Fedora

[WoadBlue]

fedora will not be fired until he's had a couple years to recruit with no ncaa investigation. And the injuries this year are not just the usual attrition coaches are supposed to cope with. it's been a bizarre unprecedented epidemic of season ending injuries to key players. larry's huge buyout is a factor too -- it wasn't that long ago we paid millions to Butch and I can't imagine the powers that be want to dish out more of that kind of money for an ex-coach's extended vacation, not to mention the small fortune we've recently paid in attorney's fees. I've been critical of larry's coaching ability but the fact is he gets at least two years at unc with no ncaa investigation and a normal injured list. a case can be made for firing him now, but it won't happen.

Unless Fedora cannot win unless he definitely has more talent than all his foes, the NCAA mess is not any part of the problem. It perhaps has cost us a couple of 4* and a half dozen high 3* recruits over the past 3 years. But unless all those 8 guys hd turned out to be good enough to be on our 2-Deep to start the season, then they could not have helped any more than maybe 1 or 2 wins.

The extension means Fedora is not going to be fired this year even at 2-10. And Fedora's arrogance tells me he has nothing like the sense of honor of a Gary Anderson, who resigned after screwing up after getting an extension.

But the fact remains that if not for a drumbeat by disgruntled fans that began during his 3rd season, when we started 0-5, Baddour would have kept Bunting for at least a 7th year. Almost all of us had given Bunting a half pass during his 3-9 2nd season because he had beaten Auburn to win the Peach Bowl to close his 1st season. But the 2-9 season meant most hardcore UNC football fans who were not 'tied' to Bunting in some way wanted him gone. Even with all that complaining, Bunting stayed 6 years. Without our public opposition, he might have lasted 10. Because Roy came home, virtually all basketball-first boosters would have ignored even 5 consecutive losing football teams.

All of the chickens have come home to roost this season. If Fedora does not learn from all this failure and make changes, including changing his beloved offense and the man who is technically its OC, he will flounder until he finally gets fired. Fedora is not the kind of man to make changes unless he is basically forced.

 

[midline]

Probably true, and two, three, years down the road UNC football will be in the same place it has been in. Beating those programs you should beat, but not really threatening the elite programs. Whoever thought that things would deteriorate to where beating Duke would indicate improvement? Guess Larry can hang around and work on his abs without worrying about the NCAA for another couple years.

 

[sctarheel30]

Who would you replace fedora with?

 

[tarheel0910]

Who would you replace fedora with?

I don't think there is anyone that is definitely better that would be willing to come here. We are a school that will have to strike gold with a less experienced non P5 coach or coordinator. Established coaches are more than likely not going to come here right now except for maybe Les Miles, but I'm not sure I would want him. Can someone check in with Mack and see if he's enjoying working in the booth?

 

[WoadBlue]

I don't think there is anyone that is definitely better that would be willing to come here. We are a school that will have to strike gold with a less experienced non P5 coach or coordinator. Established coaches are more than likely not going to come here right now except for maybe Les Miles, but I'm not sure I would want him. Can someone check in with Mack and see if he's enjoying working in the booth?

I would not want Les Miles at UNC. LSU football recruits itself. LA produces a very high per capita number of NFL players, and LSU is the only P5 program in the state. Plus, LA has a long border with TX, and LSU has recruited TX well since Huey P. Long was LA Governor.

UNC may require a coach who has proven he can build or rebuild and do so against the odds.

Fedora did not rebuild Southern Miss. He replaced Jeff Bower, who closed his career in Hattiesburg with 14 consecutive winning seasons. Over his final 11 seasons, Bower led Southern Miss to 10 bowl games and won 6 of them. When Fedora took over Southern Miss, it was the most consistent winning program not in a Major conference.

To his credit, Fedora led Southern Miss, in his fourth and final season, to its best record ever: 12-2. But Fedora left a program that was ripe for chaos. There was a major drain of talent that season. Southern Miss went from 12-2 to 0-12. Part of that was that Ellis Johnson was not the right hire. But it was far from just Johnson. The next year after Johnson's 1 season, Todd Moncken was 1-11.

Johnson people defended him by saying that they found a program that lacked talent with experience and also lacked discipline on the field and seemed resistant to the new staff. Moncken decided everything was such a mess that he wanted a clean house. In his 3rd season, Moncken got USM back to 9 wins.

That is one reason that our 2015 record not only does not satisfy me; it makes me wary. After Fedora's 12 win season at Southern Miss, the program went to its lowest point in history. Perhaps inherent in a Fedora team reaching a peak is a huge drop off.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Bingo above

 

[WoadBlue]

Reminder of what Fedora said about no need to rethink anything:

“I don’t question what we’re doing [or] how we’re going about doing it,” Fedora told reporters on Monday. “… I’m not shaky about my philosophy. I’m not questioning whether I can coach. I’m not questioning whether our coaches can coach. I’m not questioning those kinds of things. I know what we’re doing and the way we’re doing things is proven. You’ve just got to put your head down and you keep grinding and you keep doing it and keep doing it and eventually good things are going to happen.”

