UNC is Punting Bunting

North Carolina Athletics Director Dick Baddour announced Sunday that head football coach John Bunting would not be retained after the 2006 season. Bunting, however, will remain to coach the rest of this season's games.

As much as I admire John Bunting and how well he's represented UNC, I think this is a necessary move for a football program that has fallen to the bottom of the ACC standing during Bunting's six year tenure.

At some point, just being a great guy and an alumnus is not enough. The coaching profession is a results-oriented business. Wins, losses, and revenue are the big three when it comes to keeping your job at the NCAA Division I level, as Bunting is well aware. Bunting's teams simply did not get it done on the field.

One positive that comes out of a mid-season firing is that UNC can now conduct their coaching search openly without having to sneak behind the current coach's back to do it. On the down side, the current coaching staff risks losing the attention of their players who know the assistant coaches may be gone after the season.

Now that the axe has fallen, the voyeur in me is anxious to see how several scenarios play out:

1) How will the North Carolina players and assistant coaches respond to a lame duck head coach. Will they mail it in, or will they adopt the "Win one for the Gipper" mentality?

2) What names of potential coaching replacements will begin flying around the press, over the airwaves, and on the message boards?

3) How will the change affect the status of UNC's current high school commits? Will the Heels lose their promising recruits for the 2007 season?

It should be an interesting rest of the season to say the least.