This sort of post was inevitable, mainly because there is a feeling of the program being stagnated. The loss to FSU was frustrating, not so much in the way they lost but rather because we have seen UNC lose a game in this way several times before. Here in the third season I think most of felt like the program would be stable and all signs would be pointing towards some kind upward trajectory in terms of conference standings. Instead it feels like the program is regressing last season when UNC was sitting in the Coastal Division driving seat searching the radio dial for some good rock-n-roll to listen to. On the 850 the Buzz blog, frequent commenter jhmd2000 offered this critique of Butch Davis:
…with Fall Break in Chapel Hill, it is time for some mid-term grades. Butch Davis’s Junior Year at Carolina is a good time to take stock. I like Davis. I remember Tornbush and Bumbling. I also remember Mack Brown. There is a reason to hire a “head man” instead of promoting technically sound #2s. A head guy gives you a brand. A head guy gives you an identity. A head guy can survive a coaching search that includes a mustache disqualifier (again, see Tornbush and Bungling). I prefer Davis to either of our last two coaches, and honestly, any other coach UNC should reasonably expect to get without lowering its standards to scum-sucking, cheating, Mike-Slime-SEC levels (no offense, Mr. Saban). If the ESPN graphic was right on the replay, Davis is now 16-16 at Carolina heading into the Sand Pit next week. I’m not sure 16-16 (looking at a losing record) will be a passing grade. If he was 16-16 with an empty cupboard and playing Bunting’s schedule (Notre Dame, OU, Texas twice, Urban Meyer’s Utah teams twice, Bobby Petrino’s scum-sucking, cheating, Louisville teams twice), I think you could call that rebuilding. You can’t go .500 or worse playing the Citadels, James Madisons, and Georgia Southerns of the world. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bunting’s receivers are having 100 yard Sundays, and Butch’s receivers are struggling to get separation against the 108th best pass defense. Hmmmmm.
I am also lukewarm on hearing Butch talking about how this is a learning experience for his “young” football team. They must be faster learner’s in Coach Cutt’s offensive backfield, b/c they are moving on defenses like a Phi Delt on a freshman, and UNC is struggling to find an identity in year three. Okay, it is unrealistic to expect Davis to build a sustained national power with the Carolina brand at the speed Saban has returned Alabama to that status in the same amount of time…but is a conference win too much to ask in year three? Additionally, if you’re not going to tolerate excuses from your players, then you’re not entitled to them as a coach. If you’re not getting paid any less b/c your team is young, you can’t cite youth as a reason not to produce.
The most troubling thing about Butch is what Joe has alluded to: no killer instinct. If you ask a certain football coach what the W & F stand for on the side of his team’s uniforms, his answer is “We Finish.” Butch got scared against Notre Dame, UVa and Maryland last year and turned a ten win team/schedule into a Tire Bowl loser. He got scared again last night down in the shadow of the goal posts, tightened his formation up, and eschewed the previously fruitful sweep to instead thrice run Shaun between the tackles into the teeth of a defense that couldn’t catch you on the perimeter. With victory a scant six feet away, he kicked a field goal to go up 4, instead of put in Ryan Houston to go up 8/9 under four minutes. If you trust your defense enough to hold the lead at mid field on a punt, why don’t you trust them to back up your offense if they can’t convert and end of the game in paydirt? Those afraid of victory don’t deserve. At this point in his tenure, it is clear to me that Butch plays and schedules not to lose. Fail, fail.
Spot on.
The FSU game could end up being a watershed moment for various reasons. We had all hoped it would be a positive in this season that thus far had been an enigma. A win on ESPN’s showcase weekly game would have made UNC 5-2 with three winnable games versus Duke, BC and NCSU left on the schedule meaning an 8-4 finish was still within reach. Instead we saw yet another game in the abbreviated Butch Davis Era where UNC tried to hang on for the win instead of going out there and grabbing it. In the past two years UNC managed to hold off the likes of Miami and Notre Dame but against Virginia Tech, UVa and Maryland last season plus this game, UNC simply did not put up enough points to win the contest. In all of those cases UNC either got away from doing what they did best on offense or the defense played a less aggressive scheme that allowed the other team back into the game.
