Born & Bred // August 2021 // Program Building

T H E

ISSUE XXIV

O F F I C I A L

M A G A Z I N E

O F

T H E

R A M S

C L U B

PROGRAM BUILDING

CONSTRUCTING A WINNER

AUSTIN O’CONNOR NCAA CHAMPION, WRESTLING

YOU PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE RAMS CLUB AND HOW YOU CAN IMPACT THE LIVES OF CAROLINA STUDENT-ATHLETES, VISIT RAMSCLUB.COM. P.O. BOX 2446 | CHAPEL HILL, NC 27515 | (919) 843-2000 | RAMSCLUB.COM |

@THERAMSCLUB

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Normally, the cover of each issue of Born & Bred reflects the content of the stories. That’s a pretty simple guideline.

But it’s not absolute.

Most of the content of this issue is focused on the various stages of building a program. Carolina is a ripe laboratory for that type of study, because the Tar Heel athletic department—which posted a fourth-place finish in the 2020-21 Director’s Cup competition, marking the 22nd top-ten finish in department history (the entire rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference has a combined 22 topten finishes)—has multiple examples of each phase of development.

It’s our hope that learning more about some of the core principles and personalities behind those big Director’s Cup numbers will make the 2021-22 athletics year even more enjoyable to follow. Erin Matson is the prime current example. You probably already have a general awareness of her incredible success, including three straight national championships.

But once you learn more about how she’s done it, and how Tar Heel field hockey coach Karen Shelton has turned Matson’s presence into a dominating stretch for a program that’s already experienced significant national success, you might appreciate her even more. And maybe when you’re in Chapel Hill for a sold-out football game this fall—finally, fans are back in stadiums!—you could stop by Karen Shelton Stadium to witness that type of greatness in person.

Normally, a program that has won three straight national titles would be the unquestioned standardbearer within the department. But there are legitimately multiple other programs on campus that can reasonably aspire to similar heights of success, plus one that has already pulled the trifecta multiple times.

Of course, that also comes with heightened expectations, where simply making the final four but not winning a title—cause for a parade at some other institutions—comes with a sense of incompletion.

But there’s more in this issue than just our study of

building a program. Midway through the storyboarding process for this issue, we realized it wouldn’t be complete without reflecting the biggest story in Carolina athletics this fall—your return to Chapel Hill. It was a successful 2020-21 athletics year, but it rarely felt normal. It wasn’t just a matter of missing fans in the stands, although celebrating the first Tar Heel touchdown this season with high fives in a full Kenan Stadium will be a relief. It was missing you in town, on Franklin Street and in and around every venue that is part of Carolina athletics.

The goals and the baskets and, most certainly, the wins were still present last year. But it just didn’t quite feel like Carolina athletics without you.

Welcome home.

Adam Lucas Editor in Chief

PRODUCED BY THE RAMS CLUB // EDITOR IN CHIEF ADAM LUCAS // CONTRIBUTING WRITERS PAT JAMES & LEE PACE // PHOTOGRAPHY JEFFREY CAMARATI // DESIGN JUJUBE SPORTS PUBLISHING

ramsclub.com

3

18

“

26

“Nothing is guaranteed. That’s the exciting part. That’s why we have so much fun.

The goal is to improve every time.” — ERIN MATSON

the

PROGRAM BUILDING edition

ON THE COVER: All the things we love about gameday are coming back this fall.

Welcome home to Chapel Hill.

COVER PHOTOS AND TABLE OF CONTENTS: JEFFREY CAMARATI

4

BORN & BRED

CLAUDIA DICKEY Women’s Soccer

32

36

38

& EDITOR’S LETTER p. 3

TAR HEEL TICKER p. 6

PROGRAM BUILDING

PROGRAM BUILDING

18 Men’s Golf Turns the Corner

Toughness helps Andrew DiBitetto’s program earn national reputation

BY LEE PACE PROGRAM BUILDING

26 Carolina Cool

Mack Brown once again has Carolina football on the verge of a national impact

BY LEE PACE PROGRAM BUILDING

30 The Secrets of Our Success

The women’s soccer and men’s lacrosse programs helped build their respective sports.

Now, they’re competing against a new era of talent.

BY PAT JAMES

32 No Short Cuts

Women’s lacrosse and women’s tennis are competing for titles every season, building on a foundation over a decade in the making

BY PAT JAMES

PROGRAM BUILDING

36 Nothing For Granted

Even in the most dominant stage in program history, Karen Shelton and Carolina field hockey are still hungry for success.

BY ADAM LUCAS

PROGRAM BUILDING

38 The Carolina Way ... Today

Early months of Hubert Davis era demonstrate a commitment to blend the best of Carolina’s past with an eye towards the future

BY ADAM LUCAS FIRST PERSON

42 ‘Building A Family’

Carolina wrestling coach utilizing all his on-campus resources to build the program

BY COLEMAN SCOTT

ramsclub.com

5

TA R H E E LT I C K E R WELCOME HOME

GONE TO CAROLINA

We asked Rams Club members what they’re most looking forward to about returning to campus for Carolina games this year.

G A M E D AY @ K E N A N S TA D I U M First down, Tar ... Heels!

I am looking forward to hearing the crowd, cheering and the band playing. I’m also looking forward to the smell of tailgating.

-BRAYDEN GILBERT SALISBURY, NC

The excitement that each new football season brings as the team starts with a clean slate and high expectations. Hopefully, the fans will be the difference makers in those close games that make or break the season.

-DAVID NANCE CARY, NC

1 1 We are thrilled to be back on the Hill! We can’t wait for Rameses to strike the familiar chords on the guitar, to hear the bell, and to see our Tar Heels take the field! Go Heels!

-BRITT & COURTNEE COX (PICTURED WITH MARTIN & HALLE) GREENSBORO, NC

6

BORN & BRED

Looking forward to September night games when the air is cool, the team is hot, and the stadium is once again full and rocking!

-ROY COLLETTE KERNERSVILLE, NC

Mack Brown ... that is all!!!!!!!

-JOHN GODWIN DUNN, NC

2

We recently headed over to Franklin St. to stock up on some new gear and grab some new garden flags. We are so excited to be able to go to the football games this year because my girlfriend has never attended one in person! I have been coming to games for years and excited to be able to share the experience with her. Watching the game on television and being there in person is a completely different atmosphere. Just to be around the Tar Heel Nation in Kenan stadium is amazing on a Saturday afternoon hearing First down, Tar Heels!!!

-CONRAD BUIE (PICTURED WITH KATE MALONE) RALEIGH, NC

3

Just being able to go to the games and experience the Carolina Way. It’s like nothing else in this world!.

-BRYAN BILLUPS KNIGHTDALE, NC

Excited Carolina fans. “Carolina Blue” skies – if God is not a Tar Heel, why is the sky Carolina Blue? Impressive band.

Dominating football team. Carolina victory.

2

Being in the midst of beautiful Kenan Stadium filled with roaring fans, an energetic and full-throated band and passionate players and coaches, while watching a very talented Heels team win!

We are so excited to see this year’s top 10 team play in front of a full energized Kenan Stadium!

-KENT WALKER, JR. CHARLOTTE, NC

-WILL & MARGO WHITLEY CHARLOTTE, NC

4

Watching Heisman Howell lead this Carolina team to postseason contention is going to be electric in a full-capacity Kenan Stadium!

3

-CARTER SEARCY CARY, NC

5

4

I’m most looking forward to 55,000 fans in Kenan Stadium when the Heels run out of the tunnel on a beautiful Carolina blue September afternoon … and 110,000 arms with four fingers up heading into the fourth quarter … and 55,000 voices singing “Hark the Sound” after sweet back-to-back home wins against FSU and Miami.

-JAY OSTENDARP CHARLOTTE, NC

Being a Carolina grad (‘79) and season ticket holder for almost 40 years, my family and I are excited to return to campus to cheer on our Tar Heels. We can’t wait to see a sold-out Kenan Stadium on Saturday night September 11 to watch our nationally ranked Boys in Light Blue!

-JOHNNY CARROLL CONCORD, NC

Looking forward most to the team coming out of the tunnel, students standing and cheering, and winning!! The joy, pride and excitement you feel as a Tar Heel.

-KEN NEHER WINSTON-SALEM, NC

I’m very excited to return to the University for a great afternoon to enjoy the game and seeing old friends. It is wonderful to again spend the afternoon on a beautiful day and enjoy the Tar Heel enthusiasm. It is the highlight of our Fall.

-RALPH BENTLEY STATESVILLE, NC

-GEORGE & ANNE MOSELEY SPARTANBURG, SC

It was eerie last fall attending games in Kenan with so few fans there. Looking forward to all the noise and exuberance only TAR HEEL supporters can provide!

5

-JOSEPH SMITH BETHEL, NC

ramsclub.com

7

TA R H E E LT I C K E R We’re looking forward to returning to campus and the pageantry of Carolina football. Looking forward to sharing the stadium with 50,000 of our closest friends cheering for our Tar Heels.

6

-DEAN & CAROLYN KANIPE MARION, NC

-STEVE & SARAH SOWERS HIGH POINT, NC

There is no greater feeling than walking into Kenan on a crisp fall day. Looking around to see who has returned. At my age (75) not as many of the old faces make it back, but I still keep an eye out. I graduated in 1967 and only a few still enjoy the sunshine on their faces and the excitement that I find in seeing a familiar face. God bless the boys in Carolina blue and white that look so good, happy and prepared to take on all opposition. Looking forward to that first day.

What a great game.

7

-NOEL GOLDBERG OAKTON, VA

-SCOTT FOSTER CHARLESTON, SC

8

8

BORN & BRED

I can’t wait to come back to Chapel Hill this fall for Monogram Day! I am most looking forward to taking my grandsons to Kenan Stadium, surrounded by the Carolina Blue environment, sharing popcorn from a Tar Heel bucket, hearing the Carolina band and taking a postgame trip to TimeOut Chicken!

7

-JACKY JONES PENCE COLLEGE STATION, TX

-DOYLE HAYES REIDSVILLE, NC

-MARTHA ANN MCDONALD WINSTON-SALEM, NC

6

Obviously, I’m looking forward to what promises to be a spectacular footfall season.

Also, although I currently have a five- to sixhour drive to Chapel Hill, I hope to continue my streak of attending every Team Walk since it was started by Coach Bunting.

The best part about the fall is going to football games! We look forward to every game at UNC and have been faithful Tar Heels, forever, with extended family who also follow the Heels. So excited to sit in Kenan Stadium come September.

A packed stadium! I went to almost all the home games last year AND the Orange Bowl where we played a GREAT game against a CFP caliber team. But it was not the same. Can’t wait for the Blue Smoke, the Marching Band the Cheerleaders, the tailgates and the screaming fans. GO Heels and thank you Mack Brown for all you have done for us!!

