Daily briefing: On North Carolina, Jim Mora and Pac-12 coaches
Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:
Up, then down for Tar Heels
Is there such a thing as a trap game for an underdog? North Carolina won an emotional game over undefeated Wake Forest on Saturday, then had to turn around and play a ranked team on a short week. The Tar Heels came out so flat against No. 21 Pitt on Thursday night you could have slid them under the locker room door. The Panthers sacked quarterback Sam Howell twice before he completed a pass. By the time Ty Chandler ran for North Carolina’s initial first down, on the last play of the first quarter, Pitt led 17-0. Final score: Pitt 30-23 in overtime. The longer the game went on, the better the Tar Heels played; they just spotted Pitt too big of a lead. The Panthers (8-2 overall, 5-1 in the ACC), who lead the Coastal Division, get two extra days of rest before next week’s division showdown against Virginia, which must play a physical Notre Dame team Saturday night.
No buzz about UConn hiring former NFL coach
The saddest commentary about UConn hiring Jim Mora as its coach is the lack of buzz that surrounded the vacancy and the hiring. The local media has moved on to basketball. Mora not only has to find talent, he must give a skeptical, hoops-first fan base a reason to reconnect. UConn athletic director David Benedict deserves credit for wrangling a coach with Mora’s background (31-33 in four seasons in the NFL, 46-30 in six seasons at UCLA) to take over the Huskies, a program that has been adrift since the dissolution of the Big East. Mora has agreed to a five-year, $8.5 million deal. He has a lot of work to do.
Coaching turnover a problem in Pac-12
Maybe it’s a low bar to leap over to point out the problems in the Pac-12, but Mora’s return to coaching after UCLA let him go four years ago got me thinking about how much turnover there has been in the Pac-12 in recent years. Of the 12 coaches in 2017, only Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Stanford’s David Shaw and Cal’s Justin Wilcox (who took over the Bears that season) are still in the league. By comparison, the Big Ten has eight coaches from 2017. On the other hand, the SEC only has three as well. Put it this way: The Pac-12 has greater problems than coaching instability, but it sure isn’t helping any.