But with our debacle, he did question how playing in a color other than Carolina Blue and White could help. So we will wear navy this week.

Keep grinding with the same old same old in actual football matters, but get innovative with uniforms.

Now that's leadership.

 

[Archer2]

And yet you have supporters who think he is being shortchanged. They are going to get their wish because he is going to have at least two more unencumbered years to right the ship. I would love nothing more than to be proven absolutely wrong and see him establish UNC as a major player in ACC football.

Prove me wrong Fed. I challenge you. You have no sanctions hanging over your head, you have no scholarship restrictions. Let's see what you can do when you are unencumbered.

 

[uncboy10]

And yet you have supporters who think he is being shortchanged. They are going to get their wish because he is going to have at least two more unencumbered years to right the ship. I would love nothing more than to be proven absolutely wrong and see him establish UNC as a major player in ACC football.

Prove me wrong Fed. I challenge you. You have no sanctions hanging over your head, you have no scholarship restrictions. Let's see what you can do when you are unencumbered.

Right. You'd love to see it, but you'll be pulling against UNC football in the meantime. GTFOH

 

[Archer2]

Right. You'd love to see it, but you'll be pulling against UNC football in the meantime. GTFOH

Again, you want Fed? You got him. Now let's see what he's made of. No more excuses.

 

[WoadBlue]

More of why I worry about Fedora and feel that he will end up being a coach whose Wins average will be mediocre: "“That’s what we do. That’s how we run our offense. That’s who we are. We’re not an under center football team. Maybe about one percent of the time. That’s not what we do. That’s not what we practice, so we’re going to do what we practice and what we believe in."

If Bear Bryant had said that, and stuck to his guns, when asked about the possibility of going to the wishbone to revive his offense, the Bear would have prevented his glorious 1970s because of his pigheadedness.

Fedora seems to worship his offense as if it were handed down to him by God. Because that is not the case, his refusal to learn how to do new things to make his teams more effective offensively can be his total undoing.

 

[riverswe]

Not asking Larry to give up on his spread, just add some more options to your playbook. Give the defense more to prepare for and give you more tools depending on the situation. Should make Larry more successful. A style over substance mentality it seems.

 

[WoadBlue]

Not asking Larry to give up on his spread, just add some more options to your playbook. Give the defense more to prepare for and give you more tools depending on the situation. Should make Larry more successful. A style over substance mentality it seems.

And that is exactly what he is saying he will not do. Fedora's spread simply does NOT make those adjustments: It's not what we do.

And that, more even than a weak OC, explains the bad play-calling. DCs have rather east time preparing and calling their plays an sets because they know what Fedora demands his offense do and not do.

 

[riverswe]

Well said WoadBlue. Larry's stubborn behavior is making it harder for him and the team to succeed. That's selfish. You hit on something I've thought about many times. It's easy for a DC to game plan and game manage against us. We might throw in a couple of trick plays but the other 50 or 60 plays we run are not fooling anyone. He's showing the difference between a conference usa and an acc coach.

 

[WoadBlue]

Well said WoadBlue. Larry's stubborn behavior is making it harder for him and the team to succeed. That's selfish. You hit on something I've thought about many times. It's easy for a DC to game plan and game manage against us. We might throw in a couple of trick plays but the other 50 or 60 plays we run are not fooling anyone. He's showing the difference between a conference usa and an acc coach.

In many ways, Fedora's offense has become predictable.

I think Fedora elevated Kapliovic to OC precisely because Kapilovic has been his OL coach since his first year at Southern Miss, and Kap will do exactly as Fedora wants - down to every play call, every man in motion.

What Fedora's offense needs is new blood, new eyes, at OC. An OC who alters 'what we do' and 'what we don't do,' at least enough to make DCs rethink what they do against us.

Bring in Kevin Wilson as OC and QB coach, and return Kapilovic to OL coach only. And allow Wilson to be in charge, truly in charge.

 

[blazers]

When Fedora took over Southern Miss, it was the most consistent winning program not in a Major conference.

Fedora left a program that was ripe for chaos. There was a major drain of talent that season. Southern Miss went from 12-2 to 0-12. Part of that was that Ellis Johnson was not the right hire. But it was far from just Johnson. The next year after Johnson's 1 season, Todd Moncken was 1-11.

.

So biased.

The new coach was so bad that he lasted a single yr. He was a defensive guy and tried to change the offense entirely and totally sucked - hence the firing. Fed brought over a few recruits that were looking hard at USM - Caleb Peterson, Quinshad and maybe others. Their ineptitude wasn't helped by the graduation of a great system QB, but Johnson would've broken that system regardless.

