With first-year North Carolina Football Coach Bill Belichick and General Manager Michael Lombardi fully embracing the qualities of the program’s past, one idea to now consider, and perhaps implement, is to finally erect statues, busts, and plaques of the greatest Tar Heels ever.
It’s time.
Former UNC Coach John Bunting loved the idea. He once said, “Lots of real good football players have come through here, we need to recognize them better.”
That was more than 20 years ago when he said that. He was right then and he’s right now.
One football player has a statue at UNC, and it’s the all-time Tar Heel himself, Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice. A two-time runner-up for the Heisman Trophy and leader of the best four-year run ever for Carolina on the gridiron, he’s worthy of the honor. His statue stands in front of the main entrance to the Kenan Football Center but there should be another that fans attending games can see.
The idea here is this: Erect statues outside of Kenan of about five-seven players and add an additional X number of busts and plaques in some kind of Football Garden. Also, build massive plaques for some of the program’s best coaches.
With that, UNC is telling all football visitors that it has a history, it has produced serious dudes before, and that it cares deeply about football.
And with that, we begin the process of nominating players for statues, busts and plaques. We begin with the coaches that should be recognized:
Mack Brown (1988-97, 2019-24)
*10 seasons (69-46-1 overall, 40-33-1 ACC)
*Six seasons (44-33 overall, 27-23 ACC)
*TOTAL at UNC: 113-79-1, 67-56-1 ACC)
In stint number one, Brown got football right again in Chapel Hill leading three of his last five teams to at least 10 wins with the last two clubs finishing in the top 10 of the national polls in 1996 and 1997. He produced a tremendous number of NFL picks and was instrumental in major stadium renovations that brought UNC football up to par with most national programs.
His second stint had some success. UNC played in the Orange Bowl, the program’s first major bowl in 71 years, and played for an ACC championship plus generated plenty of national attention.
Brown was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Bill Dooley (1967-77)
*11 seasons (69-53-2 overall, 38-28-2 ACC)
UNC has three winning seasons over the previous 17 years before Dooley was hired with two of those campaigns ending with 6-4 records. The Heels were 5-5 once as well. Otherwise, it had 13 losing seasons over those 17 years, which came right after the Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice era.
Dooley literally changed UNC football. It became a program known for rugged football and three yards and a cloud of dust. The team took on the persona of the “Old Trench Fighter,” he was called, and paved the way to a very success decade in the 1970s. He also recruited Lawrence Taylor to Chapel Hill.
Dick Crum (1978-87)
10 se*asons (72-41-3 overall, 38-24-1 ACC)
Crum got it going with a string of four consecutive bowl victories over the likes of Michigan. Texas, Arkansas (under Lou Holtz at the time), and Texas again. The 1980 Heels are the last UNC team to win an ACC championship, and the 1980 and 1981 squads finished ranked in the top 10.
Crum’s teams also included a great deal of NFL players including Lawrence Taylor, who blossomed under Crum’s watch.
The truth is Crum doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves. He fed off of what Dooley did but also had better teams. It didn’t happen by accident. Give him the honor he earned.
Carl Snavely (1934-35, 1945-52)
*Two seasons (59-35-5)
Snavely had two stints at UNC. The first lasted just two seasons but they were quite successful with Carolina going 15-2-1. The great George Barclay was a senior in 1934 and was named to just about every All-America team out there. Three other Tar Heels made the all-Southern Conference team, including future UNC Coach Jim Tatum.
His second stint was from 1945-1952 and included the greatest four-year run in program history with Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice leading the way. UNC finished ranked in the top 10 three times and at No. 16 the other season, and also played in the Sugar Bowl twice and Cotton Bowl once.
Snavely was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1965. He also coached at Washington University, Cornell, and Bucknell.