I am most excited about going to the games and meeting the players. GO HEELS!!

-CODY POE RAEFORD, NC

-RICK WILLIAMS WILMINGTON, NC

Can’t wait for the boys to come out of the tunnel!!!

I’m looking forward to watching Carolina football wins such as our big win over Dook at Homecoming 2019.

9

Can’t wait to get back on campus this Fall! Of course, I’m looking forward to the walks on campus, as that cool fall air begins to swirl, and listening to the fight song as we enter Kenan Stadium to cheer on our Tar Heels.

But most of all, I look forward to spending quality time with my Dad (Randy). Family and UNC Football – doesn’t get much better than that. Go Heels!

-JEFFREY WARREN (PICTURED WITH RANDY) GREENSBORO, NC

8

9

TA R H E E LT I C K E R 10

The Cepeda Family can’t wait to return to campus in October for the football game against Florida State and applaud the team’s hard work and dedication to UNC during a challenging time.

-SHAWN & VIRGINIA CEPEDA (VIRGINIA PICTURED WITH HER CHILDREN & THEIR GRANDMOTHER ALICE HOLT) SUMMIT, NJ Just love the excitement, the blue, the game, everything!

-NANCY CRUTCHFIELD REIDSVILLE, NC

We love the games and the excitement created by the Rams club and the student section! We love the lady who greets us each game in our seating section – such a sweetheart and fun, true blue fan! The best part is seeing the blue light glowing from the tower when the Tar Heels win! What a wonderful end to a great game!

10

11

-TAMMY & WILLIAM SANFORD ROXBORO, NC

I’m most looking forward to seeing Carolina friends and enjoying a normal game experience again! I also can’t wait to see what the new team can do!!

I’m looking forward to the thrill of being back on campus. It’s my home away from home!

-KAREN BRUTON BRENTWOOD, TN

-CHARLOTTE LUTZ DALLAS, TX

12

I’m most excited to return to UNC football games so I can cheer, TOUCH DOWN TAR ... HEELS!

14

11

-RACHEL FOUSHEE RALEIGH, NC

To see the Heels have a great season and Sam Howell win the Heisman!!

-MIKE & ELIZABETH SOBOEIRO RALEIGH, NC

Larry and I are over the moon with excitement to attend in person events on campus.

-BRENDA POLLARD DURHAM, NC

13

The fact that some of the restrictions have been lifted and as a result Mack is expecting Kenan to be packed.

We are lucky to have him and his staff. We are on the verge of becoming a national acclaimed team … and look what Hubert is doing. Goodbye DUKE!

I can’t wait to catch up with friends, enjoy the lovely October weather in Chapel Hill, hit all of my favorite spots on Franklin Street, and cheer on the Heels!

-AMANDA WALKE ARLINGTON, VA

14

12

13

-BUTCH ROW WHITEVILLE, NC

ramsclub.com

9

TA R H E E LT I C K E R 15

As members of the Rams Cub for many years, there’s plenty to look forward to this season! Coming to Chapel Hill hours before the game to tailgate with good food, cornhole, great music and great people gets our Football Saturday started. And you never know what former player or media staff will stop by to enjoy some refreshments! Once the team buses go by on 54, we’re pumped to begin our stroll through the beautiful campus to the Student Stores to rack up on the latest Tar Heel gear. We always walk past the Bell Tower and Ramshead Plaza before heading into Kenan Stadium to watch the Heels warm up on the field.

Seeing our fellow Tar Heel fans again, visiting an old classmate, and watching someone take in the aura of Kenan for the first time intensifies the pregame excitement for the contest we will soon enjoy. When the team takes the field as the Victory Bell tolls and the fireworks explode it gets us all on our feet, ready for kick off! Cheering and high-fiving with each score leads us to join the entire stadium when we proudly raise our four fingers for the Fourth Quarter and AC/DC, urging the Heels to victory! Lastly, singing and swaying to “Hark the Sound” displays the amazing feeling of friendship and family that we all have surely missed this past year, as we are all one … as Tar Heels!

-CAITLIN ACKERMAN (PICTURED WITH BUNNY, SMOAK & TERRI) ZEBULON, NC

15 I recently moved back to NC after 20+ years in Massachusetts. I was looking forward to once again buying season football tickets, but I couldn’t because I was unsure about COVID restrictions. Now I’m fully vaccinated, restrictions are lifted, and I can go to games! Yay me!

-CINDY SAVAGE-KING ARCHER LODGE, NC

Anxious to get back to Blue Heaven and cheer our Heels on to a GREAT Season and visit Franklin Street favorites … GO HEELS!

-JAN & REGGIE WRIGHT VESTAVIA HILLS, AL

A NEW ERA IN MEN’S BASKETBALL Hubert Davis at the helm

I am really looking forward to getting back to the Dean Smith Center and enjoying the exciting atmosphere Coach Hubert Davis is creating with the new recruits and returning players for Tar Heel basketball. It should be a very exciting 2021-2022 season.

16

-CHRIS & CHRISTY HOLLAND (PICTURED WITH CAROLINA & CALEB) ARCHER LODGE, NC

-HENRY FLEISHMAN CHARLOTTE, NC

The first thing I look forward to is the football games at Kenan where I will be able to watch in person. However, being able to watch the basketball games in person is what I look forward to the most. I have attended every Final Four we won (including 1957) and a majority of our unsuccessful efforts starting in the 1970s.

I doubt that there are many of us left who can make that claim.

-LARRY COBB CHAPEL HILL, NC

10

BORN & BRED

We are looking forward to seeing friends and meeting new people as we cheer on the Heels in Kenan and the Dome!

As a Rams Club member, so glad to be back in the stands at the football games and basketball games. The Rams Club is awesome, and as a member it’s great to be a Tar Heel.

16

-JAMES BAINES HENDERSON, NC

17

Looking forward to great times cheering on the Heels!!

-CHRIS MERTZ CHAPEL HILL, NC

17

TA R H E E LT I C K E R C A R O L I N A FA M I LY

Coming back to Chapel Hill means new memories with family and friends 18

Can’t wait to get back to Kenan to watch the Heels with family and friends!

-ADAM FORD CHARLOTTE, NC

Like with your extended family, where you may not see everyone except around holiday gatherings, your Carolina family’s holiday gatherings are around 6 or 7 Saturdays in Chapel Hill. It will be great to pull to the top of the Bell Tower deck where it feels like Norm walking into Cheers!”

-NANCY CRUTCHFIELD REIDSVILLE, NC

18

19

This fall my granddaughter, Anna Tilghman, will be entering the Freshman Class at UNC-Chapel Hill. I look forward to visiting her and enjoying many events this year.

My late husband, Dr. Bennett A. Hayes, who received his undergraduate and his medical degrees at UNC, would be very proud.

-DAVID SPENCER HIGH POINT, NC

-ELAINE BRYANT HAYES FAYETTEVILLE, NC

I can’t wait to take my five-year-old granddaughter, Clara, to her first Carolina football game ... the band, the snacks and of course the soon-to-be ACC champion Tar Heel football team!!

19

Looking forward to my great seats … Being back home in Kenan ... Meeting my old and new Tar Heel family … GO HEELS!

It’s been too long getting back together with my Tar Heel friends in Bowles lot. Just like the basketball team, we are family.

-BRUCE HINES KILL DEVIL HILLS, NC

What I am most looking forward to in the fall is getting to meet up with friends that I have been unable to make. I live in Texas, and about 15years ago God blessed me with hooking up with people from the Craige Deck. I now have a core group of about six and we FaceTime or just text to check on each other. We are a solid group of friends who are now considered family, and we would have never met if it were not for our passion for everything Carolina – mainly football – but we follow every sport and root for any Carolina team. Go Heels!

-SCOTT CANNON WICHITA FALLS, TX

-MAX “BUDDY” REECE NEW LONDON, NC

20

We love the games and the excitement created by the Rams club and the student section! We love the lady who greets us each game in our seating section – such a sweetheart and fun, true blue fan! The best part is seeing the blue light glowing from the tower when the Tar Heels win! What a wonderful end to a great game!

20

-JOHN BULLINGTON PILOT MOUNTAIN, NC

ramsclub.com 11

TA R H E E LT I C K E R Moving in my daughter back on campus for her senior year and taking her to a Carolina Football game. Go Heels!!!

23

-RALPH FRITH WOODBINE, MD

I look forward to getting back on campus to share the UNC experience with my son.

My dad and I had a tradition of cheering on our Tar Heels, and I want to carry on that tradition in his honor. Let’s go Heels!

-ROBIN BURGESS ELIZABETHTOWN, NC

21

21

22

The Eklund family looks forward to returning this fall for many ‘Bell Tower Blue’ victories as proud and thankful Tar Heel football family alums and new Season Ticket holders!

-NEVA EKLUND JACKSON, MS

12

-TONY COGGINS GOLDSBORO, NC

24

Without question, I am most looking forward to watching the Marching Tar Heels in Kenan this Fall. My son, Mark Heymann, is a clarinet player in the band, and it is so special to see him marching on the field where his grandfather, Bob Heymann, played football 80 years ago.

-ROBERT HEYMANN JR. (PICTURED WITH MARK HEYMANN) HIGHLAND PARK, IL

BORN & BRED

I’m looking forward to spending time with my parents, wife and daughter in my favorite place on Earth! The stroll across the quads and the first glimpse of the field make me feel at home. Go Heels!

22

We are looking forward to bringing my girlfriend – a newly converted Duke fan - back to Chapel Hill and Kenan Stadium for her second season as a Tar Heel.

Ready for Mack to lead the Heels to an ACC championship in his third season!

-JEFF BOLSTER HUNTERSVILLE, NC

23 25

We have always attended Carolina games as a family, since our kids were 4 and 6 years old – they are now 29 and 31 and the tradition continues. Being in the Tar Heel atmosphere is one of the most rewarding feelings. The pandemic has us feeling a bit deprived. We are looking forward to walking with other Tar Heel fans to Kenan Stadium, while talking, laughing and meeting new fans, checking out the latest trend in Carolina gear and counting the jerseys, seeing which player’s jersey is being worn the most.

We always hang out in Tar Heel Town to buy more gear, eat, play games and take pictures while we await the Victory Walk by the team. Finally, it’s game time, we’re in the stands and the excitement is contagious. So, we are most looking forward to cheering the team on to lots of victories and being together with our fellow Tar Heel families once again IT’S THE ATMOSPHERE FOR US! GO HEELS!!!

