Carolina didn’t mess this one up. The coach they wanted from the outset was former University of Miami football coach Butch Davis and today they got him.
From the moment John Bunting was fired back on Oct. 22, Davis was the man. Other names were tossed out there but they were all just speculation. It was always Butch Davis. Days after Bunting was fired, Davis said he was interested in Carolina. Many thought he was using Carolina as leverage for something else. Obviously he wasn't.
As coaching searches go, this is about as close to a home run as they come. Davis is a proven winner. He was an assistant to Jimmy Johnson in the 8O's when Miami won a national championship. He was an assistant in Dallas when the Cowboys won Super Bowls.
He took over a Miami program in the mid 90's when they were coming off probation and built that team into the one that won the 2001 national title. Those Hurricanes were his recruited players.
He's been a head coach in college and the NFL. While his stint at Cleveland would not be termed successful, he did take the Browns to their only playoff appearance since they re-entered the NFL in 1999. That playoff appearance in 2002 has been this edition of the Brown’s only winning record.
Carolina wanted to conduct a low-key search and they did. They focused in on the one man they felt would have an impact, not just regionally but nationally. Someone who had the credibility to recruit. Someone who could excite the Tar Heel faithful who to be honest had become pretty much indifferent to football. Nine years of mediocrity and worse will do that.
You never know what will happen in the future but I've got to think that the often maligned UNC Director of Athletics Dick Baddour is feeling mighty happy and relieved and possibly somewhat smug.
He didn't blow this one. Carolina got its man.
