Holding Court: UNC’s Unhelpful Internal Power Struggle

Editor’s Note: Shortly after this column was published on Wednesday, news broke that UNC had officially agreed to terms with Bill Belichick to be its next head football coach. Read more coverage here.

UNC’s Bizarre Football Coaching Search Reflects Unhelpful Internal Power Struggle

By David Glenn

North Carolina’s football coaching search could end at any moment.

Regardless of the Tar Heels’ ultimate choice, it likely will take years to determine the wisdom of their selection.

One thing already has been apparent for weeks, though: UNC’s search has been an unconventional one, sometimes to a degree that has made it very difficult for the university’s 14th-year athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, to do his job.

“There are multiple cooks in that kitchen,” one long-time agent said. “It’s not always entirely clear who’s in charge.”

Although the chain of command at UNC in this situation isn’t at all complicated on paper — Cunningham answers to UNC chancellor Lee Roberts, who answers to UNC system president Peter Hans, who answers to the UNC Board of Governors, which answers to the North Carolina General Assembly — it has been much more complicated in practice, including during the Tar Heels’ ongoing coaching search.

The UNC Board of Trustees, one may notice, isn’t listed anywhere in that detailed chain. It has some important duties, including on tenure and budget matters, but it serves almost entirely in an advisory capacity, and it certainly has no official duties related to contacting coaching candidates.

Nevertheless, UNC Board of Trustees chairman John Preyer has been a central figure in Carolina’s conversations with legendary former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, whose candidacy has generated both excitement because of his accomplishments (eight-time Super Bowl champion, counting two as an NFL assistant coach) and skepticism because of his age (72) and inexperience with the college game.

Preyer, who earlier this year publicly criticized Cunningham in an ignorant, reckless, unprofessional manner, mostly on budget-related topics, went after Cunningham again in the aftermath of coach Mack Brown’s recent dismissal.

“I have no doubt Coach Brown would have done whatever the university would have wanted him to do at the end of the season,” said Preyer, a close friend and passionate supporter of Brown, after the coach’s final UNC press conference. “And for some reason, that I do not understand, the athletic director would not allow that to happen and instead fired him from halfway around the world (Cunningham was in Hawaii with the UNC basketball team).

“And I think that is shameful.”

(AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)

Now many UNC officials see it as shameful that a Board of Trustees chairman — again, acting with absolutely zero official authority in this context — injected himself into both the decision on Brown’s future and the ensuing coaching search.

While Cunningham was having conversations with Brown about a possible 2024 coaching change as early as the Tar Heels’ embarrassing 70-50 home loss to James Madison on Sept. 21, after which Brown made comments that created uncertainty about his own desire and/or ability to remain Carolina’s head coach, Preyer remained a firm supporter of Brown, even showing up at his weekly coach’s show and sitting with Brown’s wife, Sally.

Oddly, at his final press conference, when Brown expressed his disappointment and frustration with the timing of his dismissal (before the NC State game), the coach said he had discussed his future with only two people he viewed as decision-makers: Cunningham (his boss!) and Preyer (a friend with no official authority in this context).

“There were three people who talked about this, and it was me and John Preyer, who is our chairman of the board of trustees, and athletics director Cunningham,” Brown said. “I never talked to the chancellor, never had a conversation with him.”

Assumedly, Brown didn’t have to speak directly with Roberts, the chancellor, because Cunningham and Roberts were on the same page regarding the timing of Brown’s firing.

The last time Cunningham and Preyer had collided publicly, in May, Roberts (at the time UNC’s “interim” chancellor) publicly backed his AD.

“Our athletic director is one of the most senior, well-respected, admired athletic directors in the country,” Roberts said.

Soon after his recent “shameful” comments toward Cunningham, Preyer clearly injected himself into the Tar Heels’ coaching search, too.

While Cunningham was lining up an initial pool of candidates that included Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, Army coach Jeff Monken, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith (a former UNC offensive lineman) and former Arizona Cardinals head coach and former Carolina Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks (passionately supported by UNC legend Julius Peppers and several other former Carolina players), among others, Preyer made contact with Belichick.

At this point, only Belichick, Monken and Wilks are known to remain candidates for the UNC job, although there certainly could be others.

If Belichick (or Wilks) is the choice, UNC’s announcement could come at any time. If Monken is the guy, everything will have to wait at least until after the annual Army-Navy game, which will be played on Saturday afternoon.

In the meantime, the NCAA transfer portal opened Monday (this early “window” runs through Dec. 28), and 11 UNC players — including four starters — already have entered it, indicating their willingness to be contacted by other programs. Under NCAA rules, those players also retain the option of staying with the Tar Heels under their new coach, but the clock is ticking.

“I’d like to go very quickly,” Cunningham told a UNC podcast at the beginning of the search. “Last time we hired Mack, it was 48 hours. It won’t be that fast this time. We have a different (Board of Trustees). We have a different chancellor.  We have other folks that are involved.

“I want to make sure the stakeholders … this isn’t my hire. This is going to be our hire. This is the University of North Carolina head football coach. It’s important to our community. It’s important to our future. It’s important to our athletic program. It has to be all of us behind this decision and say, ‘Okay, what’s the best path forward for us?’”

Cunningham’s original outline for this search was a sensible, thoughtful, inclusive one.

What happened next, thanks largely to Preyer’s involvement, was viewed by some candidates and their agents as circus-like. The coaching carousel is stressful enough under normal circumstances; any additional chaos or uncertainty isn’t going to make the UNC job more appealing, and it may scare some coaches away.

If UNC’s next football coach becomes a success story in Chapel Hill, of course, everyone involved in this search will be able to share in the credit, and most fans won’t care how the Tar Heels reached their end result.

If things go poorly, however, there will be never-ending stories about the inherent risks of having too many cooks in the kitchen.

David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.

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