-THE HARDY FAMILY (BRENDA) NASHVILLE, NC

24

25

TA R H E E LT I C K E R 26

27

26

-LARRY & FRAN CLINE GREENSBORO, NC

Like many of you, I am extraordinarily proud of my degree from Carolina. It took me so long to graduate my dad used to tell his friends I was at Chapel Hill for three terms: Nixon’s, Ford’s and Carter’s. Later, the folks at Dook were kind enough to provide a graduate degree. If you graduate in the spring the ceremony is held at Wallace Wade Stadium. Like Chapel Hill, they provide a graduation program; white paper, Dook Blue ink, a blank back cover. They have people with video cameras circulating, taking shots of happy students and family and broadcasting them on the scoreboard.

My friends were scrawling “Hi Mom!” and “Love You!” on their back covers and the video folks would shoot them; the images filling the giant scoreboard. I proudly wrote “GO HEELS!!” on mine and the video guy wasn’t reading what he was shooting. “GO HEELS!!” filled the scoreboard at Wallace Wade Stadium. Needless to say, the attending crowd and the chairman of my department weren’t happy.

29 29

We are most looking forward to teaching our young Tar Heel the Carolina Way and seeing the growth of our university through his eyes.

-CAMERON WATERS CLINARD & CAMERON CLINARD (PICTURE OF SON SILAS) FUQUAY-VARINA, NC

-MIKE COLLINS KNIGHTDALE, NC

27

28

28

This!

I’m most looking forward to sharing the Carolina experience with my three boys: Langston (9), Griffin (6) and Jude (3). We had an amazing time at the Clemson game in 2019 and they’ve been asking to go back ever since! I love game day in Chapel Hill. I love Tar Heel Town, I love the Old Well Walk, I love Franklin Street early that Saturday morning grabbing our Beat the other team buttons from Shrunken Head. And now, I love that I get to share that love of Chapel Hill and the Tar Heels with my boys.

-SARAH VAUGHN WATERS FRANKLIN, TN

30 30

I look forward to being with friends and family and the games themselves!

-JIM HARRELL ELKIN, NC

ramsclub.com 13

TA R H E E LT I C K E R CHAPEL HILL TRADITIONS

Coming back to Chapel Hill means new memories with family and friends 31

Gameday at The Carolina Inn!

-COLE & CARSON TAYLOR CHARLOTTE, NC

To be honest, it’s simple for me. Just the walk through campus from Franklin Street to Kenan. To see the brick sidewalk. The trees. The Old Well. To watch the Drum Line playing in the student quad. Then the pep rally at the Wilson Library. Then following the band to the stadium. To watch a Tar Heels Victory in that stadium amongst the pines. GO HEELS!!!

-BOB GURLEY BEDFORD, VA

33

31 32

The entire game day experience! I am a UNC grad (‘72) and both of our sons graduated from UNC (Eric ‘04 and Michael ‘07, ‘14). We are born and bred Tar Heels! I grew up in North Carolina, and we were fortunate to move back to Chapel in 2000. For the past 20 years (with the exception of one!) our Fall calendar was planned around attending Carolina football games with family and friends. As my wife says, 2020 was “off kilter” in many ways. It will be great to get back into our Fall routine. We tailgate just off Rosemary Street. Of the many things we missed last year was the walk across campus to Kenan Stadium – the beauty of the campus, the memories, the energy of the fans, and the overall comradery. Walking back is also interesting – celebratory or not, it is always fun to listen to all the commentary and opinion – from the Heels’ faithful as well as the opponents! Go Heels in ‘21!

-STEVE JOHNSON (PICTURED WITH SANDY JOHNSON) CHAPEL HILL, NC

14

BORN & BRED

We are looking forward to returning in person this fall! In particular, we are planning on a reunion during homecoming with old fraternity brothers and fellow Rams Club members at Carolina Inn that weekend.

And, of course, a winning season, a Coastal/ACC championship and Bowl game!

-CHARLIE COBLE (PICTURED WITH ANN ALLGOOD) LEESVILLE, SC

32

33

34

34

I am looking forward to walking around campus, especially Franklin Street. I can’t wait to be around the best fans in the world inside of a sold out Kenan Stadium! I am most excited about Late Night this fall!

We’ve made it a tradition to go every year!

-MITCHELL JONES COLUMBIA, SC

TA R H E E LT I C K E R 35

Kenan Stadium turns 94 this season, and I am looking forward to being there for my 49th season of Carolina football in this special venue nestled within Kenan Woods. The anticipation builds almost from the ending of the prior season finale. Receiving the season ticket envelope normally cements the reality that Carolina football is upon us, which will be somewhat different this year with the change to digital ticket delivery. What will not change, however, is the traditional routine of decorating the car with the Carolina magnets, the 2-hour drive to the Hill from Kinston, waving to other Tar Heels along the route, the drive along Highway 54 and through the tree-lined roadway that forms a tunnel that finally opens to reveal campus landmarks, the satisfaction of pulling into the parking lot, entering the grand old lady and seeing kids of all ages decked out in Carolina gear making their way to their respective seats. From my view, I get to see the Bell Tower beyond Old Glory rising above the trees and from that perch in the upper deck can spend the pregame time soaking in the panorama that never gets old as I greet friends whom I haven’t seen in a few months, enjoy a pregame hotdog and a Coke as I “inspect” the NC-logo flags that rim the stadium to see which one invariably has been hoisted upside down (a version of Where’s Waldo). For those several hours, I get to escape the craziness of the world. There is so much satisfaction to be had in experiencing the “voice” of Kenan, the assembling fans grow to be a part of the sounds and pageantry that is a fall afternoon in Kenan Stadium as our Tar Heel warriors compete. After 297 consecutive games attended (the season opener last year doesn’t count since we weren’t allowed to be there), the feeling that never gets old will be the same. Go Heels!

36

37

We missed the Bark at the Bosh!

-DICK MALLORY FAIRPORT, NY

The thing that I am most looking forward to about returning to campus for Carolina games this year is the Marching Tar Heels band pregame rally in front of the Louis Round Wilson Library. There is nothing like hearing “I’m a Tar Heel Born” with the sound of the band echoing off the steps of the library, and then following the band marching to Kenan Stadium.

-JIM WALL FUQUAY-VARINA, NC

38

For me it is real simple: “Hark the sound of Tar Heel voices / Ringing clear and true / Singing Carolina’s praises / Shouting N.C.U.” Just the chatter of Carolina fans whether It be at the Bell Tower walk through, the Rams Club patio, Tar Heel Town, the Student Stores, etc.

37

-KEVIN COPELAND CAMDEN, NC

I look forward to seeing a good game and a Tar Heel victory. I look forward to eating at the game with friends and cheering for the Heels.

-GREG CAULEY KINSTON, NC

-LARRY SAUDER CHARLOTTE, NC

39

35

36

38

My wife and I look forward to seeing Tar Heel fans wearing Carolina Blue on campus again.

-ROB LEWIS CHAPEL HILL, NC

39

ramsclub.com 15

TA R H E E LT I C K E R TA I L G AT I N G

Making a full day out of gameday in Chapel Hill 40

I am most excited to return to UNC campus this fall for football tailgates! I host an annual get-together for a football game with guys who have been friends since elementary school and a few of us are UNC graduates.

I hosted this event 30 consecutive years until this past year due to the pandemic. We are excited to be back this fall and committed to be all together for the Wake Forest game on November 6.

-TONY JARRETT GREENSBORO, NC

I am looking forward to seeing the progress the football team has made and the scenes of campus and the tailgating. I am also looking forward to the fans dressed in their Carolina Blue. Go Heels!

40

41

-BRIAN GILBERT SALISBURY, NC

We are so excited for normalcy to return to Chapel Hill and enjoy tailgating with friends and family and to be in the seats to support our Tar Heel Family Student-Athletes and Coaching Staff! The future is bright in Chapel Hill and Football is finally back! Let’s Go Tar Heels!

This group has been tailgating together just outside the Craige Deck for 20 years or so. Ready to get the food on the tables, the drinks in the coolers, and the group back together to tell us what’s going to happen before the game starts, and to dissect what went right or wrong with those predictions afterward.

-JONATHAN & AMY DAVIS NEW BERN, NC

-ERIC ENGLEBARDT GREENVILLE, SC

41

I am most looking forward to meeting our tailgate group, the “Blue Heaven Tailgaters”, across from the Dean Dome and watching Carolina football in person again. I watched every game on TV last fall, but it wasn’t the same. This could be a SPECIAL year! #goheels #MackIsBack #GTDBATH

-JULIAN ROSEMOND, JR. DOUGLASVILLE, GA

42

42

16

BORN & BRED

A great year of Carolina football, and especially the tailgating. We can almost taste those biscuits!!

-JIM & IRIS TAYLOR ROCKY MOUNT, NC

I am looking forward to getting back to the games and tailgating with all my friends! Go Heels!

-ANDY WHALEY CHINA GROVE, NC

ramsclub.com 17

B

D UIL

ING A PROGR AM

1 STAGE 1: THE BEGINNING

MEN’S GOLF

TURNS THE

CORNER

TOUGHNESS HELPS ANDREW DIBITETTO’S PROGRAM EARN NATIONAL REPUTATION

BY LEE PACE PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

PETER FOUNTAIN: TALENTED YOUTH INFUSION HAS CAROLINA GOLFERS POISED FOR NATIONAL IMPACT 18

BORN & BRED

MEN’S GOLF TURNS THE CORNER

A

ustin Hitt looks back on his Carolina golf career and the Tar Heels’ run of four consecutive regional tournaments where they advanced to the NCAA Championships: As a freshman in 2017, Hitt shot a team-leading 67 in the final round and the Tar Heels claimed the final spot into the national tournament by one stroke over Georgia Tech. It would be the Tar Heels’ first national appearance in a decade.

As a sophomore in 2018, Carolina rode Joshua Martin’s 30 on the front nine on the final day in Kissimmee, Fla., and finished fourth in Andrew DiBitetto’s first year as head coach.

As a junior in 2019, the Tar Heels tied for second at the Stanford regional, with Ryan Burnett posting the low round of the competition with a 63 on the final day.

And as a senior in 2021 (after no NCAA competition in 2020 during the pandemic), the Tar Heels followed their dominant performance in the stroke-play portion of the ACC Championship (a 15-shot win over Clemson) with a second-place finish in the Noblesville Regional.

“The progression was huge,” Hitt says. “The first year, no one was sure if we could do it, and we just slipped in by one shot.

That was a turning point. Then my senior year, we went to the regionals and weren’t worried about qualifying.”

Now the next step: Win on the national stage. The Tar Heels were one of eight teams in the NCAA Championships in Arizona in May to advance to match play, only to lose to Arizona State in the quarterfinals. The loss marked the end of Hitt’s career as a college golfer.

“I wasn’t that bummed for some strange reason,” he says. “It was like I was happy to have been part of the growth of the program and ready to follow them to see what they do the next two, three, five, ten years. There’s a lot to look forward to.

