Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Out of the Blue...


"He never saw it coming!"
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I got off work today and heard about the firing of Butch Davis. Butch Davis was the coach of the University of North Carolina football coach, until today. The consensus in the Triangle(no matter who you pull for) is the that the timing of this firing is odd(eight days before the season starts). Many people believed Davis would be fired, but over the last year and a few months Davis has seemed to weather the storm. Then, today, Butch is gone; it seems Davis just couldn't shake off all the dirt. As a Carolina fan, I have a right to be mad at Butch Davis, but I just don't know... Many in this area believe that Davis had to know somethng about the infractions going on and should be held responsible. I agree Butch knew about some of the things going on and maybe he tried to put the fire out. I just have a hard time putting too much blame on him. Local sources still say "there is no proof linking Davis to the wrong doing."
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As I watch the reactions of the fans and students around the campus on TV, it seems to be a mixed bag as usual. Some saw it coming and were just surprised at the timing of it all. Others seemed more disappointed with the season so close. This event will hang a dark cloud over Kenan Stadium all year. Very few people seem to be really mad at Davis. Most don't even blame him. Local radio guys who are not UNC fans are reporting the firing and seem to be gloating on the inside. In this area, either you hate Carolina or you love them.
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The Chancellor at UNC, Holden Thorp, seems to be the one who finally pulled the trigger on the Butch Davis dismissal. Here is an official quote from the Chancellor, "Our academic integrity is paramount, and we must work diligently to protect it." Thorp also said,"The only way to move forward and put this behind us is to make a change." It seems that Thorp finally fired Davis because in his opinion Butch and his staff had done more than embarrass the football team, he embarrassed the University.
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I heard another guy on the radio say in his opinion, "Butch Davis should have been fired last December and that this move at this time, makes no sense." This move may not hurt UNC too much this year. After Butch Davis left Unversity of Miami, Larry Coker( one of the most clueless coaches I have ever seen, who was later fired) won a National Championship. But UNC's future is totally up in the air and no one knows how this story will play out 2 or 3 years down the line.
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I don't much more than this, sorry. As an UNC fan, I am still trying to digest the whole thing. If anyone knows any more interesting facts about this story, please comment. As I learn anything new I will comment on this entry, stay tuned!

5 comments:

  1. They (UNC Brass) had to dig up some pretty bad dirt on Butch to make this move one week before fall practice. Davis and UNC tried to throw John Blake under the bus for all this, but Butch must have known more than he led on. Since it's so late, the Heels will have to promote from within this year, but Gus Malzahn will be your head coach in 2012.

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  2. I think it is interesting, UNC hires one of Butch Davis' Assistant Coaches. Everett Withers seems to be a pretty good guy and a capable assistant. Carolina seems to be trying to seperate themselves from Davis. My guess is that UNC will have a pretty good season this year. Let's say Withers leads UNC to 8 or 9 wins. My bet is that UNC makes him the permanent head coach, despite Withers in the press conference naming Davis as one of the three coaches that shaped his football career. Two problems with this; Withers will be winning with Davis' players and what happened to UNC distanting themselves from Butch Davis. I believe Thorp always wanted to fire Davis or he did it because of peer preasure. I have heard Thorp has some new board member(bunch of eggheads who are not sports fans) and either they convinced Thorp to do it or Thorp was able to convince them to. These are the same people who hire Everett Withers as head coach at the end of the season, for reasons I will not name.

    I also heard the AD stormed out of the meeting that lead to Davis' firing. He will now be replaced.

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  3. I bet this Withers guy will have to win at least 9 to be considered permanently. You guys will be able to do much better than that with a whole year to search.

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  5. UNC would really like to have a minority coach. So, if Withers has a winning season, Thorp may give Withers the job. ACC football has only one minority coach a the moment, and that is Mike London at Virgina Unversity. Unless the Butch Davis stink is just too much, and I do not think it is, a liberal Unversity like North Carolina would love to have Withers as a coach

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