At this point it clear that this coaching staff leans very heavily on conventional wisdom and conservative playcalling with faced with a tough decision. Against FSU, Butch Davis faced 4th and short inside the 20 and opted for the FG to take a four point lead. Among the group of people I was sitting with, I was a minority in my belief that UNC needed a TD versus a FG. Why? Because FSU had scored on the previous four possessions, three of them TDs. There was no doubt in my mind that FSU would score a TD once they got the ball back and UNC would be facing a deficit. Of course the conventional wisdom says take the four point lead because it is hard for FSU to score a TD than a get a FG plus even with the TD are in a position to tie with a FG. However that ignores the reality of UNC’s position on the field and the fact turning the ball over on downs inside the 20 would afford your defense better field position in which to work. As for the 4th and 5 with less than five minutes to go, Davis ignored the fact that unless you force an immediate three and out or at best only allow FSU six plays at most, the clock would become a major issue. It would have been better to take a shot at getting a first down then and there as opposed to handing the ball back to FSU for them to whittle the clock away.
Yes, some of this second guessing and 20/20 hindsight. However some of it is also a pattern of behavior with this coaching staff. Butch Davis and his staff came in with the brand name. The recruiting has been good and no one really questions the talent level on defense for certain. The offense is dealing with line issues which appears to be headed towards correction in the coming recruiting cycle. In short, the personnel appears to be there save the QB but the product on the field comes up short in terms of execution. That part is on the coaches who are at times too conservative eschewing the possibility of controversy by making every call by the book. This staff, instead of making an effort to win, hopes they can win with a “just hold on” A recurring theme over the past two days has been the idea that Butch Davis’ UNC teams do not finish. It hard to argue otherwise with a staff that cannot or will not make adjustments mid-game. FSU made the necessary moves to get their offense moving in the 2nd half while UNC let them do it. FSU went out to win the game while UNC sat back and hoped they could just get by.
At this point two things should not be lost on UNC fans. The first is that Duke, long the punchline of the ACC sports the same record as the Heels and is 2-1 in the ACC versus UNC’s 0-3 conference mark. David Cutcliffe has done a phenomenal job in Durham turning a very bad program around and it is difficult not to glance in their direction as a point of comparison. Secondly, it should be noted, per a reader, that Butch Davis is basically sporting the same record as Carl Torbush at a similar point in their respective tenures at UNC. I understand these things take time but I am fairly certain that UNC is not paying a brand name coach, brand name type money to have him be the equal of Carl Torbush in the record book and behind Duke in the standings.
There in lies the rub. Butch Davis was a brand name coach and UNC ponied up big dollars to not only lure him in but keep him happy after the first year when it was apparent his market value changed. Because of his success at Miami, Davis is considered a top-tier coach. When he landed at UNC the assumption was that he would duplicate much of the success he had at Miami. Sure the recruiting would be different but Davis would bring the air of big time college football to Chapel Hill. So far he has done that. The fact UNC relented on the Thursday Night Game and is moving towards major renovations to Kenan Stadium speak to the influence of Butch Davis to move Tar Heel football up a few rungs on the ladder. There is no question he has that part of building the program down. The other part, having to do with developing players and winning games, seems a tad on the slower side with the biggest issue being the perception that the coaching is average at best. Unfortunately many critics and rival fans warned that Davis was long on recruiting but short when it came to actual game management. The success of Butch Davis at Miami, seems to have been predicated more on bringing in high-caliber talent of the NFL variety which mitigates the need for great coaching. At this point in the Davis era, UNC is not sporting that level of talent which means the coaching needs to compensate. From what we have seen that is just not the case.
