University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Bunting Lands Recruiting Coup
December 7, 2004 | Football
Dec. 7, 2004
By Adam Lucas
Complex rules govern what John Bunting can say about the recruiting process. Some days he can talk about it, some days he can't. Some names he can mention, other names he can't.
But he didn't mind revealing Tuesday morning that his Tar Heels had gained a commitment from their top recruit: offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill. After the 2003 campaign, Tranquill said he didn't want to end his 42-year coaching career on a down note. He returned for what it seemed might be his coaching swan song, shepherding Darian Durant through the final year of his record-setting Carolina career.
Tranquill's offense ranked second in the ACC in 2004, rolling up 393.1 yards per game; the Heels were the only team to rank in the top four in the league in both passing offense and rushing offense.
So his return for a season in which Carolina will be Durant-less for the first time in four years was welcome news. If all the other assistants return--something Bunting said he expected--it will mark the first time in his Carolina tenure that his staff has not experienced turnover.
"He's probably our number-one recruit," Bunting said. "He's one of the great offensive minds in the country and I'm extremely excited about that...This guy is a genius. He works at it and he loves it. He has a tremendous amount of passion for the game and for his offense, and I know Matt Baker is thrilled he's going to be back, as is the rest of the offensive staff and the players."
"I think the biggest reasons were that I feel good physically, I still think I can contribute and I think the team is going to be pretty good next year," Tranquill said. "The combination of those things was the main reason, and I'm not sure what I would do if I retired."
The Tar Heels will get a chance to play against an offense very similar to the one Tranquill designed for them when they take on Boston College on Dec. 30 in the Continental Tire Bowl. Eagles offensive coordinator Dana Bible favors the same multiple looks Tranquill utilizes. The Tar Heel staff knows Bible well--he won the Frank Broyles Award in 2000 as the top assistant coach in the country and was brought in by Bunting for a short clinic with the UNC coaching staff a year later.
Carolina's attention hasn't fully turned to the bowl yet, however. Players will spend this week finishing their exams before resuming practice this weekend. They'll practice eight times before Christmas, break for the holidays, and then reassemble in Charlotte on the evening of Dec. 25, when they'll eat Christmas dinner as a team before beginning an essentially normal week of game preparation for Boston College.
Before the season started, a stellar senior class that includes Durant, Jason Brown, Madison Hedgecock, Jacque Lewis, Jonas Seawright, and several other key performers said they were trying not to think about the fact that it was their last season of football in Chapel Hill. Now, with just one game remaining, they've been forced to gain a new sense of perspective on what the past four or five years have meant to them. As freshmen, they went to the Peach Bowl, but many were simply along for the ride. This year, there's a much stronger sense of achievement.
"Most of what we did our freshman year was because of a tremendous senior class," Jason Brown said. "We had a lot of leadership. The next couple years we depended on a lot of the younger guys. After investing so much the past couple years in changing our program, it makes this bowl so much more meaningful."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.
