Larry Fedora is locked in for The Long Term as Head Coach at Carolina. Or is he? BobLee explores and explains the “way it is” in the high stakes World of Juggernaut Football.
In the wake of, arguably, The Finest Football Season in UNCCH History, Head Coach Larry Fedora has signed a new seven-year contract to remain “amid the pines”.
WARNING: This one is kinda lengthy.
I have not seen specific terms of the new contract but it is safe to assume a package approaching $3,000,000/year for Fedora with a nice raise for Gene Chizik and most if not all other staff. Several “mill” more per year in FB salaries that will come “from somewhere”…. in The Blue Zone. Board monkeys never care “from where” ’cause it sure ain’t coming from them.
Even raised up to $3M, Fedora will only rank around mid-range for ACC Head FB Coaches…. and well below Juggernauts – Jimbo and Dabo…. and new “U” guy Mark Richt.
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I have only met Larry Fedora in the most perfunctory fashion – a meet & greet. I don’t “know him” in the up close & personal way that BK knows everyone involved in NC State athletics. ☺
From Larry Fedora’s public persona, I have no issues with the man. He does / says all the usual yadda yadda that most BTHFC do / say. I have no reason to question his sincerity or the “image” he puts forth. I say the same relative to Dave Doeren. The Red Bull and other ticky-tacky crap that rival board monkeys obsess about is just board monkey babble.
I do wish he (LF) were more of a serious disciplinarian ala Dick Sheridan.
I do appreciate that he seems to stay above trite rival stereotyping.
I do not count him culpable for The Great Unpleasantness.I believe the current schemes being used at UNCCH to keep Fedora’s semi-literate players eligible are consistent with the schemes 95% of Power Five programs are using to keep their semi-literate players eligible. It is what it is.
Could Larry Fedora’s current popularity @ UNC survive him putting a Vote For Trump sticker on his car? For maybe three hours MAX. UNC is a Liberal Snake Pit first…. “a Basketball School” 2nd. Wherever Football ranks, Larry (nor Roy) could never survive declaring any political leaning other than hard-core liberal…. best to never get near the subject.
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Does this new 7-year deal mean TruBlues need not fret that Fedora could be lured away by a mega-deal if the next year or so sees more 9+ Ws/year? Nope. It simply means some salivating Fat Cats somewhere ante up the contractual buy-outs.
If we have learned anything about Big Time College Football it is that there are ALWAYS “salivating Fat Cats” lurking in the weeds with wheelbarrows overflowing with buy-out bucks.
It is a mathematical certainty that half of the SEC, Big 12, and Pac 12 FB programs will finish in the dreaded “lower tier” of their conferences next season. Nothing motivates salivating fat cats to load up a wheelbarrow with mega-bucks and go new messiah-hunting like finishing in the “dreaded lower tier”. …. or, in the case of LSU, simply losing 3 in a row.
Is Gene Chizek Bubba’s obvious “back-up” if Larry does get bought away in a year or so? He certainly is for now… but he is susceptible to “being bought” too at some point. Chizek has impressed everyone he has dealt with at UNC, his Auburn baggage notwithstanding.
NOTE: I purposely left out Big 10/14 because I don’t see Larry ever having any interest in that geographical area.
#1 Rule of Juggernauts & WannaBees: EVERY decision is made based on:
“How will this affect RECRUITING”. …… Known forever along Franklin Street, of course, as The Trustee Barbara Rosser-Hyde Query posed to The Butcher back in 2010 when he looked the UNC BOT in the eye and said “Who’s John Blake?”
Having Larry Fedora contracted for the next seven years “sends a message” to semi-literate 11 y/o Blue-Chippers currently in the 6th grade that he will be / might be / could be their Coach when/if they matriculate in Old Well World.
Wow…. that seems pretty silly! Well yeah. Big Time College Sports passed “pretty silly” quite some time ago. Sweet Carolines, big fish tanks and Wolf Mountains were “silly”. We’re waaaay beyond “silly” these days.
We are now into Gianormous Hindenburg Hangars….. LOTS of charging stations…. FUBU Day-Glo uniforms…. and “Everybody can have a Hoverboard”. 
Imagine the “we gotta-have” necessities over the next seven years ?????
Yes…. it IS possible for UNC Football to eclipse this past season’s accomplishments. Go Undefeated…. Winning the ACC Championship…. Advancing to a Top Tier Bowl (“Russell Athletic” is NOT a TT Bowl) …. and, of course, Mount Everest – The Final Four are still unachieved goals that can be turned into bumper stickers and locker room signs and jingoistic slogans…. and no doubt will be.
Go back before the South Carolina game and ask THE most goggle-eyed Carolina Way drunk, sleeping giant true believer what he/it would like to see “before you die”. This past season would meet most qualifiers.
A high-scoring record-breaking offense….
