Larry Fedora is sitting on a seat as hot as the surface of the sun and his time as the head coach at North Carolina could be coming to an end soon.
It’s beginning to look like 2015 was a big fluke for Larry Fedora and North Carolina. The 2015 season saw the Tar Heels go undefeated in the Coastal and almost pull off an upset of Clemson in the ACC Championship Game. North Carolina finished 11-3 that year and ranked No. 15 in the AP and Coaches poll.
But ever since then, it’s been a rough go for Fedora and the Heels. Fedora led UNC to an 8-5 record in 2016 before bottoming out with a 3-9 record last year with a 1-7 conference mark. Making matters worse, North Carolina is off to a 0-2 start this year after losses to Cal and a 41-19 loss to an East Carolina team who lost to North Carolina AT&T, which could signal the beginning of the end for Fedora’s time in Chapel Hill.
Things are trending in the wrong direction for Fedora and North Carolina who must have serious regrets about the extension they gave Fedora in 2017 that locks him up through the 2022 season. Without bonuses, Fedora is making $2.709 million per year, which isn’t a whole lot for a college coach in today’s market, which could suggest North Carolina is willing to sever ties and pay him what he’s owed while paying his replacement.
I don’t want to campaign for a guy to lose his job, but there will have to be conversations in the North Carolina athletic department this weekend and beyond if the ACC part of their schedule doesn’t see markedly improved results.
Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely? Definitely not.
Not with this personnel and not with the coaching and not with the teams they have remaining on the schedule.
This is looking like another three-win campaign for the Tar Heels who have destroyed all the momentum and goodwill they built in 2015 when things looked much more promising than they do today.
The clock is ticking on Fedora and he might find that clock striking midnight on his time as the Heels coach coming to a close sooner than he or any fans would have imagined only a few short years ago.