Rock bottom? How soon we forget what rock bottom actually feels like (feel free to peruse Torbush 99, Bunting 02 and 03, Fedora 17 and 18). If we are at rock bottom, I feel sorry for the teams we beat last year like Minnesota, Wake, UVa & FSU. Those teams must be at rock bottom bottom.
UNC Football Catch-all | Bill Belichick Era underway
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CFordUNC
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I don’t mean rock bottom from a wins-losses standpoint. I mean rock bottom from a “we’ve tried almost everything over the last three decades and are still a perpetually underachieving and underperforming football program.” Obviously UNC isn’t even remotely close to being like, say, Duke of the 2000’s or even UNC of the early 2000’s.
SnoopRob
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I'm not sure that last season's team was actually much better than the Carolina teams you mention here. Here are the Massey Ratings for each of those years:
1999 - 7.23 rating, 73rd in the nation
2002 - 6.66, 70th
2003 - 6.66, 69th
2017 - 6.95, 90th
2018 - 7.39, 70th
2024 - 7.36, 68th
It seems that our 2024 team wasn't that much better than those other teams, but the difference is likely an easier schedule (including some really bad teams in the ACC) and maybe a little luck.
CFordUNC
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John Bunting getting the 2004 team to a 6-5 record in the regular season against the #1 toughest SOS in the country is almost more impressive IMO than anything UNC football has accomplished since then, save for the 2015 season.
The Fedora teams were actually not terrible. They just had terrible QB play and some bad luck (the Cal game in 2018 when Jalen Dalton got the absurd late hit penalty, the Miami game at home with the bad fumble luck, etc.) Those Bunting teams were god awful. The defenses were atrocious and the offenses were not much better.
And when you are talking about rock bottom, nothing -- and I mean nothing -- is worse than the 28-3 loss to Furman in 1999. Give me a gazillion 70-50 JMU games before that disaster. Of course, 1999 did have the redeeming quality of beating State with a 5th string QB, but nothing will ever remove the rock bottom of all rock bottoms of that year.
SnoopRob
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Very true. Bunting's teams weren't always great, but he had some very difficult schedules back in those days.
CFordUNC
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That 2004 team was during my freshman year in HS and I’ve literally never been happier to go to school on a Monday than j was the Monday after we stuffed TA McLendon in a locker at the goal line in BKS. I went to HS with nothing but State fans.
The 2004 Bunting team was solid (although I still have issues from the 663 yards we gave up in Salt Lake City to Alex Smith -- a game I saw in person) and the 2005-06 teams were passable. It was the 2002-03 teams that were truly putrid.
SnoopRob
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I was living abroad for all of the 1999 season and about half of the 2000 season, so I don't really have much recollection of them. I couldn't watch any games and would only find out who won online the next day when I woke up. I remember that we weren't great, but I don't have any emotional attachment to those years.
Miami of Ohio in 1998 (when they had Big Ben and we had PhatBacks) was also pretty discouraging - mainly because it was clear that Carl Torbush was not going to be a suitable Mack Brown replacement (despite the promise of the 97 Gator Bowl)
I was traveling internationally for most of the 1995 season - so that one is pretty much a blur for me. And I missed the entire 03-04 basketball season, Roy’s first year, as well as the tail end of the 03 football season.
It is such a different world today. I wouldn’t miss a single game if I traveled now (although some might be watched on delay).
I was at that game. My seats were in section 110 I think which was right along the goal line he got stuffed at. Khalief The Mountain Mitchell.. What a swing in emotions.
SnoopRob
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I remember that 1998 game far too well. That was my senior year at Carolina and we were expected to be good. That might be the most shocking Carolina game I can remember based on the opponent and how bad we looked. (Although Miami of Ohio didn't have Ben Roethlisberger that year, he wouldn't arrive in college for a couple of more years.)
It is weird to think back on how different it is these days to be able to see sports wherever we are. I was also traveling during March Madness in 2006 while in grad school and even by that time we were able to stream games via the internet as my classmates and I in Germany watched games together at night using a laptop and the class projector.