USM people say Bowers was forced out because he'd stopped recruiting and was happy with 7 win seasons.
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/coaching-changes/why-did-jeff-bower-resign-from-usm/6578095/

His last x yrs:
2001 6–5
2002 7–6
2003 9–4
2004 7–5
2005 7–5
2006 9–5
2007 7–6

Regardless Fed's own players won him that 12 win season, so to say he was bequeathed a nice scenario by Bowers is ignorant.

 

[UNCTarheel1984]

“That’s what we do. That’s how we run our offense. That’s who we are. We’re not an under center football team. Maybe about one percent of the time. That’s not what we do. That’s not what we practice, so we’re going to do what we practice and what we believe in."

Sounds just like what Coach Roy Williams says when people question his strategy after a few losses where the team looks lost and folks are asking why Luke Maye is playing and if UNC will ever beat Duke again.

 

[Archer2]

“That’s what we do. That’s how we run our offense. That’s who we are. We’re not an under center football team. Maybe about one percent of the time. That’s not what we do. That’s not what we practice, so we’re going to do what we practice and what we believe in."

Sounds just like what Coach Roy Williams says when people question his strategy after a few losses where the team looks lost and folks are asking why Luke Maye is playing and if UNC will ever beat Duke again.

Come on man, Roy has three national titles on his resume. And his teams don't look lost at the end of the season, they improve and get better as the season progresses. Fed's teams do not, they tend to fade down the stretch. Huge difference.

 

[UNCTarheel1984]

Come on man, Roy has three national titles on his resume. And his teams don't look lost at the end of the season, they improve and get better as the season progresses. Fed's teams do not, they tend to fade down the stretch. Huge difference.

Coach Williams' stubbornness was legendary well before he won that first title. The point is that being stubborn is not in itself a liability and if you believe in your system and yourself, you don't listen to what the monkey board pundits think about it. The physical nature of football vs. basketball prevents the other comparison attempt. Apples and Oranges.

 

[Archer2]

Of course Roy’s stubborn, all great coaches are, including Dean. But his resume speaks to the justification of his stubbornness. Fed has yet to approach that level of achievement. Ergo, the legitimate questioning of his inflexibility.

 

[UNCTarheel1984]

Of course Roy’s stubborn, all great coaches are, including Dean. But his resume speaks to the justification of his stubbornness. Fed has yet to approach that level of achievement. Ergo, the legitimate questioning of his inflexibility.

I'm fine with questioning Fedora (not that my permission is required) and I am certainly not happy with Fedora's bowl record or the way the team finished 2016. This season is a total wash for reasons not related to Fedora.

 

[riverswe]

Stubbornness aside, there's no comparison between Roy and Larry when it comes to their system. Roy's system is all encompassing - it's offense and defense as well as behavior. I'm hoping Larry gets to this point as well and if he does I think he could be a really good coach.

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

Fed humbled? Dude will ride the injury excuse for a long time. Now that the NCAA mess is behind us, he will be hard pressed to find excuses but when one is presented he will latch onto it.

As will a lot of fans. They'll find something next year, just watch. It'll be the schedule was super difficult, or there wasn't enough fan support, or the new uniforms they wore were too tight to play well in. Anything other than Larrys coaching ability.

I don't know that I would consider Fed a top 15 coach as has been mentioned.

Fed might be a top 15 coach in the ACC

 

[Archer2]

As will a lot of fans. They'll find something next year, just watch. It'll be the schedule was super difficult, or there wasn't enough fan support, or the new uniforms they wore were too tight to play well in. Anything other than Larrys coaching ability.



Fed might be a top 15 coach in the ACC

After watching Syracuse beat Clemson earlier, State almost beat Clemson, and Wake give ND a good game, I fear you may be right. We're sliding farther down the ACC football pecking order every week.

There will be some kind of excuse next year. It can't be Fed's fault. He'll "need more time to rebound from a 2-10 season".

 

[Archer2]

I say go after Mike Norvell right now, and hard. We can outbid Memphis, we have superior facilities, and are in a far superior conference.

 

[WoadBlue]

I say go after Mike Norvell right now, and hard. We can outbid Memphis, we have superior facilities, and are in a far superior conference.

Norvell is a TX native who played for Central Arkansas and married an Arkansas girl. If the Hawgs offer, he is headed to Fayetteville. And there is talk that Ole Miss has him on a short list of 3 or so.

 

[MWHeels]

I think Fedora will get another year anyway, mainly due to all of the injuries this year. He could be gone next year if the team fails to show improvement.

 

[WoadBlue]

I think Fedora will get another year anyway, mainly due to all of the injuries this year. He could be gone next year if the team fails to show improvement.

Improvement from 2 wins is easy. But getting 7 wins may be nigh impossible if he does not get a new OC.

