Aug. 29, 2007

CAR-O-LINES
by Rick Brewer, SID Emeritus

CHAPEL HILL - It has been over half a century since a new coach has created so much interest in Carolina football as Butch Davis has this fall. That much time has passed since a new coach was so universally accepted as the right man for the program.

The excitement began last October when his name first surfaced as a top candidate for the job. Just reading his resume made him the choice for Tar Heel fans. It reached the point where he was the man everyone wanted. Even a reincarnated Knute Rockne would have been a letdown.

That's not to say he's expect him to field a championship team this fall. Most feel even a break-even season would warrant coach-of-the-year honors for Davis. But, everyone believes the program is now headed in the right direction.

This is one of the most inexperienced Carolina teams in years. Only eight starters return from a year ago. Freshmen and sophomores comprise about two-thirds of the roster.

T.J. Yates, expected to start at quarterback against James Madison on Saturday has never been in a college game. There is only one rushing attempt among all the tailbacks. That was by sophomore Richie Rich last year. The backups are freshmen.

Of course, there are some bright spots. There is big-play potential at wide receiver with Hakeem Nicks, Brooks Foster, Brandon Tate and Joe Dailey. If a couple of freshmen continue to develop, this could be one of the top units in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Last year Tate was one of the best kick return specialists in college football. Connor Barth has made 35 of his 49 career field goal attempts.

Three starters are back in the offensive line. A number of players on defense have seen game action. The defensive front, in particular, could eventually be a strong point.

But, a lot of work still needs to be done in order for Carolina to again establish itself as one of the premier programs in the country. Davis has already proven he can deal with tough situations. He took the head coaching job at Miami in 1995 despite the fact the Hurricanes had just been placed on probation. Scholarships were cut for his first three recruiting classes. Those scholarship losses finally caught up in 1997 as the Canes struggled to finish 5-6. Miami was 46-14 in his other five years at Coral Gables and finished in the Top 20 each season.

He kept his players out of trouble off the field and emphasized academic improvement. The American Football Coaches Association honored all of his Miami teams for outstanding graduation rates. His accomplishments at Miami made him the top choice here.

Not since 1956 have seemingly all Carolina fans accepted a coach as they did Davis last fall. That was when Jim Tatum returned to his alma mater after 10 sensational seasons at Oklahoma and Maryland. In that 10-year stretch, he had the best coaching record in college football (81-18-4).

Tatum had been an outstanding tackle and a star baseball player at Carolina from 1933 to 1935. He worked as an assistant at Cornell before returning to Chapel Hill as freshman coach in 1939. He said his goal was to one day be the head coach here. He got his chance in 1942 when Ray Wolf was called into the service. He produced a 5-2-2 record and then joined the Navy himself the following year.

Oklahoma hired him following the war. He guided the Sooners to an 8-3 record, but wanted to get back to the East Coast. So he took the job at Maryland after that one season. He recommended one of his assistants, Bud Wilkinson, as his replacement at Oklahoma and that would forever alter the landscape of college football.

Tatum immediately turned around a struggling Maryland program. The Terps went 7-2-2 in his first season, tying Georgia in the Gator Bowl. Three of his Maryland teams would finish undefeated in regular-season play. The 1953 team won the national championship with a 10-1 record. The Terps again finished 10-1 in 1955, falling to top-ranked Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

He then came back to his dream job at Carolina. He had been offered the position in 1953 when Carl Snavely was fired. But, he did not want to take the job of the man who had coached him at Carolina and then got him into the coaching profession.

The program here had fallen into bad shape after the Charlie Justice era. The result was Tatum suffering the only losing season of his career in 1956 at 2-7-1. But, by 1959 he felt he had just about gotten things straightened out. Then he died suddenly of a virus that summer.

None of the coaches who have followed him have initially been such a popular choice until Davis.

An assistant, Jim Hickey, replaced Tatum. His personality was completely different from Tatum and he had no chance of matching his popularity.

Bill Dooley was the offensive coordinator at Georgia when he was hired in 1967. Some had hoped Carolina would get an established head coach from another school. But, Dooley knew how to communicate with people and soon became one of the most popular of all Tar Heel coaches. He also built a program that began to change the course of ACC football.

Dick Crum was hired when Dooley left for Virginia Tech. Crum had compiled one of the nation's best records at Miami of Ohio. But many people wanted someone from a major conference. Still, Crum went on to produce some of the best teams in school history.

Next came Mack Brown who had somehow built a winning team at Tulane. Again, there was initial disappointment by some that a more prominent coach had not been hired. They didn't understand the work it took to win at Tulane. Despite a pair of 1-10 seasons, Brown won most people over with his personality. He got the rest with a 6-4-1 record in just his third year on the job.

Carl Torbush had the challenge of replacing Brown. Like Hickey, he was an assistant who a lot of fans did not know personally. Making his task more difficult was the fact a number of people wanted Georgia coach Jim Donnan to get the job.

John Bunting followed Torbush, but again many wanted an established head coach. Bunting had been a star linebacker here, but his only job as a head coach had been at Glassboro State, a Division III school.

Now comes Davis. He doesn't have to worry about anything except building a winner. He won over the Tar Heel nation last October before ever stepping on campus.