Probably Fedora's most stupid move early

[WoadBlue]

was not keeping Ken Browning on staff. I was not alone in saying that failure could harm big time. Those of us who said it were correct.

A few of of us have hoped that Browning would come back now, to help with recruiting. Apparently, he has returned.

 

[blazers]

Underestimating academic impact on DL recruiting/retention was more stupid, if we're making a list.

 

[JimmyinVA]

fedora is a good guy with limited analytical and program management skills. he'll be fine in a less demanding position where he doesn't have to multi-task. larry did his best for unc, and i wish him well.

 

[WoadBlue]

Underestimating academic impact on DL recruiting/retention was more stupid, if we're making a list.

Browning would have helped with that a good deal.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

was not keeping Ken Browning on staff. I was not alone in saying that failure could harm big time. Those of us who said it were correct.

A few of of us have hoped that Browning would come back now, to help with recruiting. Apparently, he has returned.

Thank you for stating what I said from day 1 to quite a few on here who shit on the notion that years ago that the loss of “some old high school liaison” would be that impactful. Needless to say, it was extremely detrimental to in state recruiting that has since turned around, pretty much the minute we got rid of Fedora.

 

[WoadBlue]

Thank you for stating what I said from day 1 to quite a few on here who shit on the notion that years ago that the loss of “some old high school liaison” would be that impactful. Needless to say, it was extremely detrimental to in state recruiting that has since turned around, pretty much the minute we got rid of Fedora.

Ken Browning was a GREAT NC HS coach, and Mack brought him to UNC. He stayed and kept doing his part to bring good talent to UNC. It was unbelievably stupid and arrogant of Fedora not to keep him on staff.

Coach Browning will help us a consultant. It wasn't just NC HS coaches who liked and trusted him. He was also well respected in VA and SC HS coaching circles. This will be his last hurrah.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Ken Browning was a GREAT NC HS coach, and Mack brought him to UNC. He stayed and kept doing his part to bring good talent to UNC. It was unbelievably stupid and arrogant of Fedora not to keep him on staff.

Coach Browning will help us a consultant. It wasn't just NC HS coaches who liked and trusted him. He was also well respected in VA and SC HS coaching circles. This will be his last hurrah.

Tremendous guy. Tremendous conduit for the program and high school coaches. As you highlighted, he was a very successful high school coach and could connect with those guys as he knew their battles and their struggles. He was a friend to all and I look forward to picking that up again which will help our brand and help our recruiting.

 

[blazers]

Browning would have helped with that a good deal.

How so?

 

[truetarheelraider0806]

How so?

Browning had, and has the ear of nc coaches in highschool... fedora would probably still be here if he was retained

 

[WoadBlue]

How so?

Because of his time as a HS coach, he knew all the ins and outs of keeping players eligible, from all angles including the one that knew smoke screens, shall we say, that masked a player's academic deficiencies to keep him on the HS field and help him get a college scholarship.

When you how HS coaches and administrators do such things, you know to catch them in players you are recruiting.

Browning also has a very good sense about which guys have the deep work ethic, including to remain academically eligible.

 

[ticket2ride04]

Because of his time as a HS coach, he knew all the ins and outs of keeping players eligible, from all angles including the one that knew smoke screens, shall we say, that masked a player's academic deficiencies to keep him on the HS field and help him get a college scholarship.

When you how HS coaches and administrators do such things, you know to catch them in players you are recruiting.

Browning also has a very good sense about which guys have the deep work ethic, including to remain academically eligible.

Browning wouldn’t have changed the internal hurdles unc placed on athletics.

 

[WoadBlue]

Browning wouldn’t have changed the internal hurdles unc placed on athletics.

No - he would have been a great help in evaluating players to know when not to waste any time recruiting because the guy would not make it, or really did not care to make it, or had the attitude that meant a likely mess up if enrolled.

 

[ticket2ride04]

No - he would have been a great help in evaluating players to know when not to waste any time recruiting because the guy would not make it, or really did not care to make it, or had the attitude that meant a likely mess up if enrolled.

Bruh, we’ve had probably our highest academic performance of athletes in years. Our issue was we didn’t take more borderline kids with talent.

 

[WoadBlue]

Bruh, we’ve had probably our highest academic performance of athletes in years. Our issue was we didn’t take more borderline kids with talent.

But we haven't had depth on the DL, or at LB. Part of that is focusing recruiting efforts on too many who could not get into UNC or would not want to do whatever extra work was required to get into UNC or simply would prefer to play at a school that could be labelled a 'football factory.'

Would a Marquis Haynes admitted to UNC have helped our D? Of course. But he also was part of all that Ole Miss talent that has meant a rather stiff probation for the Rebs. I'm not saying he was a dirtied recruit. But the fact is that the more you lower standards, moral even more than academic, the more you arrange bad things to happen even while winning. Baylor is a perfect recent example.

Browning always has known talent while being a very good judge of character, most specifically in the area of work ethic.

As a consultant he will be limited, but he still can help us evaluate guys from that vantage. It will help us find guys who are willing to work to be at UNC and win at UNC.

 

[ticket2ride04]

But we haven't had depth on the DL, or at LB. Part of that is focusing recruiting efforts on too many who could not get into UNC or would not want to do whatever extra work was required to get into UNC or simply would prefer to play at a school that could be labelled a 'football factory.'