The problem you run into here is whether this is the point things begin to unravel or whether we should all step back from the ledge, ride out this rough spot in the storm, hope like mad Bryn Renner is the real deal at QB, that most of the defensive players return next season, that the offensive linemen recruits can supplement the returnees and a more mature team can make waves next season. Well, whether we like it or not that is precisely what we may end up doing and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Where this is really gets dicey is if we get into a situation where we starting turning coordinators and assistants over. Most UNC fans are not happy with OC John Shoop and there are times, like this past Thursday, where Everett Withers is next on the list. I am not sure Davis will look to make a change this offseason or if we will stick to his current staff citing the offensive line issues and the always reliable “youth” argument. What I do know is if it becomes necessary to shake up the staff, whoever comes in has to be a quality coach who understands and can flat-out coach the game. If that does not happen the possibility of constant staff turnover increased dramatically which will eventually mire the program in mediocrity. The bottom line is, UNC is probably never going to pull in the kind of recruits Miami had, at least not in significant enough number to mitigate shortcomings in the coaching staff. If that is the case, the best thing Davis can do it go out and hire the best set of coordinators he can find and let them do the heavy lifting where the coaching of the game is concerned while Davis and John Blake take care of the recruiting and program building.
One thing this post should not be taken as is a sign I am throwing in the towel on Davis or that it is even panic time in Chapel Hill. The fact Davis went 5-7 in his 3rd year at Miami is reason enough to wait this out. From what I have seen the recruiting does not appear to be a major problem and it is reasonable to assume that Davis is going to continue to pull in quality recruits along the lines of what Mack Brown had. The aspects of the program most UNC fans are most restless over have to do with the coaching on game day, especially the playcalling that appears to be conservative in nature. The feeling I get is there is confidence in Davis to get the job done but the product so far has left a lot to be desired especially when Duke has come much further in a shorter period of time. For all the concessions UNC has made for Davis and the money they have shelled out, some return on the investment is expected but so far has been a little short.
For Davis the quickest way to address any restlessness in the fan base is to at least finish 7-5(meaning UNC beats Duke, BC and NCSU) which would get them into a bowl game. There are certain things about this team that are simply not going to be fixed this season namely the offensive line and QB. However, UNC did show some promise utilizing various different looks in the running game and despite the defense playing poorly in the 2nd half, the Heels should still be plenty capable of keeping teams off the scoreboard. Winning cures a variety of ills and had UNC won Thursday night, no one would be talking about these issues now. As it is, the die has been cast and there have been enough games like we saw Thursday night to raise concerns about patterns in coaching that really need to change. Patience should still be the mode of operation for UNC fans simply because there is plenty of good Butch Davis has done even if there are some issues with the coaching. As long as the recruiting progresses, which I think it will, these other issues could end up taking of themselves and if not I am sure Davis can be trusted to make the right moves with his staff to bring in better coaching. We hope.
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Great article, and great comments, THF! You once again prove why this is the only Carolina fansite I visit!
Living in Nebraska, I draw a lot of parallels with the struggles both the Heels and the Huskers are going through right now. Talented defenses that have a tendency to get burned at times, struggling offenses that have bad QB’s and no identity whatsoever. However, at this point, I would take Nebraska’s Zac Lee over Yates because Lee has more mobility and has proven effective when he tucks the ball and runs. Had Yates have the ability to run, this would help the offensive line play and generate some more offense. Once again, both North Carolina and Nebraska have tremendous talent and potential, have coaches with NFL experience, but are struggling mightily this year thanks to bad offensive play.
The other comment I have is regarding the coaching staff. My criticism of Shoop and Withers are well documented on your site, but to me, the buck stops with Butch. I understand there were o-line issues, I udnerstand the receivers were young, and I understand that Yates is struggling. But at these rough patches, I also believe that this is where coaching needs to kick in. This is where coaches should be spending time with the receivers on running better routes and teaching how to get open, working on fundamentals with the offensive line, and looking at changes on defensive schemes and formations and BLITZING THE QB MORE…..sorry, got carried away. We don’t see any of those. UNC is not getting better, and while we can rail on Shoop and Withers all we want, it all lies on the headman in the end to evaluate where the team is at and to make appropriate adjustments and changes. Davis has shown that he’s either not capable or not willing to do so, which is why I would have him on a pretty short leash.