“The recruiting pitch to me was to be part of turning the program around. We’ve done that.”

Teammate Peter Fountain, a rising sophomore and the ACC

individual champion with a tournament low 63 in the first round, echoes Hitt’s sentiments.

“We’re at the stage now we’ll be competing for ACC championships and NCAA championships every year,” Fountain says. “We saw progress last year. We’re only going to get better.

We have all the resources. Carolina should be a contender every year. Our coaches now have made it very clear they want not just to be good, but one of the best in the country.”

The Tar Heels lose Hitt but gain the services of David Ford of Atlanta, the No. 1 ranked junior in the nation. And they continue to build in what will be the fifth year under DiBitetto and assistant coach Matt Clark.

“David is special,” DiBitetto says. “You could tell from the first day we saw him two years ago, he was different. Just walked different with so much energy and confidence. He has an elite mind, is extremely competitive but also very humble and very gracious. I would say a common denominator in our program right now is we have a bunch of guys that are exceptionally hungry to always better themselves. They are all self-motivators.”

The Tar Heels ended 10 months being sidelined during the pandemic with a return to competition in January 2021, shortly after being listed No. 24 in the country in the preseason Bushnell/Golfweek coaches poll. That was a team that finished No. 13 after the 2019 season and returned its entire lineup and added Fountain as well. And so the gauntlet fell for the new season.

“That ranking was borderline flat-out disrespectful to our guys and what they’ve already accomplished in their golf careers,” DiBitetto says. “So it kind of played perfect to the personality of our team—blue-collar, chip-on-the-shoulder.”

The program is certainly acquiring the personality of DiBitetto, a 35-year-old native of Rochester, N.Y., a former college golfer at Charlotte and an assistant at Carolina for six years under previous head coach Andrew Sapp. He brings a

“

“WE’RE AT THE STAGE NOW WE’LL BE COMPETING FOR ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS AND NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS EVERY YEAR. WE SAW PROGRESS LAST YEAR. WE’RE ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER. WE HAVE ALL THE RESOURCES. CAROLINA SHOULD BE A CONTENDER EVERY YEAR. OUR COACHES NOW HAVE MADE IT VERY CLEAR THEY WANT NOT JUST TO BE GOOD, BUT ONE OF THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY.”

ramsclub.com 19

STAGE ONE level of toughness developed in the hockey rink and from hitting balls as a kid on a square patch of ground shoveled out from a foot of snow.

“One of the ways I’m going to beat people is I’m going to out-compete people and I’m going to out-grit people,” he says.

Toward that end, DiBitetto has a sign posted in the current team facility that says, “When it’s too tough for them, it’s just right for us.” He has a statistic matrix named “Tar Heel Tough” that measures up-and-downs, sand saves, making putts in the nerve-wrangling 3-to-5 foot range, “bouncing back” from a high number on one hole with a birdie on the next, things of that nature.

“I love stats that measure grit,” he says.

The Tar Heels showed that resolve to a high degree in February in tying Arizona for first in The Prestige at PGA West at LaQuinta, Calif., an ultra-strong field that included Arizona State and Pepperdine. Carolina shot 4-under as a team in strong, swirling winds on the final day and was 3-under on the final three holes, with Hitt making birdies on 16 and 18, Burnett having the day’s low round with a 67 and Austin Greaser making birdie on the par-three 17th with a 25-foot putt.

“We talk about being the most mentally tough team,” DiBitetto said after the win. “We want to be able to come from behind and we did that today. Golf can beat you down and you don’t win a lot. So when you do, it’s phenomenal.”

Reflecting on that moment five month later, he terms it a pivotal moment in the season and his team’s evolution.

“That is a hard golf course, the wind was blowing like crazy, especially on the back nine,” he says. “We were fighting some of the best teams in the country. I remember standing on 17 tee with Austin Greaser and him turning to me and saying, ‘I’m going to make birdie here. Let’s figure this out. I’m going to make birdie.’ And he did.

“But I think that was a big moment for us to go out to the West Coast, totally different grass, totally different climate and play well and beat some of the best teams in the country.”

That attitude of resiliency has become part of the program’s DNA. “We want conditions as hard as possible,” Hitt says. “We know we’re going to be mentally tougher. A tournament like that is where those words come to life.”

“That’s where I made the most strides as a freshman,” Fountain adds. “The coaches help me a ton develop my mental strength. So many times we hear other teams complain when

“

conditions are tough or they get a bad break. We embrace them and use them as fuel.”

The Carolina men’s and women’s golf programs are hoping for a recruiting boost in the near future with a significant facility expansion at UNC Finley Golf Course. The Chapman Center at the east end of the practice range has been the programs’ collective home for 20 years. But the quality of locker room, practice, physical training and short-game facilities at rival institutions in college has far passed the Tar Heels by.

One of DiBitetto’s first calls when elevated to his job in 2017 was to former Tar Heel Davis Love III, the 21-time PGA Tour winner and Carolina golfer from 1983-86, with a pitch to reengage Love into the life of the program. Love and his brother Mark, a 1988 Carolina graduate, have offered the services of their golf design firm with some ideas on tweaking the 1999 Tom Faziodesigned course and the existing practice facility. Another former Tar Heel golfer, John W. “Johno” Harris III, is contributing the expertise of the Charlotte-based Lincoln-Harris commercial development and construction firm run by Harris and his father, Johnny Harris, the majordomo at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

The concept involves abandoning the 10th and 11th holes of the existing course and building a new team facility and coaches offices and placing it on a rectangle running roughly from the current position of the 10th tee toward the 11th green. Then the fairways of those holes and woods between them would be reconfigured into a practice area for the golf teams only. There would be practice greens, bunkers, hazards, a short-game area and some par-three holes, allowing golfers to practice any manner of shot length and shape.

Two new holes would be built into the existing holes 12 through 18 on the west side of Finley Golf Course Road. The revised layout would have the front nine on the west side of the property, and the current 1-9 would become 10-18.

University administrators are working through the various approval and budgeting processes, and the Rams Club is making plans to begin fund-raising.

“Is our existing facility good? Yes, absolutely,” DiBitetto says. “Can we do better? Absolutely. This project has been on the horizon for several years. It’s the next big step for us to take. From day one, I’ve had this crystal clear vision of Carolina being one of the elite golf programs in the country.

That vision is starting to become a reality.”

“FROM DAY ONE, I’VE HAD THIS CRYSTAL CLEAR VISION OF CAROLINA BEING ONE OF THE ELITE GOLF PROGRAMS IN THE COUNTRY. THAT VISION IS STARTING TO BECOME A REALITY.”

20

BORN & BRED

© 2021 Pinehurst, LLC

Gil Hanse thought of every angle. Now it’s your turn.

Play Pinehurst No. 4.

It’s time to test your mettle on this rugged masterpiece. Renowned course architect Gil Hanse transformed what Donald Ross first carved out of the sand a century ago into 18 dramatic holes you’ll want to play again and again.

Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina | 888.206.8912 | Visit pinehurst.com ramsclub.com 21

THE CAROLINA FAMILY CAME TOGETHER In 2020-21 we witnessed amazing accomplishments in the face of unprecedented challenges. The pandemic affected our lives in ways we could never have imagined – and during it all, our studentathletes, coaches, staff, Rams Club members and Carolina Community showed their commitment to learning, leading, overcoming and excelling – together.

Rams Club members came together to meet extraordinary financial challenges and invest in our more than 800 student-athletes across 28 teams. A projection of $30 to $40 million in lost revenues due to pandemic was offset through the generosity of Rams Club members dedicated to providing excellent experiences for our student-athletes. The highlights of your incredibly generous response are detailed on the next page.

Carolina’s coaches and staff found savings wherever possible and pitched in personally to make this year happen. Cuts in budgets, salaries and staff size helped trim expenses at a time of great need. All while the level of enthusiasm and dedication toward providing a great student-athlete experience never wavered!

And our student-athletes tackled the adversity head on – continuing to excel athletically and academically while deftly handling contact restrictions, online learning, extensive testing and constantly changing practice and competition schedules. A small sampling of their highlights can be found on the next page.

As we have shared with you before, at Carolina we are incredibly fortunate to have so many dedicated people involved with our athletics program – from the coaches and student-athletes who compete for one another and our University, to the staff who come to work every day ready to help them maximize their opportunities, to the supporters who give so generously of their gifts, their time and their voice in support of the best student-athletes in the country.

THANK YOU for coming together as the Carolina Family to help meet the challenges in front of us and the challenges that remain ahead – and for making a great year possible!

TOGETHER WE WIN 22

BORN & BRED

RAMS CLUB MEMBERS STEPPED UP TO MEET CHALLENGES...

YOUR GIFTS SUPPORTED THE BEST STUDENT-ATHLETES IN THE COUNTRY!

$5.2M $2.4M $1.1M

THE SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT

CAROLINA VICTORY FUND donations to directly address pandemicrelated losses (exceeding our $2 million goal!)

FOOTBALL TICKET CONTRIBUTIONS donated by Rams Club Members

SEAT LICENSE PAYMENTS

donated by Blue Zone Lease Holders

18,092 MEMBERS

helped reach annual funding goals for the year

allowed the student-athlete scholarship program to offer educational and athletic opportunities in full

WITHOUT SKIPPING A BEAT.

$10 MILLION

ADDITIONAL FUNDING

provided from the Carolina Victory Fund and the use of reserves (built up by gifts from

Rams Club members over the years)

& STUDENT-ATHLETES EXCELLED AT AN INCREDIBLE LEVEL!

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS INDIVIDUAL ACC TITLE 13 TEAMS PETER FOUNTAIN TOP 25 3 TEAM 3 INDIVIDUAL TITLES

TITLES

Field Hockey

Alexa Graham

NCAA

Women’s Tennis, ITA

Men’s Tennis

Elizabeth Scotty and Makenna Jones

ITA

Women’s Tennis ITA

Women’s Tennis, NCAA Doubles

Austin O’Connor

Wrestling, NCAA 149 Pounds

3.40 GPA FINAL FOUR 8 TEAMS

OVER 30 TAR HEEL STUDENT-ATHLETES

FIRST TEAM ALLAMERICA HONORS

4 ACC PLAYERS OF THE YEAR NFHCA NATIONAL PLAYER Chris Gray

Men’s Lacrosse

Erin Matson Field Hockey

Sara Daavettila Women’s Tennis

Austin O’Connor Wrestling

OF THE YEAR ERIN MATSON

5 REGULAR SEASON & 3 TOURNAMENT ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS THANKS FOR A GREAT 2020-21 ... WE LOOK FORWARD TO AN INCREDIBLE 2021-22! ramsclub.com 23

A NEW MEMBERSHIP YEAR BEGINS 2021-22 MEMBERSHIP YEAR JULY 1 - JUNE 30

The challenges presented by the pandemic and its aftermath are numerous, but the top priority of Rams Club members remains the same – to provide the best student-athlete experience in the country to our more than 800 Tar Heel student-athletes.

