Long Time Comin’: UNC Fires Butch Davis

Maybe it was the number of studs he sent to the NFL recently.

Maybe it was the promise of many more to go the same route considering the constant top-20 recruiting classes he brought down Tobacco Road.

Maybe the dream of having a nationally recognized football program to go along with their powerhouse hoops program was too good to wake up from.

Maybe it was pure ignorance.

Whatever it was, the athletic director and school president at the University of North Carolina surely took a long time and a loose rope when it came to the punishment of head coach Butch Davis. The rope finally tightened this week after a year-long soap opera which included NCAA investigations, 14 players being suspended at least one game and seven missing the season all together.

Davis is considered one of the best recruiters in the college ranks but the star recruits never translated into W’s for the former Miami -and now former UNC- head coach. He leaves North Carolina with a 28-23 overall record but the damage he did on the field will pale in comparison to what the Tar Heels will face once the NCAA levies their punishment upon the program. It will be difficult to find a UNC fan who believes the congregation of stars like DT Marvin Austin, WR Greg Little and DE Robert Quinn was ultimately good for the program or university in general.

While the football Tar Heels will most likely be the next “Program in Purgatory” after the NCAA is finished with them, Davis will be allowed to roam free. You would be hard-pressed to find a BCS program that would be willing to take a chance on a such a blatant offender but the NFL always has a place for great football minds, which Davis certainly has.

The Tar Heels will be forced to trudge ahead into the 2011 season, the last in which they’ll be eligible for a Bowl for at least two seasons if USC’s penalties are any preview. They still have enough talent on each side of the ball to contend in the ACC but it would be a minor miracle if their players were able to bond together and stick it to the rest of the country in 2011.

Anybody who follows the NFL Draft will be forced to follow the Tar Heels as well this season. Defensive end Quinton Coples in currently the #2 player on Mel Kiper’s Big Board and could give Andrew Luck a run for his money depending on who has the first pick in the 2012 Draft. Fellow defensive end Donte Paige-Moss is currently #14 on the Big Board and will benefit from the double teams opposing teams will be forced to stack against Coples. So even though their biggest story in 2011 will be about off-the-field transgressions, UNC will still be relevant in the grand scheme of things.

Hey, look on the bright side. Maybe this will take some of the heat off of Southern Cal and our boys out in Trojan Country.