My last comment is that if you look at other teams such as TCU, Boise State, BYU, Houston, and even Duke is that they are having pretty successful seasons. Do you mean to tell me that TCU is more talented than UNC, or Houston has better players? Absolutely not! The difference with these teams is that they don’t have the talent that UNC can draw in, but they have the coaches. The coaches on these teams know college football and know how to coach it, which is why they’re successful. Can you imagine if we had coaches like these teams have with our talent? It would be fun to watch. Instead, we have talent oozing out of our ears (in most positions) and it’s being underestimated and under-utilized. That is the mark of mediocre coaching, and that is why I think a lot of fans will be clamoring for a lot of changes after this year if the Heels don’t win at least seven games and get a bowl.
The real measure for me now, as I believe this season is pretty much done for, is the LSU game next year. Should UNC go out there and get absolutely throttled means that Butch has absolutely no clue and needs to leave. UNC can spend it’s money elsewhere. But a respectable loss or a win will show that the Heels are capable of playing on the national stage. For the sake of my sanity, I hope this is the case.
Excellent write up!
That is pretty much what I’ve been thinking about this year’s team. Big name or “brand name” coaches have certain expectations on them and reasonably so. When programs spend the kind of money necessary to get and then keep these brand name coaches it’s expected that they can come in and turn the program around. Butch Davis and crew have succeeded in part of that (recruiting) and because of that success I’d rate their first three years a solid C-. Yes, below average. I’m talking about the whole package though and not recruiting. If you look at just recruiting then UNC has been successful at least to the measure those salaries warrant. Everything else though, maybe not so much.
How has UNC managed to go three years without developing (and keeping) a reliable backup QB? For that matter how were Yates deficiencies not apparent before, at least to the coaching staff? Sure on game day we saw a reasonably good QB with a very good completion percentage. But I think we’ve all seen that had less to do with Yates than it did his receivers. His predilection for interceptions and making bad decisions in general has been there to see all along. Not all of our QB woes can be placed on the weak O-line.
Bottom line for me is in the FSU game the Heels were in command till midway through the third quarter. They were running the ball and getting first downs. As someone else said, the only ones that could stop the end sweep was UNC, which they proceeded to do. The defense was giving FSU fits and was being compared to SEC defenses. This is what I want to hear and see from my team.
And then the coaches put us on cruise control and seemingly forgot how to coach. I hate playing not to lose. It’s lousy to watch and usually doesn’t work. And really, is that what the players learn in practice every day?
Big brand coaches getting paid big bucks should bring better game day results. How many Duke fans do you think would trade Coach Cutcliffe for Butch right now? Yeah, I don’t know any either.
I’ll surely paint myself into a corner, but come on. The wins over ND and Miami last season were razor-thin, at best. Give the man 4 full years; after all, it worked pretty well for the “U” by the time Butch left to run the Cleveland Browns.
a UNC football program that, at best, has a choppy tradition needs more than 3 seasons to turn over and up. Either we let him do the work, or revert to the days of Torbush & Bunting. These short-term visions will short-circuit this rebuilding & set the program back another 5 or 10 years.
I’m with TxTarheel. We’re halfway through year three. Do we pay Butch the big bucks? Yes, we do. And it’s paid off in getting some major talent upgrades. But first, let’s put some of the blame on Withers. He’s the one that’s calling the plays on defense and is calling off the dogs once we put together a lead.
Yes, we were 8-4 last year, but let’s remember that a healthy portion of that was because of a certain WR who is now lighting up NFL secondaries for the New York Giants. You can’t lose that much offense or lose three-fifths of your o-line to injury/early graduation and not expect these kinds of struggles.
Am I happy with the way things are going right now? No, certainly not. I thought we should have won Thursday and I certainly think we should have beaten or at least been more competitive against UVlame. That said, again, I’m going to a) fault most of that on Everett “I don’t like modern football” Withers and b) note that we have a patchwork o-line and WRs.
Yes, we started the season ranked, but I don’t think any of us had any real belief that we were going to be playing in Tampa in the first week in December. He’s addressing a lot of concerns on the o-line in recruiting and we’re heading into a point where next year, the overwhelming majority of the team will be his guys. And, yes TJ Yates is turning out to be pretty atrocious, but who knows what’s going to happen next year. For all we know, Brynn Renner is going to blow the competition away in spring practice.
