University of North Carolina Athletics
Extra Points Mailbag
October 8, 2004 | Football
Oct. 8, 2004
by Lee Pace, Extra Points
Thanks to Harris Prevost of Grandfather Mountain for providing a ray of sunshine in what continues to be an onslaught of negativity surrounding Tar Heel football. Harris writes:
A major state university hired its new head football coach from a small Division II school. The first six years, his record was 24 wins, 40 losses and two ties (an average mark of 4-7). In his sixth year, when he had his own players and should be reaching a peak, his record was 2-8-1.
The school administration and the vast majority of fans and players felt he was a good man and a good coach and that with patience and support, he would build a winning program. They supported him and the team through those first troubling years even though they were losing. Six years of losing is a long time.
Back then, there were no Internet message boards where a few disgruntled "fans" could create the false sensation that the coach was horrible and make it look like everyone in the stadium wanted him to be fired. There were no rumor mills talking about "who the next coach will be" while the present coach and players were working hard in the middle of their season to turn their program around.
A quote from the coach in the school's current media guide reads:
"Stability means consistency and when you can be consistent in how you perform on Saturday, that's what gives you a chance to win. I feel that doesn't happen unless you keep basically the same coaching staff intact. I really feel good about our coaching staff. I feel good about their knowledge and I feel great about the way they treat the players. I think Virginia Tech is really fortunate to have what I think is the top staff in the country."
That from head coach Frank Beamer.
Virginia Tech stood by its coach for a rocky first six years. The seventh year, 1993, that patience and trust were rewarded with a 9-3 season and an Independence Bowl victory. The Hokies haven't looked back -- they have had winning seasons and played in bowls ever since. Beamer is ranked fourth in wins among active Division I-A coaches (behind Bowden, Paterno and Holtz).
I might add that, at the very same time Beamer was building his program in the late-1980s and early-1990s, so too was Tar Heel coach Mack Brown. The difference in the programs? Beamer was a Virginia Tech graduate and a native of the mountains of western Virginia; he was at home. Brown, with no North Carolina or UNC roots, loved the Carolina experience but in the end coveted the biggest of the big-time of college football and left for Texas.
Tech has been rock solid ever since.
Carolina has been unstable ever since.
In the last two regimes of head coaches, the Tar Heels have had:
Three QBs coaches and three offensive coordinators.
Three offensive line coaches.
Two wide receivers coaches.
Three running backs coaches.
Two tight ends coaches.
And the offensive side of the ball has been relatively stable. Here's where the whirlwind begins as we look at defense:
Five sets of coordinators (Carl Torbush, Kenny Browning, Jon Tenuta, Dave Huxtable and now John Gutekunst/Marvin Sanders).
Three defensive ends coaches.
Three defensive tackles coaches.
Three linebackers coaches.
Four secondary coaches.
You can be sure that's not how Tennessee and Florida State operate.
Of course, choosing the right coaches is the job of the head coach. John Bunting has obviously misfired on a couple of decisions on the defensive side. He came into the job without an extensive list of contacts in the upper-reaches of Division I football. He's had to learn to hire and learn to recruit, both of which he's done well. Beamer suffered the same problems in the early days at Virginia Tech; he made wholesale staff changes several years into his tenure in Blacksburg.
Today Bunting has a core of excellent young players on defense and a solid group of coaches. Stability and consistency would do wonders for the program at this juncture.
The Tar Heels used a five-receiver set against Florida State. Is this the first time they have used it, and are we likely to see more of it during the rest of the season?
Mike Mills, Advance
Yes, the FSU game was the first this season the Heels have used that set, and you can expect to see more of it. It worked pretty well Saturday. The 25-yard completion from Darian Durant to Adarius Bowman on the Tar Heels' second possession of the game came from the five-wide set.
I have noticed that officials this year have frequently been identifying the number of the offending player(s) when a penalty flag is thrown. Is this a new policy change this year, a conference-by-conference scenario, or simply up to the discretion of individual crews? For what it's worth, I think it's a move in the right direction, especially on personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct calls. What's the deal?
Lee Quinn, Raleigh
This is a nationwide rule change for the 2004 season as the college ranks are following a long-time NFL practice of announcing the number of the player committing the foul. The change was made for a number of reasons.
Even though the offending player was not announced publicly, the coaching staff always asked for the number of the guilty party. The referee had been spending so much time running to the sideline to give the coach this information, the football rules committee said he might as well announce it publicly and not have to run to the sideline. The number of a player whistled for a personal foul in basketball is matter of public record; why not apply the same thinking to football? And you are right -- announcing the offending player in a personal foul/unsportsmanlike scenario might be a deterrent to undisciplined behavior.
The problem so far this year is that technology bugaboos are frequently preventing the official's announcement from being heard clearly over the public address system. And as we saw Saturday in Tallahassee, the referee on occasion gets the offending player's number incorrect.
Two questions:
1) In the FSU game, defensive end Tommy Davis was credited with one sack and three tackles-for-loss. Is the sack included in or excluded from the three tackles-for-loss?
2) 2) As a lifelong Carolina fan and strong supporter of Coach Bunting, I continue to hope he and the team can pull off an upset or two before the end of the season. I know that the coaches and players go into every game thinking that they can win, if they execute the game plan. However, considering how inconsistently we have played this year, it is hard for me (and I'm sure many other Carolina supporters) to look at the remaining schedule and feel positive that we will beat anyone else except Duke (and that game is probably a toss-up). Do you have any insights that might encourage those of us who feel this way?
Chris Welch, Concord
First question: A sack is defined as tackling a quarterback who has the intention of throwing a forward pass. A tackle-for-loss is stopping any ball-carrier behind the line of scrimmage. So yes -- when Davis made a sack, it was also counted as a tackle-for-loss. If a quarterback is stopped for a two-yard loss while running the option, however, it's a tackle-for-loss and not a sack, since there was no intention of throwing a pass.
Second question: There absolutely is hope for the rest of the season. On offense, the Tar Heels are looking for some improved precision in their passing game and getting tailback Ronnie McGill back into the lineup. When those things happen, the Heels should be every bit as good as hoped in preseason. They have played well in the offensive line, and fullback Madison Hedgecock was the offensive player-of-the-game for his blocking prowess.
"Nobody this year has blocked Florida State and knocked them down like we did," coordinator Gary Tranquill says.
The defense is getting better each week. Jacoby Watkins, for example, was tested deep five times Saturday by Florida State and beaten only once. Steps toward progress are being made at most every position.
Marvin Sanders prepared a breakdown of the defense's performance against FSU and noted there were 64 defensive snaps that accounted for 227 yards of offense and 10 points. And there were nine snaps allowing 215 yards and 28 points.
"Those nine plays killed us," Sanders says. "We've got to get those nine plays down to, say, four plays. You're going to give up some plays. But we're just giving up too many."
Carolina faces a difficult schedule. Miami is in another universe in terms of talent. Utah on the road will be very, very challenging. But looking at common opponents and scores, it seems that N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest are good teams but mortal teams. If the Tar Heels play to their capabilities, they absolutely can win some games the second half of the year.
Send your questions about Tar Heel football to Lee Pace at lpace@nc.rr.com . Please include your first and last names and hometown. His Q&A column will appear each Friday during the season.
