Rite of passage for a coach in the Triangle.
The 10th Annual Bill Dooley Triangle Pigskin Preview was held in Cary on Thursday with Larry Fedora making his first appearance. Inside Carolina has full quotes which cover a variety of topics which amazingly did not include the current AFAM scandal or the previous one.
Fedora did not reveal anything earth shattering but did comment about loving his team's attitude.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your team?
“I’m really excited about our guys’ attitudes with the change. They’ve totally bought in. They’re excited about what’s going on. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, both on the field and off, so I’m excited about that. They’re working as hard as we want them to work. They’re excited about trying to change the culture at Carolina and the things that we want to accomplish now, so that has been a nice surprise and a really good situation.T“The concerns for me are just depth across the board. I don’t feel like we have enough depth at any one position. You’re not going to go through a season without injuries, so I’m worried about that. I’m really worried about everything, to be honest with you. That really keeps me awake at night. There’s not a whole lot you can do about it but prepare those other guys and hopefully somebody will step up each and every time that happens. But I’m excited just to find out what we’re made of and what we’ve got when the bullets start flying and adversity happens, what this team is going to be and who we’re going to become.”
You said you’re loving the attitude of your team so far and you’re interested to see how they respond once the bullets start flying. Are those one in the same?
“I do like their attitude. The way they have bought in to what we’re preaching and what we’re going to do and how we’re changing the culture at Carolina, so I do like that, but you never really know until you have adversity. How’s your team going to respond to adversity? We talk about looking it in the eye, grabbing it by the throat and chocking it everyday when it comes. It’s coming. I mean it’s coming. We’re either in some type of situation right now or we just got out of one or there’s one coming around the corner, but I’ve never been through a game that we haven’t faced adversity, so why blink? Just get going and go.”
The term "buying in" will be tossed around a lot at this point which is not unusual. When a coaching change occurs there is a question to how much players who did not choose to play for the incoming coach commit to the new program. By all accounts UNC players have done just that and despite not having a bowl game as an end of year goal, the Tar Heels will be bringing nonetheless.
In other UNC football news, linebacker Darius Lipford was lost for the season due to an ACL tear which will require surgery. Lipford was in the midst of rehabbing the knee which he originally injured during the Independence Bowl(did anything good happen in that game?) when he re-injured it. Lipford is listed as a true junior which means he should have two more years of eligibility remaining.