Would a Marquis Haynes admitted to UNC have helped our D? Of course. But he also was part of all that Ole Miss talent that has meant a rather stiff probation for the Rebs. I'm not saying he was a dirtied recruit. But the fact is that the more you lower standards, moral even more than academic, the more you arrange bad things to happen even while winning. Baylor is a perfect recent example.

Browning always has known talent while being a very good judge of character, most specifically in the area of work ethic.

As a consultant he will be limited, but he still can help us evaluate guys from that vantage. It will help us find guys who are willing to work to be at UNC and win at UNC.

UNC has recruited good kids the last few years and avoided marginal kids. It’s why so many NC coaches are annoyed. We’ve ignored a lot of places because they either wouldn’t get in or stay in. For Pete’s sake, we have been called walk-on U because we’ve focused on kids who can get in.

There are lots of things to pick on Fedora and company for, but character and ethic isn’t one. We’ve had high character guys.

 

[blazers]

Because of his time as a HS coach, he knew all the ins and outs of keeping players eligible, from all angles including the one that knew smoke screens, shall we say, that masked a player's academic deficiencies to keep him on the HS field and help him get a college scholarship.

When you how HS coaches and administrators do such things, you know to catch them in players you are recruiting.

It sounds like you are saying Browning knew how to squeeze people thru tight cracks, but that was back in the early nineties, not the post-butch era. More importantly only half the problem was getting in, the other half was staying in.

Browning also has a very good sense about which guys have the deep work ethic, including to remain academically eligible.

This is utter bullshit. It's impossible to tell how an 18 yr old is going to do from a work-focus perspective once they're out from home in an entirely new environment, athlete or not.

 

[Archer2]

And the Fed defendants just keep on coming. He’s gone and whatever his shortcomings were or whatever restrictions the school post Butch imposed upon him, are moot. Some feel he’s being unjustly criticized, others don’t. Granted, he inherited a bad situation but he had several seasons to make his mark and was very well compensated for his efforts. There’s no need to feel sorry for him.

The fact is he’s gone and while I appreciate the effort he put in, I for one am damn glad he’s gone. And while I wasn’t overwhelmed with the hiring of Mack, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the results the staff has achieved in a very short period of time. This staff improved our ‘19 class by 50 spots and has us off to a great start in ‘20. Let’s let sleeping dogs lie, quit the petty bickering, and look forward to a brighter future.

 

[blazers]

I'm not the one who is on here insinuating that Ken Browning is the reason we didn't have more than 11 wins in 2015 ;-)

Future seems bright recruiting-wise, and that's what it is all about. Nothing but positive mojo since the Greg robinson rumors.

 

[tarheel0910]

And the Fed defendants just keep on coming. He’s gone and whatever his shortcomings were or whatever restrictions the school post Butch imposed upon him, are moot. Some feel he’s being unjustly criticized, others don’t. Granted, he inherited a bad situation but he had several seasons to make his mark and was very well compensated for his efforts. There’s no need to feel sorry for him.

The fact is he’s gone and while I appreciate the effort he put in, I for one am damn glad he’s gone. And while I wasn’t overwhelmed with the hiring of Mack, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the results the staff has achieved in a very short period of time. This staff improved our ‘19 class by 50 spots and has us off to a great start in ‘20. Let’s let sleeping dogs lie, quit the petty bickering, and look forward to a brighter future.

Agreed. Fed threads at this point are useless. He's gone and there isn't really a need to rehash his tenure. Let's move on to the current staff.

 

[WoadBlue]

Agreed. Fed threads at this point are useless. He's gone and there isn't really a need to rehash his tenure. Let's move on to the current staff.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

The people who defended Fedora, even lauded him, right to the point it was virtually insane to do so still come flying out to defend him. That means that they do not wish to learn from his failures, perhaps because they are invested in one or more of Fedora's really bad decisions.

 

[tarheel0910]

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

The people who defended Fedora, even lauded him, right to the point it was virtually insane to do so still come flying out to defend him. That means that they do not wish to learn from his failures, perhaps because they are invested in one or more of Fedora's really bad decisions.

Unless one of you is Bubba or a big donor, not discussing Fed on a message board isn't going to have an impact on repeating the past since we have no power.

 

[Archer2]

Fed is water under the bridge. We have what we have, talent wise. I have a lot of confidence that our new staff will begin to develop a winning culture in our football program. I think it’s going to take time but I also think we have enough experienced talent returning to enable us to have at least a 7-5 record. That will further help with recruiting.

 

[KOOL123]

End of the day Feds biggest mistake was not have a QB ready to take over when Mitch left early...Now if that was taking the wrong guys or missing on some others I don’t know...The last 2 years have been a disaster at the QB position and it cost us 7 or 8 wins...

 

[blazers]

End of the day Feds biggest mistake was not have a QB ready to take over when Mitch left early...Now if that was taking the wrong guys or missing on some others I don’t know...The last 2 years have been a disaster at the QB position and it cost us 7 or 8 wins...

You are right. Even my premise about dl recruiting wouldn't have stopped the losses due to the QB probs.

 

[franklin street]

i think fedora offering 1700 scholarships over the last few years is what po'd the high school coaches.

 

[WoadBlue]

App State's Drinkwitz is the opposite of Fedora: he hires Shelby County HC Lance Ware.

Ware has 5 state titles over the past 6 seasons.