The word on John Bunting is out and the hard-core Heel fans want JB OUT. The word is John would be long-gone, but AD Dick Baddour will not fire JB during the season. The Kansas Jayhawks fired their football coach in mid-season while Roy Williams was there and that made Roy very upset(he eventually left Kansas) and DB does not want to make Roy mad. Suffer through football season to keep your basketball coach happy is the true-blue way to do things and if Dick Baddour wants to keep his job that’s the way it’s going to be.
John Bunting is one of the Tar Heel grads and he was an outstanding football player for the Heels but that does not make him a great or even good head football coach. JB would probably be all right as an assistant or even as somebody else’s defensive coordinator but he should resign as the Tar Heels head football coach at the end of this season. If JB steps down on his own and he is not fired then it will not look quite so ugly. Bunting and the Heels are in for a long one so they better bite their upper lip and keep showing up for practice each afternoon until this season is over.
GJTJWJ tells me that the San Quentin Quayle from over in High Point said that all the in-state coaches should be sent packing with the exception of Jim Grobe. Tommy Lanier from DNJ Mortgage here in Greensboro reports that he had lunch with Danny Ford before the Clemson-North Carolina game and that the original “Old Ball Coach” is doing fine. Danny Ford would kick Steve Spurrier’s butt in a heart beat. Lanier traveled down to South Carolina early Saturday to see the game along with Jack Foxworth of Guilford College. When I say Guilford College here, I mean the Guilford College community. Foxworth is originally from Monk’s Corner, SC.
Daniel Evans became a hero in Raleigh on Saturday night when NC State upset Boston College. Evans is the answer for now and Chuck the Chest is Chillin’ this week down in the State Capitol. Amato’s job is safe for one week since the Pack is open September 30 and now they place their attention on Florida State a team the Pack has handled in recent years dating back to the glory days of Phillip Rivers. The area’s current best sports announcer is Noel Glasgow and Noel was saying the other day that Chuck needs to quit making references to Rivers. I agree with Noel, Chuck needs to stop bringing up the past and focus on the present. Talk about Evans and I don’t mean Johnny, talk about the fine job Daniel Evans did and stop making comparisons to what PR did while he was in Raleigh. Rivers is long gone and it is time to move on and win games for this year and try to get to 7-5 and qualify for some type of bowl game. The goal should be a bowl and Noel gets my vote for calling it like it is and having the guts to step up and challenge the ACC coaches.
Wake is #1 and how do they keep on making the magic happen? The Demon Deacons beat Ole Miss 27-3 and the Deacs are the best team currently in the ACC. They lost their top QB, they lost their #1 runningback, they lost their top offensive lineman, but Wake is winning and they are tied for the league’s best record at 4-0 with Virginia Tech. I’ll take Wake as the ACC’s top team considering what they had to do, and how they had to do it, to get where they are on Sept. 26, four wins and no losses and Wake’s defense is playing like this will be their last year ever to play football and they will go out as if their life depends on this season.
Can you believe that Maryland only beat Florida International 14-10? The Terps are playing like Turtle Soup and did you know that FIU is coached by former Virginia Tech and Miami Dolphin QB Don Strock?
Locally the end results are starting to look the same week-in week- out. The Greensboro College Pride improved to 2-1 with a 17-16 victory over Southern Virginia. GC got 3 field goals from Chris Palme, one which went for 47 yards and Rod Herbin rushed for 98 yards and 1 TD and again Palme’s FG the only points for either team in the 4th quarter, won it for the Pride. There would have to be a big smile on coach Neil Mitchell’s face this week and the same could probably be said for SID Bob Lowe and AD Kim Strable.
The Guilford College Quakers put 43 points on the scoreboard but still lost the game after a valiant comeback behind QB Josh Vogelbach and WR Joe Joyner, in the end it was the Hampden-Sydney Tigers over the Quakers 46-43. In my old college days I remember playing against HS in the Tobacco Belt Bowl in Danville, Virginia back in the late 70’s. HS was good then and they still are today.
It’s gonna be a long year for NC A&T after the Aggies 48-7 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. The Aggies also lost one of their defensive coaches this week and now at 0-3, A&T RB coach George Ragsdale may have to come out of retirement. Appalachian buried Gardner Webb 41-6 and now the Mountaineers(3-1) will host Elon(2-1) Saturday in Boone on Homecoming. East Carolina dropped another heart-breaker 27-10 to powerhouse West Virginia and Western Carolina became mincemeat at the hands of the Furman Purple Paladins 42-7.
In the Big Four North Carolina and NC State are both off this upcoming week, while Duke will host Virginia with the Blue Devils having a slim chance to get a “W” and over at Groves Stadium the Wake Forest Demon Deacons will take on another Baptist school when Liberty University comes to town. Liberty is 3-1 with their only loss to Towson a team that also tripped up Elon. Liberty will call on several Lynchburg, Virginia products from schools such as the EC Glass Hilltoppers, the Heritage Pioneers, and the LCA Bulldogs. In a related footnote, Liberty Chancellor Dr. Jerry Falwell’s son Jerry Jr., suffered a ruptured spleen Sunday and has spent all of this week in the Bedford, Virginia hospital in serious condition.