I am a 2008 graduate of UNC. I majored in Exercise and Sport Science, shared classes with a lot of football players (some of whom are now NFL players) and a lot of other Carolina student-athletes. I worked for the football team from 2006 until I graduated in 2008 as a student assistant. I have met almost every football coach UNC has had since 2006 - both head coach and assistant - and shared a lot of memories with a lot of wonderful people while I was in Chapel Hill that are directly related to football.
As I sit here on my computer a little more than 48 hours after Butch Davis' removal by Chancellor Thorp, I am reminded of my interactions with Coach Davis. He recommended me for a brief internship with the Cleveland Browns, which I took for one summer in between my junior and senior year in college. I remember him running off the field after beating Dook my senior year. I remember him in meeting rooms, in the hallways, at the training table and in the training room.
I am reminded of what he brought to the UNC program, reminded of the instant credibility he brought with him. I remember his introductory press conference on November 27, 2006, when he responded to a question from the media (something to the effect of "What do you know about Carolina football?"), and the story he told about his son Drew asking "What is a Tar Heel?" and his simple reply -
"A Tar Heel is a winner."
I remember at that moment thinking, "We have hired the right guy for this job." I still feel that way today.
It's hard for me to sit here and watch a man I knew and worked alongside be hammered by the media, be stabbed in the back by the cowardice and misunderstanding of UNC's naive chancellor, and be forced to accept a fate he did not deserve. It saddens me to think that the school who so desperately wanted to be great at a single game thinks that after four years of above-average that they now understand what it takes to be great, and that it doesn't include a man who has won Super Bowls and built national champions.
I was very vocal about my displeasure about the removal of Butch Davis (admittedly not on here; for some reason I value my membership on this board after posting for 3 years). It's times like this that try my patience and fandom with UNC football, primarily because I simply believe that football can be great in Chapel Hill (as I know many of you who are reading this do as well). It is genuinely difficult for me to support my alma mater right now, and there have been numerous occasions over the last 48 hours where I have decided that I am finished with all things UNC, both athletic and academic, because of the decision made by Chancellor Thorp.
It is hard to be a UNC fan right now, even as an alumnus.
Some of the things my other friends (who also happen to be former co-workers on the football team) have been saying to me is to support the student-athletes, support the coaching staff, and support the football program because they need all the support they can get. This much I can agree with.
However, in reading a lot of the posts on here in the wake of Davis' ouster and reflecting on my own feelings I have come to a conclusion about myself, and about the fan base of UNC.
We are angry.
We are tired of the administration holding back football success.
We are desperate for a winner in football.
We are still in shock about Butch Davis and his removal.
And then it occurred to me - something that I hadn't thought about in a long time, either because I had become used to the idea of Butch Davis as the football coach at UNC or because I had chosen not to recollect this specific story.
I was working at the UNC-Clemson game in 2006, where the Tar Heels were demolished 52-7. I remembered this game specifically because in many ways how I felt that day reflected how I have felt over the last 48 hours. I remember sitting on the bus, waiting to go to the Greenville airport, and listening to the players as they got back on the bus. To my surprise, they were happy. Upbeat. Joking around with each other. Here I was, embarrassed to be wearing anything with UNC on it after the performance these same players had just put on, and they were laughing after being slaughtered by 45 points.
I remember being desperate at that point for a culture change.
I sat in that November 27, 2006 press conference and heard Butch Davis say those words - "A Tar Heel is a winner" - and bought in.
Now I have two options. The UNC interim coach, Everett Withers, has extended an invitation to me, to you, and the rest of Tar Heel nation to support this football program, buy into this team, and continue to fight the fight that was started on November 27, 2006.
Or I can do as I have been doing over the last two days, disavow any connection with my alma mater, and move on with my life away from all things that even remotely resemble the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
I have not been a UNC fan nearly as long as some of you on this board. I have not invested the years, the tears, and the joy that you have over the decades. But I have been in the trenches, I have seen the wars, I have been there with the soldiers, and I can say that those young men, those student-athletes, those Carolina Tar Heels...well, they deserve my support. They deserve someone who knows that there have been bad times - maybe not as bad as they are right now, but bad to be sure.
But most importantly, these Tar Heels deserve someone who still believes that there can be greatness in Chapel Hill, that football can be great in Kenan Stadium, that their fellow Tar Heels will stand beside them, against Blue Devils, against members of the Wolfpack, against the media both local and national, and in some cases against those who claim to be fellow Tar Heels yet seek to destroy what they have worked to achieve since November 27, 2006.
