Both Wake and UNC have named their new coaches. At Wake Forest, it's Jim
Grobe, who did a nice job at Ohio University. He comes across as a confident
guy and is talking about "having some fun." Wake football
coaches aren't known for saying that.
At UNC, it's John Bunting,
somewhat unknown, but at heart a
UNC guy, and that's worth a lot we would think. His new players are
impressed. Probably the most important thing he has to do, with no college
recruiting experience, is to hire a hotshot
recruiting assistant. If we're Bunting, we're calling everyone we know
trying to find a guy who's not very happy at his current job but who can recruit
the hell out of the South. A lot of UNC fans are liable to be somewhat
deflated after the promises of a big-name coach, but we hope they give
him a chance. He's one of theirs, after all, and he may have some things on
the ball which they don't quite know about yet (Dick Vermeil thinks so).
He describes UNC as his "dream job." Dick Baddour better hope
so. So far, as the Charlotte Observer says, his success is mixed:
"Remember the Carl Torbush-is-gone, now-he's-not thing last year? Remember the whole Roy Williams debacle and how UNC had to "settle" for Matt Doherty? What about not being able to land Frank Beamer last month? And, finally, Baddour's bringing in a guy about whom most of the Carolina players and recruits said, "Who?" when told Bunting would be their new football coach Monday?"
Baddour has a lot riding on this, and those seats have to be filled and the
facilities paid for.
Just in passing, and we might remember this wrong....Ron Curry was recruited
by Bill Guthridge and Mack Brown, coached by Gut, Torbush, Doherty and now
Bunting. He's had two, and we presume will have three offensive
coordinators in three seasons and six different assistants in basketball, not to
mention blowing out his Achilles tendon. Who would have predicted such
turmoil for that paramount high school hero?
In another transitional move, Virginia is waving
goodbye to George Welsh. One of our least favorite ACC figures, we
wish him well but we're not sorry to see him go. He's done a remarkable
job at Virginia, but he's also prone to saying a lot of things which are
either not well thought out or just dumb. Foremost: his suggestion that
the Duke-UNC basketball rivalry didn't need to be played twice a year because
football would benefit from expansion. He's also said a number of things
about Duke over the years which weren't very nice or even professional. He's a
fine coach and no doubt good to his dog, but quite often he's said things which
were just stupid. We'll miss him like a hangover.