Let throw a little submarine lingo out there.
Unlike five years ago when we were updating the coaching search almost daily, mainly because of rumors, this time around the info has been sparse. Well, not sparse, just behind a paywall which I can read but cannot post here. Anyway, if you watch all the coaching searches going on right now and the general coverage of them you will note that there is much more in the way of rumor and information making the rounds than is the case for UNC's search. In essence, aside from some tweets here and there, no one is talking about the UNC coaching search. The local media has been quiet on it and the only real news you can get on it is if you have Inside Carolina premium access.
Point to UNC AD Bubba Cunningham who has run this search quietly and by all accounts very well. Of course process matters less if the result ends up being a hire that is less than desirable. Right now Bubba has done a good job running this search. Now he needs to deliver the goods which may be somewhat outside his control given the entrance of Texas A&M and Arizona St. into the race and their impact on Bubba's preferred candidates.
As it stands right now, Bubba had Boise State's Chris Petersen as a #1 target and while Petersen has not publicly rejected UNC(another point to Bubba) as he has UCLA and Arizona he is likely not coming to Chapel Hill. That leaves a pool of three or four coaches high on Bubba's list: Larry Fedora(Southern Miss), Kevin Sumlin(Houston), Guz Malzhan(Offensive Coordinator, Auburn) and Troy Calhoun(Air Force.) Fedora appears to be the leader with Sumlin, Malzhan and Calhoun behind him in that order. Texas A&M and Arizona State also would like a shot at two Fedora and Sumlin while Kansas is interested in Malzhan making this all a very dicey game of high stakes poker.
Stay tuned since it is widely expected the dominoes will start falling here very shortly and the chances are UNC ends up with a head coach shortly. The question is will it be the one everyone wants?