North Carolina 'mutually' parted ways with cornerbacks coach, former football star Dre Bly
North Carolina and cornerbacks coach Dre Bly “mutually” parted ways on Wednesday, the school announced. Bly played for the Tar Heels in the 1990s and went on to an 11 year NFL career.
According to the announcement, a national search will take place to fill the open spot on the North Carolina staff. Bly had been on the UNC staff since 2019.
“We all love Dre Bly and appreciate what he means to the University of North Carolina as a Hall of Famer, an unbelievable advocate for the program, and and excellent coach, head coach Mack Brown said in the announcement. “Dre and I mutually agreed to part ways so that he could explore other opportunities in the coaching profession. We appreciate everything he’s done for the program over the last few years and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
North Carolina ranked 116th nationally in passing yards allowed in 2022, giving up 271.3 a game.
Mack Brown has plans to visit with Gene Chizik, other North Carolina assistants about future
As North Carolina heads into the offseason following their best year since 2015, head coach Mack Brown was asked if he was going to make any coaching changes moving forward. Brown previously said that he and assistant head coach for defense Gene Chizik would meet to discuss those possible changes, but those conversations haven’t happened yet.
“The guys were gone for a week, I really haven’t seen them until last night, we had a staff meeting yesterday and a team meeting last night. The guys are at the convention today and tomorrow, so over the next two weeks,” Brown said. “There’s no urgency right now because we don’t have recruiting and that’s usually when you have to have an urgency. I’ll sit down with Gene, I’ll sit down with each coach and Gene together and then reassess exactly where we are and where we need to go.”
The Tar Heels had their best season under Brown’s second tenure with the program, which warranted a much-needed break to not only North Carolina’s players, but their coaching staff as well according to Brown.
“No, I haven’t seen them. I mean again, you worry about their mental health and them being exhausted and you kill them until the bowl game, you get back and everybody separates. You gotta give them a little time off, so they needed a break too.
Brown was asked if he wants to make changes to his coaching staff, and made his wants very clear regarding what he wants to achieve with the program.
“I want to win, I want to win all the games with really nice kids that are mean on Saturday afternoon and all graduating, that’s what I want to do. I want to win every game, I don’t want to win nine games, that’s not what I came back for and I told them all that last night. We are so close, why don’t we take another step? Why don’t we take another step?” Brown repeared
UNC’s season was highlighted by a 9-1 start, a top 15 ranking in the polls, and an ACC Championship game birth. But the Tar Heels lost steam down the stretch, losing four straight games including their conference championship game to Clemson and bowl game to Oregon. It’s clear Brown was not satisfied with how his team finished the season, but coaching changes being the solution is still unclear.
“My job is to figure out what I need to do, what the coaches need to do, to take another step. Does that change a coach? Everybody wants to fire a coach, is that the right for to do for us at this time? I’ve got to make those decisions, nobody else, and I have more information than anybody else,” Brown said.