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The Bill Belichick dispute has turned red hot.
Four Corners of the UNC campus yammered about the hiring of the new football coach and, apparently, have been doing it ever since he was introduced in December. The 48-14 drubbing TCU delivered Monday night has suddenly made it worse.
Those Four Corners are the football program itself; the athletic department to whom Belichick reports; South Building where Chancellor Lee Roberts is the boss of everyone who works at UNC; and the Rams Club and Development being asked to raise millions for more scholarships and other expenses supporting the athletic administration and staff, coaches and athletes.
And when the exciting and glorious celebrity-filled day deteriorated from ultimate anticipation into a total dud, there was no mythical Phil Ford in the middle getting everyone to play together.
Belichick’s hire was national news and still is from CNN Tuesday morning to ESPN all day to bloggers and posters galore. Few football pundits picked Carolina to win the Hoodies’ college debut but even fewer expected the Heels to send an over-capacity crowd home early or TV watchers cut it off and go to bed.
It all began with the love-hate end to Mack Brown’s second tenure at UNC, how Brown said he planned to stay, and Bubba Cunningham had to fire him before the last game of last season.
For those who loved Brown’s folksy, talkative style to those who felt it was time for him to go, the long-distance dismissal looked so bad that it had to sour some other head coaches who might have been interested in taking over, or considering, Carolina. Meanwhile residents of all Four Corners were talking about what happened.
For the athletic department, it brought apprehension that Belichick would hire a lot of staff that could force many of those who worked there into downgraded positions or leave altogether.
For the football program, a coaching turnover always threatens any long-standing paradigm on how things are run and done.
For Roberts, a Duke graduate with a business background and little acumen for college athletics, it might have had something to do with Cunningham’s shift to be his consigliore.
And for the Rams Club, through which so many dollars flow, it wondered what would be needed for expanding scholarships and extra money to help with a $60 million budget increase.
Some of the long-leaning liberal faculty members were aghast at Belichick’s $10 million annual salary with their own budgets being cut, while alumni and fans were pitched to donate more money and/or buy stuff.
It’s a short walk between the Four Corners, so lots of conversations were being heard and debated. The salve would be Belichick living up to his hype and winning championships to help them all.
But when the fallacy of concocting a winning roster of 70 new players became a reality, everyone involved inside and around Four Corners had an opinion on how it happened.
Suddenly, Charlotte has gone from a sure win to a must win.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
