So how did we ever end up with John Bunting?

I never was captured by John Bunting's personality. He would have been a decent coach in the 1970's or 80's, but his approach was not successful with today's players.

John talked a good game, and he was able to add a 12th game to the season by playing Oklahoma in Norman. After going down 41-13 at halftime, the Heels played inspired ball, losing only by a score of 41-27. That game was followed by a loss to the Terps and a dismantling by the Longhorns of Texas. 0-3 is not the way to start out your tenure at UNC (at the same time, the last 2 coached lost their first 3 games--Brown and Torbush). Then something happened: we caught on fire against FSU, trailing only by 9-7 at half. We came out in the 2nd half and defeated a good team by a score of 41-9. We then won our next 4 games, defeating NCSU, ECU, UVA, and Clemson. We sputtered against GT and Wake, but we then won our next 3 games against Duke, SMU, and Auburn in the Peach Bowl. We averaged 26 points on offense and allowed 21 points on defense...this was a major improvement.

2002---a mini disaster. We defeated Arizona State, Syracuse, and Duke (all 3 were away games!), and lost to Miami (OH), Texas, GT, NCSU, UVA, Wake, Maryland, Clemson, and FSU). We averaged 18 points on offense and allowed 35 points on D. All 12 opponents scored at least 21 points, which was totally opposite of the team from 5 years prior (all 12 opponents in 1997 scored 20 or less).

2003--a major disaster. We had victories over ECU and Wake, but lost the other 10 games. We only held one team under 30 points (ECU, 17 points). And Duke beat us for the first time since 1989 by a score of 30-22.

2004--we had a reovery of fortune. After defeating W&M and losing to UVA, we beat a good Yellow Jacket team by a score of 34-13. We then got waxed by FSU and Louisville, but we came back and defeated a decent NCSU team by a score of 30-24. The Utah Utes destroyed us 46-16, and we lost several players to injury. The Huricanes of Miami were coming in to town, and they were in the top 5 of the Nation. It's a good thing we play football on the gridiron, because the Heels played the best game since FSU--2001, defeating Miami by a score of 31-28. After losing to a very solid VT team (27-24), the Heels handled Wake and Duke. Although we lost to BC in the Continental Tire Bowl, we at least had a sense of pride. The Heels were back. Our offense and defense improved.

2005--we weren't back for long. We could have defeated our first 2 teams if we had started strong. After losing close matches to GT and Wisconsin, we defeated NCSU and Utah. We then got DESTROYED by Louisville (69-14), but then followed it up by defeating UVA 7-5. The Heels defeated BC and Duke, but lost to Miami, Maryland, and VT. A 5-6 season is medicority at it's best.

2006---Bunting is on the ropes early and often. In the first 10 games the Heels win a total of 1, defeating Division I-AA Furman by a score of 45-42. We then end the season by defeating NCSU and Duke. We score on average 18 points a game on offense and allow 31 points on defense...not good, not good.

The Heels had some highlights during the Bunting years. A 4-2 record against NCSU, a 5-1 record against Duke, a victory over FSU and Miami (FL), and a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn. These games represent 12 of Bunting's 27 victories, which kind of explains why Bunting wasn't asked back for a 7th year. Inconsistency reigned these years.