John Nieman
As I have mentioned probably a couple of times in this space, son Jeff has strongly encouraged me to return to my interest in sports other than soccer and NASCAR. I’ve truly endeavored to do so. But of course, my return seems to have coincided with an unexpected downturn in the performance of the Tar Heel basketball team, one of the worst Super Bowls in memory and the strange case of the new coaching staff at UNC football.
Regular visitors to this space will know that I am loathe to call for coaches to be fired. I just really hate to see anyone lose their job, and most times, in my view, the coach or manager is not the problem. I really don’t know what to say in the case of UNC basketball.
I’m very hopeful that the hiring of a general manager will turn the fortunes around. College basketball today, with transfer portals and NIL, is not the game coached by Dean Smith and Roy Williams. In fact, it’s my view that Coach Smith—second to my father, the greatest man I ever met—would most likely not be interested in coaching this sport and would elect to become the greatest high school basketball coach in history.
All that said, if there is a decision to hire a new coach at UNC, all this talk about hiring someone in the “Family” is absurd.
How are we defining “Family?” Dean Smith played and coached at Kansas and was an assistant coach at UNC for 3 years before being hired. Roy Williams did not play at UNC although he attended the University and was hired from Kansas. If one considers Hubert Davis to be unsuccessful as a coach, that would suggest that all prior players who were coaches were unsuccessful. It would be more correct to say that we should look for someone from Kansas to be the next coach if we are to replace Coach Davis.
My opinion: Keep Hubert Davis as coach and see how it works with a general manager.
And then I had to endure the Super Bowl. The game used to be one of the highlights of my year. I heard great things about this Patrick Mahomes and looked forward to the game. But typically, in blowout games, the conversation is about whether one side won the game or the other side lost the game.
With all due respect to the Philadelphia Eagles, to my untrained eye, having been away from the game many years, it was clear that the Chiefs lost the game. I can’t remember much that the Eagles did great, and I can’t forget the almost comical performance of the Chiefs’ offensive line and the unexplainable interceptions of Mahomes.
Entertaining halftime show, though. The commercials were not as remarkable. As I remembered. I own a Clydesdale and this is the first Budweiser commercial with them that didn’t bring a tear.
I noted in last month’s column that the hiring of Bill Belichick as head coach at UNC would either be incredibly successful or disastrous. I still feel that way.
But I’m coming around to the opinion that at the very least it’s going to be highly entertaining. There’s so much attention around the girlfriend. I think I’ve figured out the deal. Coach Belichick, famous for. Incidents like Spygate and Deflategate, is a seeming master of trickery. While I won’t question that his relationship with this young woman is real, (although being his same age I can’t understand it) I can’t help but think there is an ulterior motive.
I’m sure there are many recruiters out there from other schools commenting on the old fool and the young girlfriend, not realizing that the 18- or 19-year-old player is probably saying to himself, “Way to go, Boomer,” and wanting to meet this guy.
At least for the sake of UNC football, I hope that’s the case.
I’m hopeful this sojourn into other sports will be successful. But it is not going to distract me from my true passions. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Carolina Core soccer season and securing my tickets for Martinsville next month. But I am hopeful for a mini-comeback for the Tar Heels so that they can get into the Big Dance. Either way, I’m going to keep trying.
We are wrapping up Polar Plunge season. If you can, I invite you to sign up and participate in the Chatham County Polar Plunge down at Jordan Lake. It’s inspiring and a whole lot of fun.
Videos of me running into the ocean have made it clear that drastic measures must be taken. Intermittent fasting has morphed into just plain old fasting with some good effect. Fat Boy index: 278.
