University of North Carolina Athletics
Bunting Press Conference Quotes
October 9, 2001 | Football
Oct. 9, 2001
UNC football coach John Bunting met with the media Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference. Here is some of what he had to say:
"It was great to finish the first half of the season with our third win in a row. That left everybody feeling good, but that's over with now. We've got the second half of the season to deal with.
"We open up with I think a very difficult opponent. I think we're going to need to play a heck of a lot better in order to win this game. We've got to play better up front -- it was our worst game of the year defensively up front. It was our worst game of the year in our secondary making tackles -- and maybe that's because the front didn't play very well and they were forced to make too many tackles. If we can continue to have good second halves from our offense that certainly helps our defense. They were able to sit and watch a large part of that second half because our offense did a good job.
"I really liked the way our offense came back and played. The last two weeks in the second half they've been able to hang onto the ball some. This past week was obviously a week in which our wide receivers did what I think they're able to do - and that is making a lot of plays. In order for the wide receivers to make plays, the quarterbacks need to get the ball to them, and I think the quarterbacks did a good job delivering the ball and hopefully we can get better at doing that in the weeks to come. We're going to need it this week."
On losing DeFonte Coleman to injury for the remainder of the season:
"It immediately affects our special teams. He's a key component to our special teams. This will be in my opinion the fiercest special teams we've played to date, against Virginia. They're awesome. They really get after it. That's not a surprise with (Virginia head coach) Al's (Groh) background - being a defensive guy, being a pro guy and involved in the pros for so many years and seeing the outcome of games being decided by special teams so many times. And I think at one point in time Al was a special teams coach himself.
"They play very physical. Losing DeFonte Coleman is going to hurt. Some other guys have got to pick up the slack. We spent a great deal of time with all of the people who are involved in our special teams, obviously starting with the coordinator Dave Huxtable, trying to figure out how we move and shuffle people around to make up for the loss of DeFonte Coleman.
"We're going to try to get Sam Aiken to help us on special teams, which he has done. Sam Aiken has been a performer for us all year, so hopefully he can help us with that. He is going to help us with one of the units. We're going to ask Malcolm Stewart to step up and help us on special teams. He's had a couple of opportunities before - we're going to give him another one. Beyond that, we had Ronald Brewer out there - the smallest player on our team - that went out there on the kickoff team and made a tackle. We're going to continue to have him out there on kick coverage - you might see him out there on the punt team."
On Virginia coach Al Groh:
"I crossed paths with Al Groh when he was coaching right here. I came down to an ACC Tournament and traveled over here to visit Coach Dooley and he was coaching here. So I met him for the first time when he was here. And then I crossed paths with him again when he was the coach at Wake Forest and I was both playing and scouting/coaching for the Philadelphia Stars.
"When he got into the pros and I got into the pros I was able to cross paths with him several times playing against the Jets or the Patriots or the Giants. When I left the Rams, I talked with Al that day and I talked with Jim Haslett (New Orleans Saints head coach) that day, and it just became a matter of timing. I had a job with Jim Haslett and I wasn't sure if I had one with Al, so eventually I had to tell Al, 'I have to take on that I know I have.' Jim was a pleasure to work for, and I'm sure Al would have been a fun guy to work for too."
On Ronald Curry:
"Ronald's confidence may have been shaken a little bit when the crowd reacted the way it did to my decision to put him back in, but he is a tough guy. I think he had a very, very good day - certainly his best day. I think he's been getting better each week as he gets a feel for what we want. He still takes the majority of the snaps in practice, although Darian also gets a substantial amount. I feel good about the way he played, and it only makes me feel better about the future.
"I'm certain this will be a very big game for him, playing against the University of Virginia. I think it's a big game for our team - they've beaten us three years in a row. There are seniors out there who have never beaten them, and I think Ronald's in that boat - he's never beaten them. So I think from that standpoint, they'll be very motivated to compete against them and try to win the football game."
On the quarterback situation:
"I think it (the booing last Saturday) was obviously directed at me for making the decision I did. Folks, that's where we're at. Sometimes people don't see things the way I see them. I see those quarterbacks operating every day. You can go all you want by statistics, but there are other things that enter into it other than statistics. There have been a couple of things that have happened to Ronald that have nothing to do with him. I see those things, and I take them into account."
