have used their judgment and cautioned our player and the flopper. But they didn’t and we got a bad penalty.

  8. BoKnowsNCS71 11/07/2006 at 9:39 AM #

    “Cowher is a big name, but as I said in a post a few weeks ago, he was almost run out of Pittsburgh several years ago.”

    At 2-6 (they lost to Oakland?) and who knows what the final record will be — he might get run out of Pittsburgh this year……

    People on pedestals are great — when they are winning. Let tehm lose a few games and the fans go south.

  9. Gene 11/07/2006 at 9:59 AM #

    I hope Carolina hires Butch Davis. If Davis’ is successful, hopefully it will jolt the high rollers at the WPC and the big shots in the Athletics Dept. to find a comparably qualified and capable coach, which would make the investment we made in football pay off, with us being a top team nationally.

    You have to realize, we’re losing to Carolina regularly as it is. Having Carolina go 9 -2 with one win against NCSU is really no different, from my perspective, than Carolina going 5-7, with a win against NCSU. Either way, as things stand, we’d finish no better than 7-5.

    Hopefully success down the road, will be a catalyst to force change. I can’t think of anything else that will.

  10. Gene 11/07/2006 at 10:03 AM #

    Chuck has done more for the next football coach we have than all his predecessors put together. I favor kicking Chuck upstairs to Associate Athletics Director and then bringing in another head coach.

    Good point. I agree. We shouldn’t run Chuck out of town. He has done some really positive things for our football program. As fans, we shouldn’t forget it.

  11. waxhaw 11/07/2006 at 10:32 AM #

    I’m not sure Chuck is politcally correct enough to be AD.

  12. class of 74 11/07/2006 at 11:01 AM #

    No way should he be in the department. Let him be involved with the WPC fund raising efforts if he wanted to go that route. Now that I could support, but not any job in the athletic department please.

  13. redfred2 11/07/2006 at 2:42 PM #

    If UNC hires, then we counter…same old stuff. Always following the leader…never setting the pace. Raising the coaching talent across the board doesn’t ensure anyone the ability to separate their program from the crowd.

    Chuck was ahead of the curve and had all of the momentum in his favor for a while there. It would have been great to have steamrolled the other local programs into submission, and taken their hopes away for a while anyway.

  14. BoKnowsNCS71 11/07/2006 at 2:59 PM #

    “….same old stuff. Always following the leader…”

    Maybe following the loser in this case…

  15. redfred2 11/07/2006 at 7:13 PM #

    “Someone else’s lead,” I meant to say.

    But loser fits fine in this instance.

  16. NCMike 11/08/2006 at 5:51 PM #

    It’s official…Davis signs with UNC per Inside Carolina and the Winston Salem Journal.

  17. BoKnowsNCS71 11/09/2006 at 2:41 PM #

    I just have to wonder if this is truly a home run for UNC that folks tend to think it is.

    Will this guys rep really get the caliber of recruits they need? Davis has not coached college ball in a long time. When he did, he inherited an already successful team that (I’m told) had two 10/11 game winnings seasons before he took over.

    Questions:

    Do the good upcoming recruits really know anything about him — lately? Yeah — he coached in the NFL — and got fired — but is that going to make recruits in Florida (or NC) revel in the honor of being courted by him? None of these kids probably ever saw a Davis coached NCAA team.

    Will he keep his current set of coordinators or hire some new ones? If new — then another transition period sets in for those current players
    And then these guys have to get their connections in place with the high school coaches (unless they are from NC).

    And if they are paying this guy the salary that people are throwing around — how much money has been set aside to hire some very good assistant coaches? That is what he is truly going to need — and who he must depend on.

    I’m not disparaging this guy’s abilty to succeed but it seems the main hype he got this year was due to the disgruntled fans at Miami saying “Butch — come back! Come back Butch!” (Like a scene from the ending of “Shane”.)

    I’m not ready to accept doomsday yet on this one. But would open up the issue for some opinions.

  18. ncwolfie2000 11/09/2006 at 5:34 PM #

    BoKnows, I think this is a slam dunk for UNC. The impact of this hire can not be understated. Yes, he has a big name and yes, it is bigger than Amato’s. He’s not going to a bowl next year, or maybe even the next. But this is why this is big:

    1. He will do what Amato has not, which is to put his team in the right direction. I’m not saying Amato is a bad coach, and I’m not saying he lacks vision – by God he has that. What he lacks is the compass to take him where he wants to go. I think Davis has that compass to put UNC in the right direction.

    2. Davis will be able to use his clout as a successful college coach and a not-as-successful-as-an-NFL-coach-but-still-an-NFL-coach. He will drain away local talent and leave us in trouble. That to me is the worst part of this; not that UNC will become better, but that we in turn may become worse. SFN was very correct when it said that kids like Andre Brown *may* have gone to UNC had Davis been there.

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