University of North Carolina Athletics
Questions & Answers From Monday's Press Conference
December 11, 2000 | Football
Dec. 11, 2000
Q: What are the major differences between the NFL and college football?
A: John Bunting "(Laughing) Well, the hash marks are different. Beyond that, football is football.
"Obviously, I'll be dealing with a younger athlete, and that's one of the reasons I'm back also. I enjoy doing that. I enjoy working with young men and helping them grow, and what better place to do that than at this university.
"I'm just tickled to death to be right here where I started."
Q: Describe the search process, and how will Bunting fill the stands?
A: Dick Baddour "(Laughing) I think he'll go out individually and sell tickets. That's in his contract.
"I think that his teams will reflect his passion for the game and for the University. I know that some of our fans don't know John that well, but they will in time. He's been in a different track, he's been at the NFL level.
"As they get to know him, and they see his teams take on his personality, they'll become even more excited about Carolina football.
"I don't know how much to shed on the search process. You know how I feel about that. I will say, as the Chancellor said, that it was an extensive search. The Chancellor was tremendously helpful to me. He volunteered his time, his energy and his thoughts.
"We worked together as a team on this hire. I couldn't feel any better about the process, as far as the University and the Department of Athletics working together.
"I talked to a lot of people in both the football world and the people world, because you need to know about the people as well as the football coaches. It was interesting to me, as I talked to various people, how many times the subject came back to John Bunting. I thought, maybe that's a guy I need to go talk to.
"I did, and we had a great visit in New Orleans. He was certainly someone I wanted the Chancellor to meet."
Q: What do you bring from the NFL back to the college level?
A: John Bunting "I played a long time for a lot of great coaches. I've been involved in a lot of pressure games. I was a signal caller all my career, I ran defenses on the field. I like pressure. I enjoy the pressure.
"In the pro coaching world, I was able to work with the Marty Schottenheimers of the world.
"All of the organizational task-masters I've worked with at that level, it's amazing what you can learn at that level. Carrying this back to this level will be a tremendous plus for this program.
"I'm really looking forward to implementing those things I learned as a player and a coach."
Q: When and why did you change the focus of your search?
A: Dick Baddour "I wouldn't characterize it as a change of focus. When Coach Beamer turned us down, and I'm going to look at that as the past and this as the future, everything was open at that point.
"At that point we didn't set any limitations as to what we wanted to look at. We wanted to look at the high profile coaches, and we wanted to look at other areas.
"I didn't have any restrictions. I didn't feel any restrictions from the Chancellor or the university community or our fan base. My charge was to go find the best coach we could find that fits this institution, and I think that's what we did."
Q: What's your timetable on selecting a coaching staff, and have you focused on any of the players who have committed to Carolina?
A: John Bunting "We're going to do that right away. We're going to work tonight, we're going to work the next day, we're going to work, then we're going to do some more work.
"Dick and I will talk about the situation at hand, and possibly bringing in some other coaches. Dick has said I have that opportunity. I want to evaluate them individually, and also collectively to see what we have and what would be best for us to go forward. It's not always a fun thing to be involved in, but something you've got to do."
Q: What about next year's offense?
A: John Bunting "I want to have the offensive flexibility that will match with the players we have. I'm not familiar with what we have here on offense or defense, but I will get familiar right away.
"I perceive that we have an outstanding quarterback, some receivers, and an offensive line that's young.
"You have to have great teachers, you have to be fundamentally sound, you have to have great technique, and you have to be able to play for sixty minutes."
Q: When do you plan to go out on the road recruiting?
A: John Bunting "As soon as possible. We'll be discussing that tonight also. I feel really good about the support group I have here at the University. We'll hit the streets running, and we'll him them hard."
Q: Have you talked to Kevin Wilson (Northwestern's offensive coordinator), and do you have an interest in him?
A: John Bunting "I have an interest. Obviously, I need to get permission to do that. The timing wasn't right until I took the position here.
"There might be a time frame soon where I might pursue that."
Q: What did you say to the team today?
A: John Bunting "I met with the players earlier today, and I think it went quite well.
"I let them know that I anticipate that this program will make a change, that it will make a change for the better. My expectations of them are high, my goals are high.
"It all begins with being motivated to form better attitudes, to make the right choices in everything that they do. It starts with them. We're going to go that route.
"I'm looking forward to meeting with the seniors who are coming up. I want some feedback from them on where the program's been before, where they perceive that it is now, and where they want to take it.
"I will always have player input. It's important for me to know what they are thinking. I like to know exactly what's going on in their minds as well as my staff's."
Q: Do you know if Julius Peppers will play next year, and will you run the defense?
A: John Bunting "I met with Julius today, and I think we had a very, very good conversation. I found him to be a very interesting young man who I think has an awful lot of ability. He's a fine young man.
"We're going to have another conversation in a day or so. I can't tell you at this time what his decision is, because none was expressed at our first meeting.
"No, I will not run the defense, but I will have a lot of input on how it's run."
Q: I assume that ring (Super Bowl ring) will impress kids, and how much does it weigh?
A: John Bunting "This ring is very important to me. It represents a lot of hard work and a lot of good people sharing one common goal.
"But I can tell you this, this ring right here is just as important to me. It's my 1971 ACC Championship ring that I won with a bunch of hard-working guys who had one common goal, and that's what we're going to work to get done here."
Q: What type of player do you want at North Carolina?
A: John Bunting "When I took a look throught that window in the head coach's suite and saw that field, my blood ran hot. I got goose bumps.
"I feel that it's a privilige to run out and play on that field. I think that the players that we will pursue both academically, athletically and character wise, we're going to want to put the right kind of people out there to represent this university.
"I really believe in that. It's inspired me, it's the reason that I'm not going to coach pro football any more."
Q: Would you talk about recruiting?
A: John Bunting "I think we'll put together a team of recruiters to go out and get the best student athletes we can get to come here and graduate and play winning football. Then we'll go from there and take it to the next level.
"Are we going to do this overnight? No, but we're going to work hard to make it happen as soon as possible.
"All I can say is we're not in awe of anybody else in the ACC. We're just going to do our doggonedest to get it done. Whatever it takes within the structure and framework of the University, and the rules and regulations, we're going to do it."
