Slowly, but surely, Carolina football is getting a buzz back.
The gridiron Tar Heels will never match the level their basketball brethren have reached over the last 50 years. So many factors make up that reality, and at UNC it’s a way of life. Football coaches may grouse, but the smart ones use it to their advantage.
Behind the scenes, Bubba Cunningham and Larry Fedora are doing their best to make sure football has its own place. Bringing the argyle, as well as the Air Jumpmans, over from basketball was brilliant co-branding. But there are other signs of co-existence that are wholly evident without purposeful collaboration.
No one told the group of recruits visiting Chapel Hill during the ACC basketball tournament to post a video on Twitter, saying get that “dub” against Duke and Go Heels! Fedora visits with basketball recruits, and any from other sports, when asked. Roy Williams does the same because he loves his alma mater.
Football has taken a gamble by downsizing Kenan Stadium to uplift the fans’ experience in 51,000 comfortable seats rather than 60,000 benches that were eyesores and made our backs sore. Empty, Kenan looks way better in promotional ads.
The new indoor field house, to match any in the country, is almost done – along with the new practice fields. Carolina is moving from the second division to the first in ACC facilities.
Knowing whether recruits can really play at this level is a mystery everywhere but Alabama and, more recently, Clemson. But UNC encourages its prospects to recruit others on social media after being offered scholarships. Kids do this anyway in the age of Twitter, but it’s still nice to see future Heels engaging.
Whether competing for the college football playoff is a realistic goal comes into question when Cunningham and Fedora add series with mid- and low majors like Liberty. But, like it or not, Carolina has to crawl back into contention for the ACC title and bigger bowl games before it can walk or run there.
With the academic scandal now history, the true virtues of UNC can be sold without other questions having to be answered. Across the board, Carolina recruits itself with brand awareness from a beautiful campus to a valued degree to titles galore.
Tar Heel football always has great players, just not enough of them. Numbers are needed to win big in the sport of platoons, and it just feels like the grid Heels are ready to get their share.
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