To best pursue that priority and to continue to meet your membership needs, The Rams Club made two significant membership adjustments recently that will affect your Rams Club membership:

The 2021-22 Membership Year Began July 1 and Concludes June 30 This shift from the old January-to-December membership year to a July-to-June year now aligns with the academic and competition years for our student-athletes and will put all ticket rights for Carolina sports in the same membership year. For members who consistently make their gift at the same time each year, you should not need to change your giving habits.

The Football Equity Seating Process Will Take Place in the Spring of 2022 The football equity seating process (seat selection) scheduled for the spring of 2021 was delayed one year to the spring of 2022. By postponing the selection process for one year, Carolina can make good on that promise of a third year in your current seat location in 2021.

The priority point deadline and season ticket order deadline for this process will be shared in the fall of 2021. The selection process in 2022 will take place in the spring.

The challenges Carolina Athletics has overcome in the last year and a half are significant. It is because of a great team of supporters who believe in our student-athletes, our coaches and our University that Carolina continues to excel. Thanks for being part of the team!

24

BORN & BRED

IMPORTANT DATES

FOR THE NEW 2021-22 MEMBERSHIP YEAR JULY 2021

Beginning Of The Membership Year Men’s Basketball Season Tickets On Sale

SEPTEMBER 2021

Men’s Basketball Season Tickets Order Deadline Men’s Basketball Tar Heel Ticket Package On Sale Men’s Basketball Ticket Priority Point Cutoff (15th) Men’s Basketball Individual Games Request Period Begins

NOVEMBER 2021

Rams Club Member Appreciation Month

DECEMBER 2021

Football Season Tickets On Sale End of Tax Year (31st)

JANUARY 2022

Men’s Basketball ACC Tournament Point Cutoff (15th) Men’s Basketball ACC Tournament Request Period Begins

FEBRUARY 2022

Men’s Basketball ACC Tournament Tickets Request Deadline

APRIL 2022

Football Season Tickets Order Deadline Football Equity Seating Point Cutoff

MAY 2022

Football Equity Seating Selections Begin Football Individual Games Request Period Begins

JUNE 2022

Annual Membership Contribution Deadline (30th) End of 2021-22 Membership Year (30th) All dates and details subject to change.

ramsclub.com 25

B

D UIL

ING A PROGR AM

2

STAGE 2: ON THE VERGE

CAROLINA

COOL MACK BROWN ONCE AGAIN HAS CAROLINA FOOTBALL ON THE VERGE OF A NATIONAL IMPACT

BY LEE PACE PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

SAM HOWELL: THE FACE OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE A NATIONAL STORY THIS YEAR.

26

BORN & BRED

CAROLINA COOL

I

n 1996, the look was dark wood with the elegance of a whiteshoe law firm. Today the Kenan Football Center ground floor has been redesigned in white walls with navy and Carolina blue accents and eye-catching graphics, and there’s more in the works on the fourth floor that will be completed by August.

In 1996, there was a room nestled into that main floor with a big screen, theatre-type chairs and a sound system to play mood pieces and recruiting pitches. But now that everyone watches video on their phones, that area’s been reworked into a hightech photo staging area chock full of Air Jordan sneakers and plenty of lights and platforms for recruits to snap social-media photos.

And in 1996 when the Kenan Football Center was being designed and built, the head coach of the Tar Heels was a 45-year-old Mack Brown, already with a successful resume but a coach still with a climb to come toward a national championship at Texas. Today he’s a 70-yearold (as of August 27) going on 25 who spent half an hour one June afternoon switching out of a half dozen coaching wardrobes and Nike shoes to tape a Tik Tok video with freshman defensive back Dontae Balfour. In due time, more than 160,000 of Balfour’s followers were watching Brown shimmy to the music of Fat Joe & Remy Ma. “Kids want to see me embrace their world and their lives,” Brown says. “I’m on Twitter because of them and I’m now on Tik Tok because of them. Dontae was talking at dinner one night and threw the idea out. I said why not?

“It’s fun to see them laugh, they like having an old guy embrace their world. I can do that.”

Indeed he can as shown by the 30 months Brown’s been back at his post as the Tar Heels’ head coach. Carolina won seven games in 2019 (more than doubling its combined win total from the previous two years) and played before sell-out crowds six times in Kenan Stadium, navigated the perilous waters of Covid-19 to an eight-win season in 2020 and has reestablished itself as the team to beat in North Carolina recruiting circles.

Meanwhile, Brown and his staff are going nose-to-nose with reasonable success versus teams like Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State on a national level.

“It’s fun, it’s exciting, people we’re recruiting against are on the national scene,” Brown says. “We’re right in the middle of it.

It’s a fight, it’s a good fight, it’s a fun fight. Everyone knows we’re a factor. They know we’re coming and coming hard.

“Getting Sam to flip from Florida State and Drake Maye to flip from Alabama to here, that sends a message to recruits. They see things are happening here and say, ‘I want to be part of it.’”

Now the Tar Heels are perched on the precipice of a break-out year, the kind Brown engineered in 1996 when a solid program took that proverbial next step into the nation’s top 10 with a 10-2 season that rolled into an 11-1 juggernaut in ’97.

They have a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Sam Howell, the most experienced offensive line in program history and an intriguing cupboard of skill position players jockeying for position to replace departed standouts at running back and receiver.

Three years of productive recruiting has restocked a defensive roster that only during the 2009-10 seasons under Butch Davis remotely sniffed the quality of athletes Brown fielded in 1996-97.

Of particular note is the stockpiling of elite defensive linemen and edge players, the recruiting fruits over the last two years including Des Evans, Kedrick Bingley-Jones, Myles Murphy, Clyde Pinder Jr., Kaimon Rucker, Jahvaree Ritzie and Keeshawn Silver.

“We have more players now than when we got here, especially the front seven,” defensive coordinator Jay Bateman says. “The front seven pieces are more physically aligned with what you need to compete.”

And the Tar Heels have three competent and experienced kickers and a roster deep enough to supply the kind of defensiveback/linebacker/receiver types needed to cover kicks and open lanes for the return specialists.

“

“KIDS WANT TO SEE ME EMBRACE THEIR WORLD AND THEIR LIVES. I’M ON TWITTER BECAUSE OF THEM AND I’M NOW ON TIK TOK BECAUSE OF THEM. DONTAE WAS TALKING AT DINNER ONE NIGHT AND THREW THE IDEA OUT. I SAID WHY NOT? IT’S FUN TO SEE THEM LAUGH, THEY LIKE HAVING AN OLD GUY EMBRACE THEIR WORLD. I CAN DO THAT.”

ramsclub.com 27

STAGE TWO “We’re better this year at every position except tailback and receiver,” Brown says. “And those two positions are much like when we got here two years ago. We had some talented guys, but no one had stepped up and emerged. I look at those groups and see a lot of potential.”

The success of the program harkens to Brown’s introductory press conference in late November 2018.

“You’ve got to be the cool place to be, and we were the cool place before and we can be again,” he said.

There are any number of elements to the level of “Carolina Cool” the program exudes in 2021. There’s the academic prestige (No. 5 among public universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Colleges). There’s the quintessential college town environment (No. 3 Best College Town by Forbes Magazine). There’s the overall athletic prowess of the Carolina program (46 NCAA Division I national titles, with legendary basketball coach Dean Smith once quipping, “Ahh, I thought we were a women’s soccer school”).

There’s Carolina being one of four Jordan Brand schools in the nation. There’s a rabid fan base that in a fall 2020 study ranked seventh nationally in the number of social media followers.

“The cool place to be is where guys see players having fun,” Brown says. “They think it’s a place they want to come. Many elements of this job are the same today as they were when we were here in the nineties. We have a tremendous academic school that is an attraction for smart young people who care about their academics and have earned the right to be here. That separates us from a lot. And we’ve got one of the best college towns in the country. I would challenge anybody with the beautiful trees on this campus to tell me another one is more beautiful.

“The fans and facilities are a huge part of it. Would the fans come? Is the school really committed to football? Those answers clearly are ‘yes.’ Look at our sellouts in 2019. Look at our facility enhancements—what we’ve done and what we’re planning.”

The coup de grace in recruiting, whether it was Mike Thomas in 1989 or Sam Howell in 2019, is Brown’s ability to connect with the youngster, his parents, his grandparents, his high school coach, the drum major in the school band and the guy flipping burgers at the nearest meat-and-three. And to do so in an environment surrounded by former players and assistants whose loyalty is rock solid. Eight members of the current

“

coaching and support staff have played for Brown at Carolina in the 1990s or Texas afterward.

“Coach Brown understands the state of North Carolina, he understands the University of North Carolina, he understands what kids like,” says recruiting coordinator Billy High. “He genuinely cares about them and listens to them. He understands what the kids want, and that comes through in recruiting. He’s honest with them, he’s real with them. That word has gotten out.”

In speaking of the comfort level Brown’s had slipping back into the job after five years in television, he’s cited his longstanding relationship with Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, who in the mid-1990s was on the Carolina athletic training staff and running cutting-edge research into football and concussions, and with Clayton Somers, a student trainer from 1989-93 and now vice chancellor for public affairs and secretary at the university.

“It didn’t matter if you were a star recruit like Corey Holliday or an ankle-taping, Gatorade-mixing, ice-bath-preparing, band-aidsticking, water bottle-carrying student trainer,” Somers says. “He treated everyone with the same level of respect and ‘coached’ everyone on how to be successful in life. He would always talk about how football related to life, but his passion convinced you that you could succeed on the field, in the classroom and later in life.”

Brown says he’s infinitely wiser and more secure and confident now than his first tenure through Chapel Hill. Being away from coaching for five years and enduring the restrictions of Covid-19 made him appreciate the game and the job more.

“The guys on the staff now who played here then say I haven’t changed much at all,” Brown says. “I’m sure I’m a little softer and gentler and at the same time, I’d like to think I have same level of discipline and accountability.”

The Tar Heels ascended as high as No. 4 nationally before Brown departed for Austin in late 1997. Back then ACC’s Goliath was Florida State, today it’s Clemson. This year’s squad is significantly better on offense than those teams and the defense is at least in shouting range.

Reminding everyone that a quarter of a century happens in the blink of an eye, the Tar Heels’ spring game in April ended with quarterback Jefferson Boaz throwing to Will Crowley, the ball intercepted by Christopher Holliday. All three are sons of Tar Heels from the early 1990s.