Remember, in Butch’s third year at Miami, he lost a bunch of players and dropped from 9-3 in year two to 5-6 in year three. The sky is not falling (at least not yet).
As for dook. Yes, they’re 2-1. But at least one of those wins came against a very AWFUL Maryland team that I’m positive we could beat this year. Also, dook lost to a FCS team. At home. In week one.
Bottomline, yes Carolina can do better, but it’s a growing process. Let’s give the man some more time.
Yes, we have three winnable games left, but we’re not going to win any of them. Take a look at the second half of the FSU game, or any of the game against “mighty” Virginia, and you’ll know why.
What we are starting to see is the usual litany of excuses for losing: injuries, bad assistant coaches, “but he does such a good job recruiting…” etc.
But excuses is all they are. Injuries are part of the game; has the concept of developing “depth” disappeared? Assistant coaches do not have anything like the impact being attributed to them, and in any event are subordinate to the head coach. Recruiting is not an end unto itself but a means to an end, that being winning games.
To be worse than Dook — and let’s face it, we ARE worse than Dook — is just appalling. The situation might call for patience if we were on an upswing. But since we’re headed in the opposite direction, one must wonder what we’re being patient FOR.
I expected better, as did we all. Patience will indeed be the watchword, but not because it’s been earned. Patience is our lot this year because, like our non-performing quarterback, it’s all we have left.
Understand that I am not saying Davis should be fired. My point is to ask questions about some patterns we see now in terms of the coaching. I agree he should be given plenty of time to work things out but that includes some of the piss poor coaching we have seen in the past two years from Shoop and Withers.
I’m all for giving Davis his time. However, the point here is that we have seen a pattern of losing games where we were in control and were playing well enough to win. There is no excuse for that to happen. FSU was a must win for this season to meet expectations, and we should have won. We were outplaying FSU on offense and defense, then gave the game away.
At this point I think our chances at a bowl game are nil. I’d like to see some of our backup QB’s get some significant playing time. The biggest failure of Butch Davis so far has been the QB situation. You must do one of a couple of things: recruit a good QB OR develop a decent QB into a good QB OR recruit/develop a couple of decent QB’s that can be interchanged (hopefully with different skills sets depending on the team/situation). Butch has done none of these things, and even ran off a decent backup QB. And how can you develop a backup when they never get to play?
I’ve been figting this notion for a long time now, but i have finally just come to accept it. In 5 or so years from now, UNC fans wil look back on the Butch Davis Era as our version of the Chuck Amato Era at NC State. Lots of hype, flair, excitment, fireworks and all that jazz. Great recruiter and motivator of a fan base. A program builder.
But on each and every Saturday unless the talent disparity is so wide, Butch and his coaching staff (much like Amato’s) can and probably will get out-coached. Shoop an Wwithers both were outcoached for the second half off last night’s game and completely failed to couteradjust to what FSU did. In the end, we will probably look at Butch’s time at UNC as someone who made it a much more respectable program and someone who made being the head coach at UNC a more desirable job, and thats fine, we’ll certainly take it.
But unless personel changes ever occur at both coordinator positions, thats all we can expect this to ever be. The thing is, that programs almost always take some time to adjust to turnover, and we certainly will need this as well. I agree that we will probably never get the kind of talent Butch got at Miami, so he’s going to have to realize that he has to get better coaches to make up for that. I think its fair to say that since Butch’s staff got to Chapel Hill the most valuable coach (maybe only vluable coach) has been John Blake. If someone were to come in and swipe him away, then things will fall apart very fast.
There’s a lot of talk about Bunting and Torbush, but not much about Mack Brown and Butch Davis. I was a freshman when Brown went 1-10, a sophomore when he went 1-10 again, and a junior when he went 6-4-1. He didn’t beat State until after I graduated. He was a terrific recruiter, but poor coach, imo, who never won a game he wasn’t supposed to, and lost a couple he should have won. Sound familiar?
All that I know is my wife and I spend a lot of money and time to make sure our butts are in the stands for pretty much every home game. And we cheer like hell. We did it some under Torbrush, and a lot under Bunting and now Davis. We feel like we are holding up our end of the bargain, we just want the team/staff to hold up their end. The crap we witnessed Thursday night, and against UVA, and against GT, and against State last year, and against VT last year, etc (you get my point) makes me wonder whether or not it is worth it. These were all games that we should have won or at least been very competitive in.