Coach Davis has been gone for 48 hours. You can choose whether you donate to the Rams Club or buy season tickets or wear UNC merchandise, and that's your business.
But you sure as hell better support those Tar Heel boys.
As I sit here on my computer a little more than 48 hours after Butch Davis' removal by Chancellor Thorp, I am reminded of my interactions with Coach Davis. He recommended me for a brief internship with the Cleveland Browns, which I took for one summer in between my junior and senior year in college. I remember him running off the field after beating Dook my senior year. I remember him in meeting rooms, in the hallways, at the training table and in the training room.
I am reminded of what he brought to the UNC program, reminded of the instant credibility he brought with him. I remember his introductory press conference on November 27, 2006, when he responded to a question from the media (something to the effect of "What do you know about Carolina football?"), and the story he told about his son Drew asking "What is a Tar Heel?" and his simple reply -
"A Tar Heel is a winner."
I remember at that moment thinking, "We have hired the right guy for this job." I still feel that way today.
It's hard for me to sit here and watch a man I knew and worked alongside be hammered by the media, be stabbed in the back by the cowardice and misunderstanding of UNC's naive chancellor, and be forced to accept a fate he did not deserve. It saddens me to think that the school who so desperately wanted to be great at a single game thinks that after four years of above-average that they now understand what it takes to be great, and that it doesn't include a man who has won Super Bowls and built national champions.
I was very vocal about my displeasure about the removal of Butch Davis (admittedly not on here; for some reason I value my membership on this board after posting for 3 years). It's times like this that try my patience and fandom with UNC football, primarily because I simply believe that football can be great in Chapel Hill (as I know many of you who are reading this do as well). It is genuinely difficult for me to support my alma mater right now, and there have been numerous occasions over the last 48 hours where I have decided that I am finished with all things UNC, both athletic and academic, because of the decision made by Chancellor Thorp.
It is hard to be a UNC fan right now, even as an alumnus.
Some of the things my other friends (who also happen to be former co-workers on the football team) have been saying to me is to support the student-athletes, support the coaching staff, and support the football program because they need all the support they can get. This much I can agree with.
However, in reading a lot of the posts on here in the wake of Davis' ouster and reflecting on my own feelings I have come to a conclusion about myself, and about the fan base of UNC.
We are angry.
We are tired of the administration holding back football success.
We are desperate for a winner in football.
We are still in shock about Butch Davis and his removal.
And then it occurred to me - something that I hadn't thought about in a long time, either because I had become used to the idea of Butch Davis as the football coach at UNC or because I had chosen not to recollect this specific story.
I was working at the UNC-Clemson game in 2006, where the Tar Heels were demolished 52-7. I remembered this game specifically because in many ways how I felt that day reflected how I have felt over the last 48 hours. I remember sitting on the bus, waiting to go to the Greenville airport, and listening to the players as they got back on the bus. To my surprise, they were happy. Upbeat. Joking around with each other. Here I was, embarrassed to be wearing anything with UNC on it after the performance these same players had just put on, and they were laughing after being slaughtered by 45 points.
I remember being desperate at that point for a culture change.
I sat in that November 27, 2006 press conference and heard Butch Davis say those words - "A Tar Heel is a winner" - and bought in.
Now I have two options. The UNC interim coach, Everett Withers, has extended an invitation to me, to you, and the rest of Tar Heel nation to support this football program, buy into this team, and continue to fight the fight that was started on November 27, 2006.
Or I can do as I have been doing over the last two days, disavow any connection with my alma mater, and move on with my life away from all things that even remotely resemble the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
I have not been a UNC fan nearly as long as some of you on this board. I have not invested the years, the tears, and the joy that you have over the decades. But I have been in the trenches, I have seen the wars, I have been there with the soldiers, and I can say that those young men, those student-athletes, those Carolina Tar Heels...well, they deserve my support. They deserve someone who knows that there have been bad times - maybe not as bad as they are right now, but bad to be sure.
But most importantly, these Tar Heels deserve someone who still believes that there can be greatness in Chapel Hill, that football can be great in Kenan Stadium, that their fellow Tar Heels will stand beside them, against Blue Devils, against members of the Wolfpack, against the media both local and national, and in some cases against those who claim to be fellow Tar Heels yet seek to destroy what they have worked to achieve since November 27, 2006.
Coach Davis has been gone for 48 hours. You can choose whether you donate to the Rams Club or buy season tickets or wear UNC merchandise, and that's your business.
But you sure as hell better support those Tar Heel boys.