One of my favorite Carolina Basketball memories comes from the 1999-2000 season while I was abroad. I was living in India (10.5 hours ahead of the east coast of the US) and late on Saturday nights we'd usually get some random basketball game from whatever was showing on ESPN or ESPN2. There was no way to know ahead of time what the game would be, you just turned on the tv and took your chances, but unless I had other plans I'd tend to watch. I remember on a particular late January Saturday night, I'd been having a tough time overall and had had a pretty bad day where a number of things had gone wrong and I was fighting the urge of wanting to return to the US. My roommates were out of town and I was home alone and I thought about just going to bed to sleep, but I ultimately decided that I'd wait to see what game would be on before deciding. I turned on the tv and waited and before long the studio went to the game saying something like, "And now we're going to Atlanta to watch Georgia Tech take on North Carolina." I simply broke down crying at seeing the GT court and Coach Gut and the Carolina Basketball team getting ready to tip. Watching that game everything felt different, like I wasn't halfway around the world from home away from all of my family and friends, but instead I had the comfortable feeling of watching Carolina Basketball. After I managed to compose myself, I totally let myself get caught up in the game and yelled and screamed and cheered. We weren't a terribly good team that year (at least until the NCAAT), but after a rough first half we totally dominated GT in the second half to win by 17. Somehow, watching that game made everything feel so much better. After the game and after I managed to calm down, I went to bed and went to sleep. When I got up the next morning, things just didn't feel as bad as they had before the game the night before. Life got better and I really enjoyed my time living abroad before I returned to the US near the end of the year to go to grad school. But on that night, Carolina Basketball made all the difference for me and made living in a foreign country feel not so foreign. Interestingly enough, it was the only Carolina Basketball game that I got to watch that year, but it was certainly the game I most needed to see.
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“… "We expected the response to be positive, but it has been even more overwhelmingly positive than we imagined," UNC chancellor Lee Roberts told ESPN. "We obviously wouldn't do it if we didn't think it was a wise investment, and it's still early, but we couldn't feel better about where we are with that."
And yet, it almost didn't happen, and within the halls of power in Chapel Hill, there's still plenty of frustration about how this process unfolded. The biggest hire of the 2024 coaching carousel and, arguably, the biggest moment in Tar Heels football history was the product of a chaotic search filled with political persuasion that involved now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, internal backstabbing, airing of yearslong grievances and a bitter boardroom drama that might've been more appropriate for an episode of "Succession" than the hiring of a college football coach.
… Belichick first sent word of his interest in the UNC job through political allies. He reached out to a longtime friend, former U.S. senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who then contacted Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, hoping to light a fire in Chapel Hill in support of Belichick.
"Rubio follows the sports world pretty closely, and he called me and said, 'There's a chance Belichick would come to Chapel Hill,'" Tillis told ESPN. "He said, 'He wants a school with a great academic reputation, and he wants to try to build a program to bring them a national championship. I said, 'Well, let me go [make some calls].'"
Tillis hung up the phone and immediately called Phil Berger, the North Carolina Senate president pro tempore, who had strong connections with power players at UNC. Berger initially laughed at the suggestion until Tillis assured him that, yes, Belichick truly wanted the job.
That became the spark that lit the fuse, and before long, the Belichick chase was a raging inferno among key stakeholders, including Preyer. As one source put it, "the push to land Belichick all started with the politicians." …”
bluhevn
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“… "We expected the response to be positive, but it has been even more overwhelmingly positive than we imagined," UNC chancellor Lee Roberts told ESPN. "We obviously wouldn't do it if we didn't think it was a wise investment, and it's still early, but we couldn't feel better about where we are with that."
And yet, it almost didn't happen, and within the halls of power in Chapel Hill, there's still plenty of frustration about how this process unfolded. The biggest hire of the 2024 coaching carousel and, arguably, the biggest moment in Tar Heels football history was the product of a chaotic search filled with political persuasion that involved now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, internal backstabbing, airing of yearslong grievances and a bitter boardroom drama that might've been more appropriate for an episode of "Succession" than the hiring of a college football coach.