If they keep raising ticket prices and Ram’s Club membership dues, then I expect more. I expect there are a lot of other folks out there who feel the same way. We are customers and want our money’s worth.
Are we really comparing Butch Davis to Chuck Amato? I understand the need to question patterns in decision-making within the program — and I never meant to imply that you wanted him fired, THF — but I feel like I need to reiterate the need for patience. Like I said, in his third year in Miami he went 5-6. The following year he went 9-3 and the year after that he was in the Gator Bowl.
I know that some will say he won’t get the same talent he got in Miami, so I’ll also follow up Santiago’s note by pointing out that Mack Brown went 1-10 two straight years, but he ended up leading us to a 10-2 and 11-1 record with top 10 finishes both years.
I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve any criticism. He certainly needs to remember about something called “halftime adjustments.” But to compare someone who built a mini-dynasty in Miami to someone like Chuck Amato, who had absolutely no track record of success is insanity.
Finally, I’ll reiterate that we have not seen Brynn Renner play yet. So, it’s hard to say Butch hasn’t developed any QB yet. As THF noted earlier this year, we should all be hesitant to take the redshirt off someone with as much talent and promise as he has. I think we have to wait more than two-and-a-half years before we really start making mass indictments.
Great comments and a good read for Tar Heel football fans.
I do think it is very premature to even suggest getting rid of Davis as the head coach. I think the talent pool wasn’t very deep when he took the job and would give any coach in football 5 full years.
There are a couple of things that do bother me and certainly that has been the handling of end of game situations, where it was obvious that UNC did have equal talent, only to lose those games due to coaching decisions that put the players in bad situations.
The other thing that bugs me, and some disagree is the handling of the Cameron Sexton situation. Certainly Davis and company didn’t not expect the injuries (and loss of Aaron Stahl) to the OL, but clearly Sexton would have given the Heels (this year) a better chance due to his mobility. Does anyone here want to argue that Yates is not the worst QB in the ACC?
I totally disagree with the Amato comparison regardless of how his tenure pans out. Butch has a relatively big name, but he doesn’t in any way shape or form really hype himself or his team in the media the way an Amato did. Amato had the fortune of having a top caliber NFL QB cover his mistakes early on and my guess is that, had he not been a State alum, his tenure would have been even shorter.
Hopefully BD can continue to recruit well, have the nads necessary to bring on Renner or any other QB who performs and start developing him. Along with the OL recruits the Heels need a top notch running back and hopefully the defensive juniors this year will stick around.
Butch is doing fine, which is to say slightly better than the guy before him and good enough not to embarrass the school. If he makes some bowl games once in a while that should be enough to ensure his job security.
UNC has had 3 truly important football games since 1981 and we lost all three, to Clemson in 1981, and then to FSU the two years that Brown had decent teams. Why would we expect this guy to change things overnight, especially given that teams like Wake are actually trying to be competitive now.
People cried when UNC lost to Marquette in the 1977 NCAA Finals and to UVa in the 1976 ACC tourney finals. I have yet to meet a UNC football fan who has ever cried about one of our football losses.
I don’t believe anyone is calling for Butch’s job or any of the other coaches just yet. The title of the thread is “Evaluating Butch Davis” and I believe most posts are in that vein.
That being said, a lot of UNC fans are disappointed in the seeming inability of the coaches to make changes during the game that would put us in a better position to win. The “conventional wisdom” that says you have to mix in a pass now and then to keep the defense honest works if you have at least two things going for you. 1) a QB that doesn’t rattle easily, makes good decisions, and has an accurate arm. 2) receivers that run their routes and catch what is thrown near them. Having a QB that is mobile and gives another option can go a long way to keeping defenses on their heels.
My question is why stop running the ball until the defense proves they can stop you? Sure we ran the ball up the middle and got stopped time and again. But they never stopped UNC when they ran the ball to the outside. So why stop when you’ve marched the length of the field by running the ball and been hugely successful doing it?