 

[riverswe]

Agree with the new OC comment and hope the improvement from 2 wins is easy comment is true. We've had lots of injuries this year. If it's somehow related to bad luck or something then we shouldn't see that again. If it's somehow related to something we're doing (size/ability of players, prep/practice, etc.) if could happen again.

 

[uncboy10]

Agree with the new OC comment and hope the improvement from 2 wins is easy comment is true. We've had lots of injuries this year. If it's somehow related to bad luck or something then we shouldn't see that again. If it's somehow related to something we're doing (size/ability of players, prep/practice, etc.) if could happen again.

If it was a problem with Fed's system then it should have shown up before now. We just got hit by an insane number of serious injuries, there's practically zero chance that will happen again. We'll probably never see that many injuries to a Carolina football team in any of our lifetimes.

 

[riverswe]

Just seems really strange to have that many season ending injuries if they aren't related to something. Hard to believe that we're that unlucky.

 

[blazers]

Just seems really strange to have that many season ending injuries if they aren't related to something. Hard to believe that we're that unlucky.

Three were upper body breaks - two collar bones (Proehl, Perry) and a forearm (Miles) - I don't see how you could explain that on anything aside from bad luck unless we've been giving our players drugs which weaken bones. Proehl and Miles (5th yr) are seniors and never broke a bone previously. What could've drastically changed which accounts for something like that?

 

[riverswe]

Not saying every injury is related to something we are doing. But 30 injuries just seems really odd to me.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Look at our schedule next year and who we return. Where are there more than a few wins anybody feels good about?

I’m telling you guys, the injuries this year maybe cost us 2 more wins. We were staring at 4-5 wins, maybe 6 at best fully healthy. Next year we will be scratching and clawing trying to win 4 games.

 

[WoadBlue]

UVA is bowl eligible at 6-3. This is Mendenhall's 2nd season in Charlottesville. The four years before he arrived, UVA was 4-8, 2-10, 5-7, and 4-8.

 

[blazers]

UVA is bowl eligible at 6-3. This is Mendenhall's 2nd season in Charlottesville. The four years before he arrived, UVA was 4-8, 2-10, 5-7, and 4-8.

They won just 2 games last yr, central Mich and Duke.

I feel a big turnaround has been QB and OL which is super interesting cuz they start two grad xfers on OL, just like us.

 

[ticket2ride04]

The amount of chicken Little’s running around ITT is astounding

 

[uncboy10]

Look at our schedule next year and who we return. Where are there more than a few wins anybody feels good about?

I’m telling you guys, the injuries this year maybe cost us 2 more wins. We were staring at 4-5 wins, maybe 6 at best fully healthy. Next year we will be scratching and clawing trying to win 4 games.

Nearly our entire 2 deep has been decimated. We would have literally been a different football team without those injuries. And we've lost a shocking number of close games this year all that being considered.

 

[blazers]

Nearly our entire 2 deep has been decimated. We would have literally been a different football team without those injuries. And we've lost a shocking number of close games this year all that being considered.

I agree. We've had several close games without really good difference-makers. The O wouldn't be dynamite because the OL and QB would be stinky regardless, but the D has played well enough that we haven't needed dynamite.

 

[blazers]

Look at our schedule next year and who we return. Where are there more than a few wins anybody feels good about?

I’m telling you guys, the injuries this year maybe cost us 2 more wins. We were staring at 4-5 wins, maybe 6 at best fully healthy. Next year we will be scratching and clawing trying to win 4 games.

Cal
Hatton projected starter is out. Spain breaks hand early in game. Spain is ONE obvious difference maker and that was a close game. Though I felt the D blew that game. So maybe this was a loss regardless Spain/Hatton, but our Run game was moving, so perhaps those two help us RUN more, preventing our INTS.

Louisville.
Spain is out. Sweet and Andre miss half the game, yet we're winning at the start of the 4th quarter. So 3 difference-makers miss that 4th quarter.

Duke.
Out - Sweet, Andre, Thomas Jackson
Hurt prior to 4th quarter: Carl Tucker, Austin Proehl, Tyler Powell *started that game)
YET we're winning start of 4th quarter. SIX starters and difference-makers that could've helped 4th quarter.

GT was close at half til the D broke down. Dalton, Tyler Powell, Andre Smith are three starters that missed that game entirely. And of course having some WR that could catch drastically change that gm.

UVA and Miami were close games. Some sure-handed WR alone would've helped in those games and Proehl/Jackson/Tucker are exactly that. Britt has been okay but Donnie Miles is better and he missed both.

5 games above were winnable in my opinion even with our bad QBs and so-so OL if we have healthy Dalton, Andre, Powell, Miles on D, Jackson, Proehl, Spain, Carl Tucker on O, or maybe half these guys.