During these unusual times that are anything but normal, Phil Longo is doing his best to maintain the same routine he’d have if the nation wasn’t in essential shutdown mode dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Had norm never been knocked out of whack, North Carolina’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach would get up every morning at 4:30, get in his workout and march forward with his day. There aren’t any morning practices this spring and no game April 18 to plan for. No prospects are visiting and Longo isn’t even in his office at the Kenan Football Center.

Anchored down at home, he’s doing everything in his power to conduct every day as if American life wasn’t really on standby.

“I sat down with Tanya, my wife and said, 'How are we going to handle this incredibly different schedule with all the issues that are going on,’” Longo said. “And we came to the conclusion that we could do something different, but we said, 'You know what? How possible would it be for our everyday routine to stay the same?’

“So, as much as we can do it to keep it the same, I still get up at 4:30 (a.m.), I still hit the heavy bag at five o'clock. I still shower at the same time and I go to work. My wife is homeschooling our kids in the morning. So, up until 12 o'clock I can never come home anyway without interrupting school. I get five to six hours every morning and all I do is watch film and game plan and prep for our opponents. I meet with players.”

UNC’s offensive staff meets twice a week and the entire staff meets twice a week using the online video teleconferencing service Zoom that has gained considerable notoriety as Americans have used its service to stay connected professionally and personally during the shutdown. Longo also meets with the players within the boundaries set by the NCAA “just like we would if we were in spring ball,” he said.

They aren’t watching practice film, which might be the biggest drawback of not having spring practice, he says, but they still get in plenty of productive discourse.

“We're still talking about executing, we're still watching UCF and Auburn and all of those teams defensively,” he said, referring to the Tar Heels’ first two opponents of the 2020 season. UCF is the opener in the Golden Knights’ home stadium and the Auburn game is a week later in Atlanta.

“In some cases it's much more than that just because we're going to address something that's just come up. That's the one thing about this scenario right now. The NCAA rules change daily. The things we're allowed to do and not allowed to do on campus or with our players changes often. And so every time there's a change, we just re-gameplan the situation, and so we have to meet to do that.”

As for getting up before the roosters crow, it’s a tried and true regiment for Longo.

“I like getting up early, I get a lot of work done,” he said. “If I don’t work out in the morning, I’m not going to get anything done during the day. I have a hard time breaking the day in half and going to work out at lunch time, so I just get it done in the morning, it wakes me up and it’s just the way I started.

“I made a decision to keep that routine going, because if I started getting up at eight like my nine-year-old, it would be real hard to get back into the groove, so I’ve just kind of stayed in my routine. That’s easier for me.”

Anything to keep things normal, but to also be productive.