University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Monthly: Baddour Talks About Football Scheduling
February 26, 2002 | General
Feb. 26, 2002
Every month in Tar Heel Monthly, delivered free to members of the Educational Foundation who join for as little as $100, readers get an exclusive look inside the athletic department in a Q&A with athletic director Dick Baddour. This month, the AD talked about the intricacies of making a Division I football schedule and the changes that fans can expect to see in the future.
Editor's Note: Of all the details involving Carolina's major sports, football scheduling remains one of the most confusing. Tar Heel Monthly editor Adam Lucas sat down with athletic director Dick Baddour to try and illuminate UNC's philosophies and goals for the future in that area.
Tar Heel Monthly: How far in advance are nonconference football schedules made?
Dick Baddour: Right now, we're full through 2010 with the exception of two dates. We have an opening in 2007 and one in 2010. Just by its nature and the magnitude of what it involves, football scheduling is done very far in advance. The positive to that is that you know the schedule well in advance. The negative is that it's hard to predict strength of schedule in the future. A school scheduled today could be very competitive, but by the time you play them the program could be in a down cycle. You can get overscheduled or underscheduled that way.
THM: Is the whole process sort of like asking another school for a date?
DB: That's a good analogy. Scheduling can happen in a variety of ways. It can happen in meetings, maybe I see an athletic director and we discuss openings. I seldom go to a meeting when I don't take my football schedule, because I know I'm either going to be approached or I'll see someone we might be interested in playing. Sometimes, we are looking for a game within a particular conference. Another possibility is that a conference calls you and says they have three teams looking for games, and they have certain dates available.
THM: What is Carolina's policy regarding the quality of nonconference opponents?
DB: We are fortunate in that it is a pleasure to work with John Bunting on scheduling. He really likes to have tough schedules. That's what our fans want, and it creates some fun days in Kenan Stadium. Even before Coach Bunting got here, we wanted to strengthen the schedule. Coach Torbush wanted to do that as well. In fact, our future opponents excited Coach Bunting when I showed him the schedule during the interview process.
THM: How much influence does Carolina have with the dates of the ACC schedule?
DB: We know in odd years we'll play Duke, Florida State, Virginia, and Wake Forest at home. In even years, we'll play Clemson, Maryland, Georgia Tech, and NC State at home. We think that's a pretty good balance. What we don't know are the dates those games will be played. All the conference schools tell the ACC the dates we have already filled with nonconference games. Then they schedule in the league games. The beauty of that for the conference is they are able to match teams so that every weekend there will be a top ACC game that will get national attention. The down side is we don't know until January what the schedule will be. Usually, the ACC drafts three or four possible schedules and sends them to the ADs. We have a chance to give feedback and they try to work with us as much as possible, but there comes a point where they can't please everybody on every date.
THM: Is there a possibility of making NC State the season finale instead of Duke?
DB: We have been very interested in finishing the season with NC State because of the rivalry of that game. We believe if the Duke game was played earlier, it would draw more attention. The conference tries to honor some traditions in scheduling, and Duke remains very interested in finishing the season with Carolina. The conference has said this year (since it is in Durham), it will be the season-ending game. That's what Duke requested. Next year, when the Duke game is in Chapel Hill, we requested the State game to be scheduled last, and we hope that will be honored.
THM: Why does it seem that football game times are so much more difficult to set than basketball game times?
DB: The basketball television package is sold by the conference to Raycom. Raycom then either chooses to syndicate the games or to subcontract them out to other networks-ESPN, ABC or CBS. When the schedule is put together, it's done with some predictability and knowledge of what games will be syndicated and which time slots those games will fill.
The football package is not sold to one entity. There are separate contracts with ABC, ESPN, and Jefferson-Pilot. There is a selection order by the nature of those contracts. ABC might have the first pick, then ESPN, and so on. That's why sometimes it can be two weeks before a network will say they want X game, and release Y and Z games to other networks. They're trying to get the best possible matchup they can get. The obvious downside is for the fans, because they can't plan. We all hate that. The upside is that it gives our conference more exposure and helps us compete with other leagues in terms of recruiting and exposure. It also increases revenue, which helps us support our 28 sport program.
THM: What game time would the athletic department most prefer?
DB: If we could pick the time for every game, we'd prefer 1:30. The exception is we've gotten feedback that there is interest in having some night games. Students love the night games. The problem is many fans come from so far away, and getting back home after the game.
THM: Would you like to find a regular nonconference opponent like a South Carolina or someone like that?
DB: Right now we only have three nonconference games, and we're better off with as much flexibility as possible. If we locked into some of those situations we would lose the opportunity to play teams like Notre Dame, Syracuse, Wisconsin, and other teams our fans like to see.
THM: You've expressed concern about the feasibility of Carolina hosting a Thursday night game, as required by the ESPN contract. Where does that obligation stand?
DB: The obligation is that in a five-year period, we are required to host a Thursday night game. We're concerned about the disruption it would cause on campus. Our faculty council voted to oppose required Thursday night games, and Florida State is in the same situation with their faculty council. My preference is not to play a Thursday night game here. That is why we moved the State game to Charlotte. If we're held to it, the only solution would be to play during fall break. That hasn't been an option before, because fall break always fell during the World Series and ESPN didn't want to play a game opposite the World Series. But they've changed their position. That is not a perfect solution because the students wouldn't be here. It puts stress on students to have to come back to campus for the game, and we don't like that situation.
Another issue is that we greatly prefer not to play a game on Labor Day weekend. But given the need for an open date, it's impossible to avoid it. When we don't schedule one of our nonconference games for that weekend, the conference invariably schedules a game. Unfortunately, we don't have the option, as some schools do, of just moving our Labor Day game to Thursday night.
THM: How often will we see a 12-game football regular season schedule?
DB: There are 12 games this year for two reasons. The calendar allows it. The length of the football season didn't change. What changed was the number of weekends within the usual football season. We picked up an extra weekend. At the same time, preseason exempted games are going to be discontinued and this allows all schools the option of an extra game in those years. I serve on the preseason and bowl certification committee of the NCAA and we voted to eliminate the preseason games. We'll go 12 games in 2002, 2003, and then not again until 2008. I don't know if we'll ever see a 12-game season becoming the norm. I support it because it would enable us to make it easier to have six home games. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was lower than a 50-50 possibility.