… Belichick first sent word of his interest in the UNC job through political allies. He reached out to a longtime friend, former U.S. senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who then contacted Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, hoping to light a fire in Chapel Hill in support of Belichick.
"Rubio follows the sports world pretty closely, and he called me and said, 'There's a chance Belichick would come to Chapel Hill,'" Tillis told ESPN. "He said, 'He wants a school with a great academic reputation, and he wants to try to build a program to bring them a national championship. I said, 'Well, let me go [make some calls].'"
Tillis hung up the phone and immediately called Phil Berger, the North Carolina Senate president pro tempore, who had strong connections with power players at UNC. Berger initially laughed at the suggestion until Tillis assured him that, yes, Belichick truly wanted the job.
That became the spark that lit the fuse, and before long, the Belichick chase was a raging inferno among key stakeholders, including Preyer. As one source put it, "the push to land Belichick all started with the politicians." …”
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If the path was Rubio, Tillis, Berger then we are well and truly fucked. Nothing good has
Yeah, I could have done without everything reading that. Seriously.
I think we all knew Belichick had to do some unorthodox back-channeling to get connected with the UNC PTB, so I guess this isn’t the most surprising news. Frick Tillis, Rubio, and Berger, but I’m just going to hold my nose and ignore that part because I think Belichick at UNC is going to very entertaining to watch unfold, for better or worse lol.
Also, very on brand for us that the process was unorganized and chaotic behind the scenes.
Also, very on brand for us that the process was unorganized and chaotic behind the scenes.
billybobblockhead
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Wasn't that Miami (Ohio) game that one where the Heels had about 875 turnovers?
Bigs23
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That takes a bit of the shine off of this.
SnoopRob
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“… "We expected the response to be positive, but it has been even more overwhelmingly positive than we imagined," UNC chancellor Lee Roberts told ESPN. "We obviously wouldn't do it if we didn't think it was a wise investment, and it's still early, but we couldn't feel better about where we are with that."
And yet, it almost didn't happen, and within the halls of power in Chapel Hill, there's still plenty of frustration about how this process unfolded. The biggest hire of the 2024 coaching carousel and, arguably, the biggest moment in Tar Heels football history was the product of a chaotic search filled with political persuasion that involved now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, internal backstabbing, airing of yearslong grievances and a bitter boardroom drama that might've been more appropriate for an episode of "Succession" than the hiring of a college football coach.
… Belichick first sent word of his interest in the UNC job through political allies. He reached out to a longtime friend, former U.S. senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who then contacted Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, hoping to light a fire in Chapel Hill in support of Belichick.
"Rubio follows the sports world pretty closely, and he called me and said, 'There's a chance Belichick would come to Chapel Hill,'" Tillis told ESPN. "He said, 'He wants a school with a great academic reputation, and he wants to try to build a program to bring them a national championship. I said, 'Well, let me go [make some calls].'"
Tillis hung up the phone and immediately called Phil Berger, the North Carolina Senate president pro tempore, who had strong connections with power players at UNC. Berger initially laughed at the suggestion until Tillis assured him that, yes, Belichick truly wanted the job.
That became the spark that lit the fuse, and before long, the Belichick chase was a raging inferno among key stakeholders, including Preyer. As one source put it, "the push to land Belichick all started with the politicians." …”
God, we are a clown show.
Surprisingly, the Rubio/Tillis/Berger part doesn't really bother me. I mean, it's unusual, but Belichick is an unusual candidate. It doesn't sound like they had much to do with the hiring beyond passing along that Belichick was interested in the job.
Preyer is a fucking idiot, but we already knew that. We'll be better off when his (and Jennifer Lloyd's) term ends in a couple of years. He acted outside the bounds of his position, made an offer to Belichick we couldn't fulfill, drove off nearly every other realistic candidate we had, and gave Belichick all of the leverage in negotiating with us. If Roberts hadn't been able to pull this out, we would have looked like fools and nearly all of it would have been Preyer's fault.
And that's before we even get into the fact that Cunningham is a great AD and I'll be shocked if he doesn't get out of Chapel Hill within the next couple of years.