Loss to USF should lead to Bunting's resignation

[ChiTownBull]

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/NEWS/610110487/1051

Last month, only a few Furman ballcarriers fell backward when tackled by North Carolina defenders en route to a 42-point, 521-yard performance, and this week South Florida is favored to beat the Tar Heels in Kenan Stadium.

This is UNC football.

The program is on life support at 1-4 and 0-3 in the ACC, the conference defeats by a combined 90 points.

A mostly discontented fan base - concerned about the administration's lack of emphasis on football - is becoming apathetic, a dangerous direction considering the financial importance of football at BCS schools. A loss to the Bulls on the same day basketball practice begins will push many supporters past the point of no return in 2006.

And, quite frankly, who's to say UNC would even beat Duke right now? The Blue Devils have two more impressive performances on their resume: a 14-13 loss at Wake when they should have won and last Saturday's 30-14 loss at Alabama - a 16-14 game with five minutes left.

National broadcasters and pundits view UNC football as a joke - just listen each Saturday. Carolina is lumped in with Indiana, Kentucky and Kansas as basketball schools unable to consistently compete in football.

Around here, we know that's not true. Success isn't foreign to UNC. The program was three years removed from a final No. 4 national ranking when John Bunting was hired in December 2000.

But now it's an underdog at home to South Florida, a commuter school that played its first-ever game nine years ago when the Heels went 11-1.

If UNC falls Saturday, proving another program with little or no tradition has passed it, Bunting should do the right thing and announce his resignation, effective at the end of the season.

With a trip to Virginia and a visit by Wake Forest next, a turnaround is possible but unlikely.

Bunting was all-ACC for Bill Dooley at Carolina, spent 11 years in the NFL and has served as an ambassador for UNC football as an NFL assistant coach and five-plus seasons as UNC's head coach. Bunting and Carolina have been good for each other in many respects, but this just ain't working.

Bunting said in August the program was headed in the right direction and that he expected a breakthrough year. Nope.

If he truly loves UNC, he'd set it free. Hey, Bunting lived a dream for six years, had some nice wins and gave it maximum effort. There's no shame in that.

But, he's 25-40 and has been in charge for eight of the 11 worst defensive performances in school history. UNC has 12 defeats by 30 or more points under his watch, and it has lost 15 straight games outside of the state - by an average of 24 points.

In the last 52 games, Tar Heel opponents have passed the 50-point mark six times. In the 48 seasons and 532 games as a member of the ACC preceding Bunting's hiring, it happened six times.

John Bunting is a well-intentioned man with strong principles. But in the big-business world of college football, that's not enough to run a program.

At some point what transpires on the field must also count. And that doesn't bode well for Bunting.

Andrew Jones can be reached at

andrew.jones@starnewsonline.com

[ChiTownBull]

i say stampede this bastartd!

[Bull Martin]

Good article, but I hate the commuter school label we get.  We're the next miami right  

[outrunner]

Lets make it an easy desicion for them and stomp them with a score like UConns. 41-16 would probably do it.

[Bull Matrix]

People just keep on throwing that commutter BS out there because they really dont know USF.

[Guest r_to_the_izzo]

They link urban area to commuters. Unless you change the location of the school it will have the commuter rap.

[Bull Matrix]

And the thing is that USF is more north to the city of Tampa than most of them think.  If they did more research and realised that USF has plenty of students living on or near campus then they would stop with the commuter crap. Does not really matter anyway because they will believe what they want to believe even though they are incorrect.

[bulls96go]

let's commute them an a$$whipping

[Economics_Nerd82]

And the thing is that USF is more north to the city of Tampa than most of them think.  If they did more research and realised that USF has plenty of students living on or near campus then they would stop with the commuter crap. Does not really matter anyway because they will believe what they want to believe even though they are incorrect.

At least they didn't call us UCF.

[fishinBULL]

we better beat UNC