John Bunting walked into his post-game press conference looking like he has in much of his six years as the head coach of the Tar Heels, and that would be frustrated, disappointed.
A heartbreaking week in which he had lost his dream job had ended just moments ago in a last-second loss to Wake Forest.
One thing that can be said for Carolina, they didn't fold the tent. They played their most competitive game in weeks and had the 24th-ranked Deacons on the brink. Carolina outgained Wake Forest, had the ball longer, had more first downs and ran more plays, but still lost the football game. Carolina played about as well as it could play, but for a struggling team, that really isn't very good. It wasn't enough.
When you've had the season that Carolina's had, you just can't make the mistakes they made. A blocked punt by the Deacons' Alphonso Smith led to one score. A fumble led to Wake Forest's go- ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, and then after Carolina drove the field and with just seconds left, Joe Dailey's pass was picked off in the end zone by the Deacons' Jon Abbate. I thought the Tar Heels could have managed the clock better during that drive. But as Carolina wide receiver Jesse Holley said, "We had 'em on the ropes." And they did, but the rope turned out to be very slippery.
A post-game news conference is always interesting. Lots of print and TV people gathered around various players in a large room, all trying to get material for their stories. Players admitted it had been a tough week, but that the team had tried to use Bunting's dismissal as a rallying point. Basically, the players wanted to stay together as a team and get some wins. Players we talked with said it wasn't so much to win one for the coach, that Bunting wouldn't want that, but just to win for themselves as a team and a program.
And they came close, they really did. Holley said he was afraid that nobody would come to the game, but a supportive crowd was on hand, and they almost saw Carolina upset the 24th-ranked team in the country. It didn't happen. Wake Forest knows how to win football games. Carolina doesn't, and now the Tar Heels at 1-7 go to Notre Dame and a national television appearance. Don't you know NBC's excited about this one.
Of course, there was a lot of talk in the press box about replacements for Bunting. Carolina faithful would love for the school to secure a "big-name coach." Butch Davis, the former coach of Miami, would fit into that category, and he is out there, but is he looking for a bigger fish? Here's an interesting fact: the last time Carolina hired a "big-name coach" was in the mid-50s, when they hired Jim Tatum, who had earlier led Maryland to a national championship and was a former National Coach of the Year.
Jim Hickey, who was Tatum's replacement after his death, was an assistant on Tatum's staff. Bill Dooley was an assistant coach at Georgia when he was hired. Dick Crum was the head coach at Miami of Ohio. Mack Brown is a big name now, but at the time he was hired at UNC, he was the head coach at Tulane, while Carl Torbush was elevated to head coach from Brown's staff and Bunting was an NFL assistant who had been a head coach in Division III. Big-name football coaches don't have a history of coming to Carolina.
Athletic Director Dick Baddour and his consultant group looking for a head coach have their work cut out for them. There is potential at Carolina, and the Tar Heels have had their moments over the years. Just not a lot of consistency, and now the program is suffering through one of its lowest ebbs. They need to find a coach who knows how to run a program who will want to build Carolina's program and make it his own. Someone who believes Carolina can compete with the best. Someone who won't want to use UNC as a stepping stone.
Oh, Carolina will hire a coach, but will he be the right one? That is the question, and who right now has the answer?
