My first memory of UNC Chapel Hill football was watching my alma mater, Northwestern, lose 41-7 to the Tar Heels in my college days. Carolina’s amazing freshman running back, Amos Lawrence, was way too fast for any Wildcat.
Northwestern went on to win two football games during my four years in Evanston. That proved unacceptable, so alums of the private school invested millions of dollars to help the team remain viable in the Big 10 Conference and occasionally win a few big games. Now it’s building an $850 million stadium, with more than half of the money coming from Chicago insurance billionaire Patrick Ryan and his family.
Back in Chapel Hill, UNC has had some gridiron success over the decades, but football never became a quasi-religion as in other Deep South states. Wise leaders, including William Friday, C.D. Spangler Jr. and Erskine Bowles, helped maintain that ethos.
Periodic football success was never enough for some alums at North Carolina’s flagship school, however. That included some Chapel Hill trustees, including former Chairman John Preyer, who decided that superstar ex-NFL coach Bill Belichick, 73, was the answer to make UNC a perennial national title contender.
Preyer’s end run around UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham to attract Belichick was as surprising as any trick play ever dreamed up at Kenan Stadium. “We don’t have a more capable, more experienced, more talented senior administrator here at Carolina,” Chancellor Lee Roberts said last year, referring to Cunningham.
But the end run worked, with a few nudges by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger. Preyer got his man, lured by a pledge for $10 million a year, plus $29 million for staff and recruitment, and millions more for other costs. Lots of dough, but not unusual in today’s college football scene.
It was also such an obvious violation of “The Carolina Way,” that UNC System President Peter Hans quickly threw a penalty flag, namely a memo blocking trustees from playing any role in similar negotiations with a future Belichick.
On the field, the Belichick magic has yet to materialize. Through the season’s first seven weeks, UNC ranked 99th among 136 teams, Athlon Sports estimates. Surely the famed coach can fix that.
The excitement in Chapel Hill is just one of countless examples of how well-meaning adults allow football to become a distraction from the truly important work at universities. John Preyer is an easy mark, but similar foolishness occurs consistently at many other places.
It’s just so much more exciting to seek to attract a hot new coach than focus on the long list of challenging campus duties. There’s almost always a group of wealthy, football-savvy donors circling university leadership. There are always administrators and coaches, who are the key beneficiaries of the sports’ explosion, emphasizing that football is the “front porch” of university marketing efforts.
That’s just baloney. The reality is that UNC remains a “transformational leader in education, research, technology, finance, athletics and healthcare,” according to a strength-and-weakness analysis from the Brunswick Group, an influential marketing company that the trustees hired last year.
It will remain that way as long as state and university leaders commit to accessible, affordable and innovative campuses focused on helping students achieve fulfilling careers and develop admirable character. Nine years of flat tuition at UNC System schools reflects that commitment. Given North Carolina’s incredible momentum, our public universities, and the equally invaluable community college system, are poised to remain a vital factor in the state’s success.
Let’s make sure that happens, no matter how many games Belichick wins or loses.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.