http://www.wralsportsfan.com/unc-working.../15150675/

Quote:With the success of an 11-1 season coupled with so many college football jobs available, North Carolina is working on a new contract for head coach Larry Fedora. WRAL confirmed with a UNC official that the reworking of Fedora's contract is underway.

The new deal would include a raise for Fedora, a longer term on the contract and more money available for UNC football assistants...

And all of a sudden, with little-to-no national fanfare, the ACC has seen that long-awaited coaching upgrade, with:

- Mark Richt's hire at Miami
- UNC giving Fedora & his assistance more money
- VT hiring the hot new guy
- Jimbo Fisher staying put at FSU

I'm still DEEPLY unsold on Fedora, and find this move to be foolish and short sighted. Unless they're planning on letting him ride out that probation hell over the next few years.

(12-03-2015 01:48 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  I'm still DEEPLY unsold on Fedora, and find this move to be foolish and short sighted. Unless they're planning on letting him ride out that probation hell over the next few years.

Fedora knows offense and is a decent recruiter. The key for him is to always have a good DC to handle the defense and he should be good. So the big question is if/when Chizik leaves who will he have replace him.

(12-03-2015 01:48 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  I'm still DEEPLY unsold on Fedora, and find this move to be foolish and short sighted. Unless they're planning on letting him ride out that probation hell over the next few years.

I would like to see a couple of good seasons before committing major dollars to Fedora but that's not possible with so many openings along with the perception that UNC is unwilling to spend on football. He would definitel take the first decent job he could get if you don't commit more resources his way. The university just has to be ready to eat this contract

Good to see UNC stepping up, while it may be a risk its something that just has to be done to be competitive these days. No reason UNC can't be really good at both sports with the proper commitment.

(12-03-2015 02:47 PM)mj4life Wrote:  

(12-03-2015 01:48 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  I'm still DEEPLY unsold on Fedora, and find this move to be foolish and short sighted. Unless they're planning on letting him ride out that probation hell over the next few years.

I would like to see a couple of good seasons before committing major dollars to Fedora but that's not possible with so many openings along with the perception that UNC is unwilling to spend on football. He would definitel take the first decent job he could get if you don't commit more resources his way. The university just has to be ready to eat this contract

This is unfortunately just a fact of life, and the cost of doing business as a big boy. The college football landscape is littered with coaches collecting on prematurely extended/inflated contracts. Charlie Weiss anyone?

It's one of the huge reasons that resources are so important. It's not whether you can come up with an extra $1.5 milling to go from paying $2.5M a year to $4M. In the grand scheme of things in athletic budgets, that's just not that much money for successful coach even at medium size athletic departments.

The real money comes in when you have to fire these guys, pay their buyouts, and pay for a new guy. That's a reason why you can have a Virginia riding out four losing seasons with London, YEARS past the point anyone outside his immediate family thought he could be successful there, and you can have LSU barely blinking at the prospect of $15M to send Miles packing.

It's not the coaching salaries to watch so much in the ACC...it's their willingness to pull the trigger on changes and absorb those costs. So far, I'm pleasantly surprised. We all knew London was gone, but would anyone have been shocked to see Miami give Golden the year, and then retain him at 8-4? Would it have surprised anyone to see Shafer given another year at Syracuse?


Ad that to what appears to be strong hires so far, retaining the few guys that may have some other suitors (Jimbo, Dabo, maybe Cutcliff and presumably Fedora, to a lesser extent maybe you could even say Venables and Chizik though we've got a ways to go on that), there are some indications that schools in the ACC are getting more serious about football.

Dave Doeren's job is probably the next one to keep an eye on. He's doing the kind of job that could traditionally get you 5-6 years in the ACC. But considering the new trends and the upgrade in coaching in the ACC, and the fact that NCSU has actually been probably a bit more trigger happy than most in the conference...that one might be interesting next year.

It's amazing how quickly Fedora went from being a bum to somebody you have to open up the vault to retain. No matter how big a raise he gets, it won't make him a better coach. And if a really big name program wants to poach him, a bigger salary won't keep him from leaving. That's just the way it is for most schools that aren't among the elite. Great coaches keep moving up the food chain, and schools like Carolina will always be a stop along that journey and not the destination.

Virginia Tech was an exception to that rule, but now that Beamer has retired I wouldn't bet his replacement will retire as well. If he's the "hot new coach" he'll be even hotter if he wins at his first P5 stop. And Tech will have a hard time keeping him if that happens.

(12-03-2015 04:35 PM)ken d Wrote:  It's amazing how quickly Fedora went from being a bum to somebody you have to open up the vault to retain. No matter how big a raise he gets, it won't make him a better coach. And if a really big name program wants to poach him, a bigger salary won't keep him from leaving. That's just the way it is for most schools that aren't among the elite. Great coaches keep moving up the food chain, and schools like Carolina will always be a stop along that journey and not the destination.

Virginia Tech was an exception to that rule, but now that Beamer has retired I wouldn't bet his replacement will retire as well. If he's the "hot new coach" he'll be even hotter if he wins at his first P5 stop. And Tech will have a hard time keeping him if that happens.

This is true, all but a handful of schools are immune from another school pulling it's coach, and even those risk losing him to the NFL. Even Jimbo Fisher is going to be in play for an LSU, Alabama or Texas if the timing is right.

But the thing is, how big is that pool of schools that can take your coach? If Texas or USC wants your coach, and you aren't Alabama, you just have to tip your cap and say thanks for the memories.

A school like UNC (like VT) doesn't HAVE to have that big a list of potential poachers. They've got resources, they are in a talent rich area, etc.

Yes, UNC can't pay a guy enough to keep him from Texas or Michigan or Alabama. But UNC should not be in danger of losing it's coach to Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, or Arizona. I'm not saying they are right at the moment, but there should be no doubt, and part of that is anteing up on contracts. If your pool of poachers is 35-40 deep instead of say, 15 deep, then you're going to have a lot harder time retaining anyone and keeping any kind of continuity.

(12-03-2015 04:35 PM)ken d Wrote:  It's amazing how quickly Fedora went from being a bum to somebody you have to open up the vault to retain. No matter how big a raise he gets, it won't make him a better coach. And if a really big name program wants to poach him, a bigger salary won't keep him from leaving. That's just the way it is for most schools that aren't among the elite. Great coaches keep moving up the food chain, and schools like Carolina will always be a stop along that journey and not the destination.

Virginia Tech was an exception to that rule, but now that Beamer has retired I wouldn't bet his replacement will retire as well. If he's the "hot new coach" he'll be even hotter if he wins at his first P5 stop. And Tech will have a hard time keeping him if that happens.

It's a matter of what type of school you want to be. We all know if Fedora is the real deal & a blue blood program comes calling then he is likely gone but if you make your job attractive then you can have real shot at a Dan Mullen type to replace him instead of always looking at lower tier programs in hopes of striking gold

Of course, while I spoke of UNC coaches being poached, the only time I can remember that happening was Mack Brown to Texas. As I recall, Bill Dooley's move to Virginia Tech wasn't so much a matter of poaching as it was a mutual feeling it was time for him to leave Carolina. Other than that, there weren't many UNC coaches anybody wanted to poach.

I don't understand the Fedora hate. He arrives on the scene and the team is immediately put on probation with scholarship restrictions and bowl ban. He's been dealing with the NCAA crap for 4 years which affects recruiting, but still able to pull in quality players. He finally got the nerve to fire Vic Koenning and convince Gene Chizik to be DC. The staff hires they made with Papuchis and Warren have been excellent. The team will be even better next year than they are this year.