“IT DIDN’T MATTER IF YOU WERE A STAR RECRUIT LIKE COREY HOLLIDAY OR AN ANKLE-TAPING, GATORADE-MIXING, ICEBATH-PREPARING, BAND-AID-STICKING, WATER BOTTLE-CARRYING STUDENT TRAINER. [MACK BROWN] TREATED EVERYONE WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF RESPECT AND ‘COACHED’ EVERYONE ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE.”

28

BORN & BRED

JAHVAREE RITZIE: IMPRESSIVE RECRUITING CULTIVATING FUTURE STARS.

ramsclub.com 29

B

D UIL

ING A PROGR AM

3

STAGE 3: WEIGHT OF HISTORY

THE SECRETS

OF OUR SUCCESS

THE WOMEN’S SOCCER AND MEN’S LACROSSE PROGRAMS HELPED BUILD THEIR RESPECTIVE SPORTS. NOW, THEY’RE COMPETING AGAINST A NEW ERA OF TALENT.

BY PAT JAMES PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

RACHEL JONES: ON AND OFF FIELD SUCCESS MEAN JONES PLANS TO PLAY HER FINAL SEASON WHILE ENROLLED IN THE UNC SCHOOL OF LAW. 30

BORN & BRED

THE SECRETS OF OUR SUCCESS

U

pon becoming the head coach of North Carolina’s men’s soccer team in 1977, Anson Dorrance immediately set about transforming the non-scholarship program into one of the ACC’s best. It’s easy now, nearly 42 years later, for many to assume he took a similar approach when he founded the women’s program in 1979. That, however, couldn’t be any further from the case.

Instead, as the head coach of the South’s first varsity women’s soccer team, Dorrance made it his top priority to lobby other schools to follow in UNC’s footsteps.

“Initially, all we were trying to do really was generate other teams to play,” he said. “So back in those days, all I was doing was assembling packages to show athletic directors across the country how inexpensive it was to have a women’s soccer varsity, because with Title IX … all of these athletic directors were just getting comfortable with the fact that they had to give their women’s teams their sort of fair share. …

“So, the initial part of the formation of our team, the ambition, honestly, was just to get teams to establish women’s soccer varsity. So right out of the gate, it wasn’t about trying to beat everyone like a drum; it was about beating a drum for everyone to join us.”

With time, though, that began to change.

Within two years, Dorrance, along with Colorado College coach Chris Lidstone, convinced the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) to create a women’s soccer national championship.

Determined to become the sport’s first official national champ, the Tar Heels went on to secure the only AIAW title in 1981. Of course, they didn’t stop there, as they proceeded to win 21 of the first 31 NCAA championships ever contested.

In doing so, Dorrance’s teams established a winning standard unparalleled in collegiate athletics, one his current players strive to maintain. However, with more than 300 Division I schools now offering women’s soccer and the caliber of talent and coaching in the youth ranks constantly improving, that’s more difficult than ever.

Since UNC captured its last national title in 2012, six programs have won it all. That comes after only seven non-Carolina schools accomplished the feat in the Tar Heels’ 31 years of dominance. By no means has UNC fallen off, going 146-29-11 and reaching the NCAA semifinals four times over the last eight seasons. Winning is just that much harder now, and Dorrance wouldn’t want it to be any other way.

“The more teams that are competing in the NCAA Tournament and the older the coaches get that are coaching across the country, what’s happening is more schools are investing more and more money in their women’s soccer teams, more and more coaches are developing more and more elite experience,” Dorrance said. “There are a lot of great schools out there. So, it is becoming more and more competitive. And I don’t have an issue with that.

“I mean, we didn’t promote the game in order for it to stay small. We were pioneers of the game to promote the game to make it big. And women’s soccer is getting big.”

So, too, is the sport of lacrosse.

According to a study conducted by the NCAA in 2018, lacrosse is the fastest-growing collegiate sport over the past 15 years. Within their respective genders, no sport has experienced greater growth than men’s or women’s lacrosse. And according to Tar Heel men’s lacrosse coach Joe Breschi, that’s clearly led to greater parity.

“You can be beaten,” Breschi said. “This wasn’t the case years ago where you can be beaten on any given day by anybody who plays in Division I. And I think that’s the thing that you have to understand as a coach and a student-athlete in the preparation piece. It’s never about your opponent.

It’s always about your own preparation and how you guide your team and prepare your team for what’s coming and make it about us and less about the opponent.

“Because if you start thinking about who you’re playing, like, ‘Oh, they don’t have a name like North Carolina.’ Well, everybody’s good. And guess what? They weren’t recruited by North Carolina, so they’re going to have a little bone to pick.”

Even though the number of successful men’s lacrosse teams has grown, few have accomplished as much as UNC. The Tar Heels’ 33 NCAA Tournament appearances are the fifth most in NCAA history. So, too, are their five national titles.

While only one of those NCAA championships has been won over the last 30 years, Breschi said he doesn’t think his current team feels any pressure to live up to the teams that have come before them – a sentiment that Dorrance shares about his squad. That might not have been the case five years ago, before UNC won the 2016 title. But even then, Breschi says that as an unseeded team, that group played with a nothing-to-lose mentality.

Ever since then, Breschi said his players have shifted their focus to writing their own chapters in the program’s rich history.

“I think what it does is it kind of motivates them to mark their own legacy and try to leave the program better than they found it,” Breschi said. “It is hard to win. And it’s harder than it ever was. When I played in the in the ‘80s, it was five teams that won it for decades. Now you’ve got 20-30 teams that can win it. So, I think there are more kids playing, there are more programs committed to it. They understand that, but they also want to leave a legacy of what’s important.

“They love the culture of the program, and I think they want kids that come in that really fit our culture from a recruiting standpoint – kids of high academic standards, kids of high character who really put everything they have into the training, into the weight room, into being committed to winning, to a winning culture and to a winning atmosphere.”

While the days of only a handful of teams being national championship caliber are a thing of the past, Breschi still thinks it’s possible for a team to reel off multiple championships in a short amount of time, as the Tar Heels did in winning four titles from 1981-91.

“Things have to go your way,” Breschi said. “You’ve got to stay healthy.

But I think you continue to strive for excellence. You see (head UNC field hockey coach) Karen Shelton winning three in a row. I think in any sport there’s the chance to go on that run and maintain that excellence.”

ramsclub.com 31

B

D UIL

ING A PROGR AM

4

STAGE 4: ON THE DOORSTEP

NO

SHORT CUTS WOMEN’S LACROSSE AND WOMEN’S TENNIS ARE COMPETING FOR TITLES EVERY SEASON, BUILDING ON A FOUNDATION OVER A DECADE IN THE MAKING

BY PAT JAMES PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

ELIZABETH SCOTTY: TEAMING WITH MAKENNA JONES, SCOTTY WAS PART OF JUST THE SECOND NCAA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP IN CAROLINA WOMEN’S TENNIS HISTORY.

32

BORN & BRED

NO SHORT CUTS

F

or most of his first 10 years at North Carolina, head women’s tennis coach Brian Kalbas looked at the achievements of the coaches and teams around him and felt as if he wasn’t doing his part.

Despite helping Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long to the 2007 NCAA doubles title and leading the Tar Heels to deep runs in the NCAA and the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Kalbas had yet to secure a team national title entering the 2013 spring semester. That, however, changed that February, when UNC beat UCLA, 4-3, to win its first-ever national indoor title.

“That just solidified us as an elite program here at North Carolina – not just in the tennis world, but here at North Carolina,” Kalbas said. “Because it’s just an incredible athletic accomplishment of players and coaches who have done so many things, we just felt like we wanted to be part of that group.”

Nowadays, there’s no denying that they are.

The Tar Heels’ 2013 ITA title proved to be the first of five that they’ve captured over the last nine seasons. Along the way, they’ve also managed to post a 261-25 record, win five ACC titles, make three NCAA semifinals and have three players (Jamie Loeb and the doubles tandem of Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty) win NCAA championships, cementing themselves as one of UNC’s most consistent programs. Yet, they’re not alone in that regard.

Just three months after the women’s tennis team won the 2013 ITA championship, the women’s lacrosse team secured its first national title. As has been the case with Kalbas’ program, Jenny Levy’s squad has turned that championship season into a dominant nine-year run, during which it has gone 149-26, won five ACC titles, made the NCAA semifinals six times and even obtained a second national championship in 2016.

Kalbas and Levy both recognize that winning their first NCAA titles proved to elite recruits that their programs are

championship caliber. Combine that with their ability to develop players, and it’s no surprise that they’ve been so successful. As much as anything, though, Levy credits a shift in mentality to her team’s winning ways.

“I think once you start winning, there’s an expectation and there’s an understanding of how to do it, where players just have more poise and more confidence and their expectations are X,” Levy said. “(Losing in the national semifinals to Boston College) this year was a big disappointment. A lot of people, their bull’s eye is getting to a final four. For us, our bull’s eye is winning national championships.

“Roy (Williams) told me a long time ago, ‘When you’re trying to be the top 1%, that margin is so small.

That’s the expectation, that’s the standard. And that’s really hard to achieve.’ And so, falling short this year has come with a lot of pain and disappointment, for sure, for both coaches and players. But I’m glad that we’re in a position that not just making a final four is acceptable and that winning it is exactly what our expectations are.”

Of course, it took a bit of time to get there.

Unlike other lacrosse powers such as Maryland, Levy has never had the luxury of recruiting elite in-state players because of her sport’s relative lack of popularity in North Carolina. She also said she could only get a few recruits through admissions each year across her first 10-12 seasons, which subsequently led to a lack of depth in comparison to the nation’s top teams.

Although both of those obstacles proved difficult to overcome early in her tenure, Levy focused less on them and more on building the right culture. That started to pay dividends around 2008 – when she said admissions started to open up more.

Armed with more depth and a defined culture, the Tar Heels reached the national championship game for the first time in 2009.

“I think starting in 2008 was the beginning of really making

“

“ROY (WILLIAMS) TOLD ME A LONG TIME AGO, ‘WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO BE THE TOP 1%, THAT MARGIN IS SO SMALL. THAT’S THE EXPECTATION, THAT’S THE STANDARD. AND THAT’S REALLY HARD TO ACHIEVE.’ AND SO, FALLING SHORT THIS YEAR HAS COME WITH A LOT OF PAIN AND DISAPPOINTMENT, FOR SURE, FOR BOTH COACHES AND PLAYERS. BUT I’M GLAD THAT WE’RE IN A POSITION THAT NOT JUST MAKING A FINAL FOUR IS ACCEPTABLE AND THAT WINNING IT IS EXACTLY WHAT OUR EXPECTATIONS ARE.”

ramsclub.com 33

STAGE FOUR sure that not only did we conceptualize the things that we wanted to do, but we actually put them into action,” Levy said.