Butch has done a grade A recruiting job, but game day coaching leaves a bit to be desired.
Please nobody utter the word “fire Butch.” a name coach like thy deserves 5 years or even more. No questions asked. We push him out prematurely and we will get ABSOLUTELY no “name” coaches for decades. More of Torbush and Bunting. Wonderful!
I chalk up our season to date to injuries and some fixable coaching blunders. Let’s let them shake it off. I’m still giving them a couple more years to prove to me that they need to go. In the mean time, Butch will get his players and he’ll give us some good wins too.
We have all bagged on TJ Yates at some time, and I’ve more than advertised that I’ve started to throw him under the bus also. But what does it say if Mike Paulus isn’t ready to get any type pf playing time? If I were the UNC coaching staff, Paulus would have been getting snaps in the UVa game. The fact that he hasn’t played means that either a)he really sucks, or b)the coaching staff hasn’t done their job with developing him. Since his last name is Paulus, I would lend legitimacy to answer a, but I think answer b is legitimate as well.
Personally, I think that Butch and Co. aren’t really good at deceloping players. As I’ve stated in the past, try telling me that TCU, BYU, Boise State, and Houston are able to bring in more and better talent than UNC. You need to be able to teach and develop players in the college level, not run it like an NFL program where there’s not a lot left to teach.
I hope I am wrong, but since the UVa game I have been convinced we would not win again this year. The fact we could score against FSU was a pleasant surprise, although FSU’s defense had a lot to do with that. Here is the reality: even in the ACC, you can’t win with this kind of talent on offense. it brings to mind the vile talent level Dick Crum left behind for Mack Brown, although it is not quite that bad. Butch just hasn’t yet recruited well at the offensive skill positions or at 0-line. Unless Renner is it, there is not an ACC-caliber QB in the program. Same is true at RB and receiver. The O-line is a mess. and this year’s recruiting is not, so far, promising. There may be some good talent redshirting this year, and I think next year will be better than this one, but if the talent level doesn’t pick up soon, the program is going nowhere.
Also remember, ap1, that Butch was expecting a couple guys to be here this year that didn’t end up being here either because of injury, early graduation or personal issues. If they’re here, we’re looking at a deeper line with experience.
Talent takes time to recruit. It will be alright.
Good comments. I must disagree with a few though. I think the coaching staff is getting too much criticism. You can always find calls to disagree with. Davis, Blake, Shoop and Withers are all above average coaches, in my opinion. Did you see the offensive trick plays called in the first half? Now that’s fun.
Talent is all over the field, with the exception of the offensive line. What we need is toughness and leadership. Did you see Burney hit that guy? Our captains need to step up and show the team how to finish. I want some bad guys out there.
The players just need to execute better and be more consistent. It doesn’t matter what play is called if the players execute. For the record, I’ll take Yates over Turner, Sewell, Nesbitt, Taylor and Shinskie any day. But these guys need to show that they want it more than the other team. Be the aggressor and show some heart. It’s football – it’s okay to be a little bit nasty.
I think we are where we should be in developing a program. THF makes some good points on the direction of the program. It’s the third season, the first doesn’t really add up to much given the time available for the coaches and staff to get settled in. I think we had a few assistants leave as well which is a challenge when you are building something. It takes time to make this happen, again look at the win/loss column over the last 10 years…the hopelessness that was football in the final years under Bunting. We have to build out our talent and skill positions, we have develop a robust conditioning process and we are still working through players from our previous coach. Some of them have been great others not so much. At the five year mark you should evaluate where you are and move on. I like how we have adjusted from game to game, the conservative approach not so much when we have the points but from a statistics perspective it works more than it doesn’t. I want to win but I recognize it takes time and I’m going to continue to invest in UNC sports, football included with my money and my time. Go Heels!
All good points. I think what stings the most is where we are in the won-loss column and where Duke is to date.
I admit my expectations were out of whack this year. I wasn’t figuring on taking a step back from last year. But then too every season stands (or falls) on it’s own merit. Things happen, people leave, players get hurt. It’s how the team adjusts to that, how the coaches adjust, that gauges how good or bad they are.