Win the Mack Brown Big-Four State Championship “convincingly”.
Go undefeated in their division.
Qualify for a bowl that is “not one of the goofy ones”.
Is qualifying for one of 40 bowls (being in the Top 80) still “an achievement” in anyone’s minds? Really? That is akin to “I want to someday have enough $$$$ to say “Hell yeah, supersize those fries”….. or “I just hope we can get thru the season without any of our players getting shot”.
Did Larry achieve too much too fast? Has he already spoiled a portion of the UNC fan base? Will 10-2 or 9-3 now be “disappointing”? “9-3” gets an SEC coach a guaranteed “hot seat” and a FOR SALE sign in his front yard. Ask Mark Richt.
Q: What was “The Highlight” of this past season for UNCers?
A’s: ….. going undefeated in the conference / in Kenan?….. whomping Duke “amid the pines” ….. beating State sorta-convincingly at Carter….. Playing in Swofford’s Bowl and NOT getting routed by Clemson ???? …. All of the above?
If any of those don’t happen next year will some bona-fide, card-carrying TruBlue braying jackass blurt out “Same Ol’ Carolina football”? Count on it.
Losing his OffCoor is a hiccup. Keeping Gene The Wonder Coordinator one more year is a Big Deal. Larry has shown solid skills in dealing with staff turn-over. Staff Management is a critical skill in a Head Coach’s success. One only developed with “time on grade”. Rookie HCs HAVE to develop it quickly…. or they should rent and not buy. Scottie Montgomery at ECU ???
I certainly expect some increase in Kenan season tickets sales. The ACC Home schedule is “better” and the returning roster is strong….. and, yes Barbara, “recruiting” should be just fine.
However the growth of Flat Screen Fans will continue at UNC and elsewhere. There will still be “an Aluminum Issue” at Kenan for all but the 1-2 Hated Rival games.
The NCAA decision on TGU will not be announced before Signing Day so that won’t be a factor this year. Opposing program recruiters and rival board monkeys will still SCREAM IT / TWEET IT 24/7. Larry has dealt with that for the past two+ years and look what happened this year.
IF there ARE sanctions at some point that affect Football; that could be a factor down the road. For now, typing UNCheats and Swahili in ALLCAPS in umpteen dozen tweets every day hasn’t had a noticeable effect on on-field success.
Assuming TeamFedora recruits the same type of kids he has been recruiting, it is logical to expect about the same number of “bad boy incidents”. About 3-4 over the course of each school year.
Fedora has shown a “Whatever” attitude with this yucky reality of Big Time College Football. He does what he “has to do” in terms of after-the-fact discipline…. with a noticeable reluctance. No one will ever mistake Larry Fedora for Dick Sheridan in that regard.
His #1 Priority is to Win Football Games. The Character Yadda Yadda is nice but it is not at the top of the priority list. Neither is “seeing they get a degree worth the paper it’s printed on”. Larry’s list is no different from any ambitious Head Coach at any Power Five school.
Ruffin McNeill was considered a strict disciplinarian at ECU. How’d that work out?
“Angels don’t play Football…. So we don’t recruit Angels.”
The Coastal Division has seen an significant uptick in Head Coaches especially at Miami and UVa. I’m not convinced the new VPI guy is “a proven commodity” but he certainly could be. It will take Mark Richt and Bronco Mendenhall a year to “bring in their guys”. Bronco hiring Ruffin solved a Big issue with him in terms of regional recruiting contacts.
Will “the Mormon Thing” be an issue for Bronco at UVa? It probably would be in Chapel Hill but Chapel Hill is far more morally intolerant than Hooville…. or than 99% of America. A Mormon head coach in Chapel Hill would be a problem. A Trans-sexual Syrian Who Hates “That Bush Woman” would NOT be a problem. A friend of The Koch Brothers owning WCHL could be a problem too…. Ooops, was I not supposed to say that?
Has Duke “peaked” and will now settle into a 6-8 Ws program? I kinda think so.
Has Paul Johnson completely lost his MoJo at GaTech? Maybe….
Will all those sexy “charging stations” help DD get another Jacoby and hold his own with in-state recruiting? I think so.
I see State and Carolina continuing to battle over in-state recruits as they have for 50 years. Both Larry and Dave will have the same garishly tacky recruiting bling to bedazzle the same semi-literate 17 y/os. That Smoothie Machine that Bubba has promised in Larry’s IPF could be “a game changer”.
Of course…. Dave has Dabo and Jimbo to deal with EVERY year. Thank you Swoff.
2nd Of course, each side’s nitwit faction will always be claiming the other side is cheating in recruiting. That’s what nitwit factions always do.
Do I think Larry Fedora WILL BE at Carolina in 2022? No, I don’t. I think he will be making $5mill+ at some Big 12 school…. either Texas or, more likely, Texas A&M. IMO, DD will not still be at NC State either.
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