“Then things started to really shift from the spring of 2008, fall 2008 and then the spring of 2009, where we made it back to the final four weekend, made it to the championship game. I think that was the beginning of where we are today.”

Kalbas’ program underwent a similar transformation.

As the head coach at William & Mary from 1992-2003, Kalbas said despite his team’s success, he couldn’t get the top American players to come to Williamsburg, Virginia. That forced him to turn to the international ranks, and while that approach was mostly fruitful, he often didn’t get to know a player or if they fit the team’s culture until they arrived on campus.

Shortly after accepting the UNC head-coaching job in the summer of 2003, Kalbas was sitting in a coaches meeting when Dean Smith said five words that have stuck with him ever since – never sacrifice character in recruiting.

Kalbas realized then he didn’t have to recruit internationally and could in fact concentrate on bringing in not only good players, but good people.

That’s remained his top priority even as more elite players have shown interest in the Tar Heels, and has helped create a culture in which players love staying in Chapel Hill and developing. In fact, as remarkable as his 46998 (.827) record at UNC is, the number Kalbas takes the most pride in is his zero transfers in 18 seasons.

“That’s kind of the hallmark of our program the last 11 years, and it’s because we started from the ground up, not trying to have a quick fix and just bring in the wrong fit,” he said. “We brought in the right fit of players that developed and really wanted to be good and wanted to be at North Carolina. And it’s amazing when you can recruit people that love and want to be at a place how much they play for that place.”

That’s certainly evident in the wins. But it’s also painstakingly apparent in the losses.

As exceptional as both programs have been over the last nine seasons, women’s tennis has yet to win the NCAA team championship and women’s lacrosse has fallen just short of another national title multiple times. Both seemed destined to break through this spring, going a combined 50-0 on the

“

way to their respective national semifinals. Neither, however, advanced to their respective championship matches, as the careers of two of the most accomplished classes in UNC history – regardless of sport – came to an abrupt end.

Such is life in a single-elimination tournament.

“There are a lot of good teams out there, there’s a lot of good talent out there and there are a lot of good coaches out there,” Levy said. “So, I think at the end of the day, it’s never anybody’s year. I think that’s the biggest mistake people make, like, ‘Oh, it’s your year.’ I’m like, ‘No, there are a lot of good teams out there.’

“I loved my team this year, I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I thought they were great. We loved working with them.

It was a tough year to be doing anything athletically with teams (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

And I think that we don’t have any regrets, except for we wish we’d put the ball in the back of the net a little bit more in that (final) game, that’s all.”

As they look ahead to 2022, both Kalbas and Levy acknowledge the ever-increasing difficulty of sustaining their success. The talent pool in both of their sports is constantly expanding, leading to greater parity across the national stage. Like other coaches, they’re also learning how to navigate the transfer portal, the long-term ramifications of the pandemic and Name, Image and Likeness.

In Kalbas’ case, there’s also the matter of needing to improve his team’s facilities.

“It’s been keeping me up at night, quite honestly,” Levy said.

“There’s just a lot going on for a lot of people, and everyone brings a different variation to the table, whether it’s me as a coach or the student-athletes.”

Even then, as much as things change, both Kalbas and Levy have every reason to feel confident in their programs’ foundations. They also know from first-hand experience that with a little bit of luck and some good timing, a national championship is well within reach.

“It just happens some bad breaks have gone against us,” Kalbas said. “But I’m really proud of the consistency year after year that we’ve been able to kind of attain to. Now, that’s going to be challenging going forward because we lost three great players (in Sara Daavettila, Alexa Graham and Jones). But it’s an exciting challenge going forward.”

“THAT’S KIND OF THE HALLMARK OF OUR PROGRAM THE LAST 11 YEARS, AND IT’S BECAUSE WE STARTED FROM THE GROUND UP, NOT TRYING TO HAVE A QUICK FIX AND JUST BRING IN THE WRONG FIT. WE BROUGHT IN THE RIGHT FIT OF PLAYERS THAT DEVELOPED AND REALLY WANTED TO BE GOOD AND WANTED TO BE AT NORTH CAROLINA. AND IT’S AMAZING WHEN YOU CAN RECRUIT PEOPLE THAT LOVE AND WANT TO BE AT A PLACE HOW MUCH THEY PLAY FOR THAT PLACE.”

34

BORN & BRED

EMILY NALLS: WOMEN’S LACROSSE PROGRAM COMBINING EXPERIENCE WITH UP-AND-COMING TALENT LIKE NALLS.

ramsclub.com 35

B

D UIL

ING A PROGR AM

5 STAGE 5: CHAMPIONS

NOTHING FOR

GRANTED

EVEN IN THE MOST DOMINANT STAGE IN PROGRAM HISTORY, KAREN SHELTON AND CAROLINA FIELD HOCKEY ARE STILL HUNGRY FOR SUCCESS.

BY ADAM LUCAS PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

ERIN MATSON: ON TRACK TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST TAR HEEL WINNERS OF ALL TIME.

36

BORN & BRED

NOTHING FOR GRANTED

E

ven Erin Matson is a little amazed at the numbers.

Matson is universally acknowledged as the best player in college field hockey. She is a three-time national champion and when her Carolina career is finished, she will go down in Tar Heel athletics history as one of the athletic department’s all-time winners and a legitimate contender to join that exalted Michael, Mia, Choo-Choo mountain.

But even Matson marvels at the success of her head coach.

It is mentioned to the National Player of the Year that Shelton has won NCAA championships in five different decades. She did it in 1989.

She won three in the 1990’s. Grabbed two more in the 2000’s. Won twice in the 2010’s. And now has won twice in the 2020’s.

Even Anson Dorrance hasn’t won NCAA championships in five decades. Shelton has done it. She won a title ten days after the Berlin Wall fell. And she’s still winning them in the social media and name, image and likeness era.

“Wow,” Matson says. “It really is amazing.”

It really is. And Shelton wants exactly none of the credit.

“I have always considered that our greatest strength is the University of North Carolina itself,” she says by way of explaining her program’s long-term success. “We attract a high level of student-athlete, particularly in women’s sports. The credit for that goes to Anson early on. He established us as a women’s sports powerhouse. I came to Carolina in 1981 and he started winning championships immediately.

We slowly built up from there.”

But virtually no one considered Chapel Hill a field hockey hotbed when Shelton arrived in 1981. Old Dominion was an emerging power, but Norfolk was essentially the southern border of the field hockey universe.

Shelton was smart enough to watch the way Dorrance was growing his women’s soccer program, but also wise enough to watch what was happening on campus around her. It just so happened that her illustrious coaching career has coincided with several of the world’s best at their chosen sports. And so, in a 20-minute conversation, Shelton references lessons she gleaned from watching other Tar Heel coaches. There’s Dorrance, of course. And there are others.

From Dean Smith: “I took a page out of Dean Smith’s book—practice the end of game scenarios so there’s no fear of, ‘What are we supposed to do?’ in a close game. Our team has been very well prepared for different scenarios like man up, man down, overtime, if we need to pull the keeper.

From Roy Williams: “I learned from Coach Williams to watch kids when they aren’t in the game. How do they act on the bench? I want to see what kind of competitor they are. If the team is down, how do they react? I like kids that hustle and dive on the ground. It demonstrates physical and mental toughness.”

And like both of those legendary men’s basketball coaches, Shelton has also found the perfect embodiment of her coaching philosophy.

Smith had Phil Ford, the quintessential point guard who captured the imagination of an entire generation of Tar Heel basketball fans.

Williams had Tyler Hansbrough, whose competitiveness and constant effort were the perfect match for the hard working coach.

And Shelton has Erin Matson. Three national championships (in three seasons) into their partnership, it’s hard to imagine one without the other.

Matson is a great asset to the program because of her incredible skill level. But she’s a coach’s dream—she’s Shelton’s dream—because of the way she pairs that ability with an insatiable work ethic.

“I don’t get sick of winning,” Matson says. “And it’s pretty obvious that Coach doesn’t get sick of winning. Someone might wonder why I have three championships and I’m not satisfied. But there are two left. Why wouldn’t I try to go get those? We take everything year by year, or on a smaller scale, game by game. I’m not dwelling on the past. I’ll think about the last three years forever. But when it comes to gametime and the next season starting, it’s like a new blank slate.

“We finished in May, and there was about a week, and then we were back to strength and conditioning and turning it around for the fall.”

That’s exactly the kind of attitude a head coach wants to hear from not only the best player on this year’s team, but possibly the best player in program history.

“Erin is a fierce competitor, and that’s what we have in common,” Shelton says. “She is also so smart and so aware and so unselfish in the way she plays. She truly is the best player I’ve ever coached, and I’ve coached a lot of good ones. She’s at another level. What’s fun for me is the is getting better. I watched clips from her freshman year and thought, ‘Wow, she is really improving.’ I’m thrilled she is as happy as she is. She’s thriving at Carolina.”

Plenty of teams, of course, have an exceptional player but don’t get the team results the Tar Heels have had over the past three seasons.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the titles have come easily.

The most recent championship was decided in overtime, and Carolina had needed double overtime to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title over Wake Forest. The 2019 team had a one-goal win over Iowa in the second round in which the Heels scored on their only two shots of the game. The 2018 team was dominant but still had an overtime victory and two other one-goal wins.

Shelton believes part of the credit for the championships goes to the years when the Tar Heels fell just a little short.

“I’ve come in second 11 times,” the nine-time national champion coach says. “There is a huge difference between first and second. I know that pain of coming up just short. It shouldn’t be that way.

Getting to the Final Four is outstanding. But winning it is just superb and it makes a world of difference in how you think about the season.

Being the only team that ends the season with a win never gets old.”

In an athletic department loaded with championship programs, field hockey is clearly the group experiencing the most current postseason success. Overall, they’ve won 65 of the last 66 matches. But they don’t seem particularly satisfied.

“Coach Shelton always says, ‘There are no supposed-tos,’” Matson says. “Just because we’re ranked number-one, that doesn’t mean we’ll win. Just because we’re undefeated, that doesn’t mean anything.

Nothing is guaranteed, and that’s the exciting part of it. That’s why we have so much fun. There’s an opportunity to improve every time.”

ramsclub.com 37

B

D UIL

ING A PROGR AM

STAGE 6: TRANSITION

THE CAROLINA WAY...

TODAY EARLY MONTHS OF HUBERT DAVIS ERA DEMONSTRATE A COMMITMENT TO BLEND THE BEST OF CAROLINA’S PAST WITH AN EYE TOWARDS THE FUTURE

BY ADAM LUCAS PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

CALEB LOVE: RECALL THAT DEAN SMITH BELIEVED THE BIGGEST JUMP CAME BETWEEN FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE SEASON; LOVE POISED FOR BIG LEAP. 38

BORN & BRED

THE CAROLINA WAY...TODAY

H

ubert Davis spent the summer transitioning Carolina to the future while keeping a healthy perspective on the past.

You’re probably aware of many of the on-court adjustments the new Tar Heel head coach and his coaching staff have made.

Success in the transfer portal landed Justin McKoy, Brady Manek and Dawson Garcia, athletic players with versatile skill sets who can play close to the basket but are also comfortable around the three-point arc. July practices emphasized quick decisionmaking and a constant focus on spacing. Big men were told to post up for no more than two seconds before clearing the paint, opening more driving lanes and forcing the opponent to defend the entire court.

Not long ago, it might have taken Davis several recruiting cycles to install the type of personnel he needed to run his preferred style.

In the era of the transfer portal, however, he was able to assemble a team that will have the ability to play his way immediately.

“On the offensive end, Coach Davis told me he wants a big guy who can shoot it and stretch the floor,” Manek says. “I think I bring that to the team. It’s a great fit.”

Those changes will be immediately evident when the Tar Heels take the court for an exhibition game at the Smith Center on Nov. 5 and the season opener against Loyola (Md.) on Nov. 9.

Less obvious will be some of the behind the scenes changes in the first few months of the Davis era. As you would expect from the nephew of Carolina legend Walter Davis, the new Carolina head coach is an encyclopedia of Tar Heel basketball.

He’d been concerned in recent years that the program wasn’t quite as meaningful to the players of the 21st century, that their experience was somehow more transient than the one he relished as a player from 1988-92.

Well before anyone had a notion that Roy Williams was contemplating retirement, Davis was already working with former Carolina letterman Sasha Seymore’s company, Learn to

Win, to develop an app that would help teach Tar Heel history to players more comfortable with flicking through their phone than reading a textbook.

The COVID year of 2019-20 made establishing a connection between the University at large and individual student-athletes even more difficult. The idea that players connect with Carolina as more than just a place to play basketball has been the core of the Tar Heel basketball experience since at least the Dean Smith era. But last year there were no in-person classes. There were no afternoons passing free time in the Pit. There was no Franklin Street abuzz in the days leading up to a big Saturday home game.

Even within the confines of the Smith Center, the necessary health protocols chipped away at the connections within the basketball program. At its very best, the basketball office and the Smith Center in general have always felt like a home to members of the program. Last year it felt more like a place to clock in and clock out.

“I felt like because of COVID and us always being socially distanced, every time we ate we had to go back to the hotel room,” Davis said. “Every time we practiced we had to go back to the locker room to our separate quarters. We weren’t able to spend time together. We weren’t able to get to know each other. That was something that was missed.”

It probably shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise this summer, then, when assistant coach Brad Frederick asked Kerwin Walton if he knew how to get to the Old Well. Walton’s response: “What’s the Old Well?”

That added another item to Davis’ summer to-do list: a campus tour for the underclassmen. Part of the disconnect will be solved by the world returning to normal this fall. This will be a more normal school year in every way, and that’s a major positive for a program that values a normal school year as one of its strongest selling points. But Davis has also been proactive in

“

“IT’S SO IMPORTANT THAT OUR STAFF REPRESENTS ALL THE GREAT COACHES WHO COACHED HERE. WITH EACH ONE OF THEM, THERE WAS A FOUNDATION SET AND THEY ALL WALKED THE SAME PATH. BUT EACH ONE HAD THEIR OWN PERSONALITY AND WALKED IN THEIR OWN SHOES. THE PLAYERS WHO PLAYED FOR THOSE COACHES PLAYED IN THE SAME PROGRAM BUT IN THEIR OWN WAYS HAD DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES. IT’S IMPORTANT FOR ME TO BRIDGE THAT GAP.”

ramsclub.com 39

TRANSITION bringing some of the Carolina basketball traditions to life for the current players.

He took the very intentional step, as he mentioned at his first press conference, of making sure multiple eras of Carolina Basketball are represented on staff. Jeff Lebo and Pat Sullivan played for Dean Smith. Brad Frederick played for Smith and Bill Guthridge. Sean May played for Matt Doherty and Roy Williams, as did Jackie Manuel.

“It’s so important that our staff represents all the great coaches who coached here,” Davis said. “With each one of them, there was a foundation set and they all walked the same path. But each one had their own personality and walked in their own shoes.

The players who played for those coaches played in the same program but in their own ways had different experiences. It’s important for me to bridge that gap.

“When Mitch Kupchak or Tommy LaGarde or Eric Montross or Derrick Phelps are watching games on TV or reading articles or coming to practice, I want them to say, ‘That’s the Carolina I went to.’

And when Vince Carter or Antawn Jamison are watching games on TV or reading articles or coming to practice, I want them to say, ‘That’s the Carolina I went to.’ And when Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks and Kenny Williams are watching games on TV or reading articles or coming to practice, I want them to say, ‘That’s the Carolina I went to.’”

It’s impossible to keep that many people completely happy all the time, of course. At various times in Carolina Basketball history, players from every era have at some point felt their time period was being shortchanged. It’s simply human nature.

But Davis is doing his very best to try and put that history directly in front of the current players, to enable them to make a tangible connection.

Over the course of a week in July, the current team was addressed by George Lynch, Tony Shaver and Phil Ford, while playing pickup regularly with former players like Tyler Hansbrough, Theo Pinson, Isaiah Hicks, Kenny Williams and Brandon Robinson.

It’s true that the current players might not immediately have

“

the background on Ford that, for example, a normal Rams Club member might have. But they understand the context clues.

“I didn’t know as much about Phil Ford as a player,” said Justin McKoy, who was born nearly 25 years after Ford played for the Tar Heels. “But I know what it means when you look up in those rafters and see that number-12 jersey on the front row.”

There’s a real danger that an overreliance on the past can make a program feel musty. UCLA has struggled for decades to figure out how to get past the John Wooden era. Indiana has never seemed quite certain how to move on from Bob Knight.

But Davis has taken steps to make sure he’s not just asking players to connect with the past.

He wants them to connect with him, with the program’s history a shared part of their experience together. Summer practices, for example, started at unusual, Guthridge-endorsed times. The longtime Carolina assistant and three-season head coach began practices at 3:31 or scheduled bus departures for 5:01, reasoning that a more standard time such as 3:30 could be misinterpreted, but there was no mistaking what was intended by 3:31.

Davis attempted to personally pick up every current player at the airport when they returned from summer break. “I can’t coach you if I don’t know you,” he said at his introductory press conference, and he wanted to be intentional about knowing them. Feeling at home in the basketball office was an important part of the Smith and Guthridge-era program. With that in mind, Davis established a new guideline that every player must come through the office at least three times a week to say hello and interact with the office staff and coaches.

The opening months of Davis’ head coaching tenure have been a purposeful mix between important elements of the Smith, Guthridge and Williams eras along with a healthy infusion of new ideas related to player development and style of play. It is, in some ways, a new Carolina Basketball. But it is still Carolina Basketball.

“Carolina has been tested and tried and proven successful through all the years,” Davis said. “The way we will play will be the Carolina Way. And it will be successful even now.”

“WHEN MITCH KUPCHAK OR TOMMY LAGARDE OR ERIC MONTROSS OR DERRICK PHELPS ARE WATCHING GAMES ON TV OR READING ARTICLES OR COMING TO PRACTICE, I WANT THEM TO SAY, ‘THAT’S THE CAROLINA I WENT TO.’ AND WHEN VINCE CARTER OR ANTAWN JAMISON ARE WATCHING GAMES ON TV OR READING ARTICLES OR COMING TO PRACTICE, I WANT THEM TO SAY, ‘THAT’S THE CAROLINA I WENT TO.’ AND WHEN MARCUS PAIGE AND BRICE JOHNSON AND KENNEDY MEEKS AND KENNY WILLIAMS ARE WATCHING GAMES ON TV OR READING ARTICLES OR COMING TO PRACTICE, I WANT THEM TO SAY, ‘THAT’S THE CAROLINA I WENT TO.’”

40

BORN & BRED

RJ DAVIS: HUBERT DAVIS WANTS SHOOTERS, NOT SCREENERS, AND DAVIS IS A SHOOTER.

ramsclub.com 41

FIRST PERSON

B

‘Building a family’

Building a program at the University of North Carolina is a

also a staff that brings a unique skill set to the practice room

campus, there is something special in the air in Chapel Hill. The

same mission, but we are able to bring different abilities to the

special thing for several reasons. As soon as you walk onto this

each and every day. Tony, Jamill, Gary and myself all have the

academic and athletic success speaks for itself, and there is no

mat when we are teaching. To me, that is crucial.

doubt that being able to wear Carolina Blue every day is a very unique and special thing. When I think

about “building a program” at a place like the University of North Carolina, I feel very fortunate.

First, all you have to do is take a quick

walk around to the other coaches’ offices around our campus to know that you are surrounded by greatness. In a matter of

minutes, I can stop by and see several

Hall of Fame coaches to talk about our programs, share advice and learn from the absolute best. When on a daily basis,

you can listen to stories and advice from

As we continue to build our program, I can’t tell you how valuable it is to have the staff that I do.

“

We trust each other, we value family

“The teams and organizations that have the most long-term success have a great culture. They are not just successful. They do not measure their “greatness” simply on wins and losses. They focus on the everyday atmosphere, building a family and the rest, I believe, takes care of itself.”

and at the end of the day, we have the same mission: help young men grow and

develop in many ways over their years in Chapel Hill.

people like Jenny Levy, Anson Dorrance and other legends in their respective sports, that is a special thing and something

I do not take for granted. Being at Carolina means being surrounded by greatness, and when you become a Tar Heel,

you get to experience that greatness being around you each and every day.

When I think about building UNC Wrestling, I knew from the

COLEMAN SCOTT

Head Coach, Wrestling

start that I wanted it to be centered on multiple key attributes

– most notably, building our wrestling team around high-

character student-athletes and making sure that our culture felt like a family. The teams and organizations that have the

most long-term success have a great culture. They are not just successful. They do not measure their “greatness” simply on wins and losses. They focus on the everyday atmosphere,

building a family and the rest, I believe, takes care of itself. We

feel strongly around Chapel Hill that we are a Tar Heel Wrestling family. It’s not just something we say. We believe it, focus on that and pride ourselves on it.

From a staff perspective, I know how important it is to have a

coaching staff that shares the same core values, but can bring unique assets to the table. I want our staff to be not just hard workers and people who value family and love wrestling, but

42

BORN & BRED

Illustration by Jason McCorkle

CAROLINA INSIDER PODCAST HOSTED BY JONES ANGELL AND ADAM LUCAS

POWERED BY

ramsclub.com 43

44

BORN & BRED