Dane Huffman
Dane Huffman, a Raleigh native, has covered North Carolina sports since 1983. He is the Sports Managing Editor at WRAL.
By Dane Huffman
Nov 13, 2009
Roy Williams may have to add another chapter to his book after Friday’s stunning announcement.
Harrison Barnes’ decision to go to Chapel Hill further cements the sense that North Carolina has edged ahead of Duke as the ACC’s top basketball program.
This is a blow to the gut of the Blue Devils, who yearn for the type of athletic wing they’d had in their glory years.
The decision highlights the trend we’ve seen in recent years involving North Carolina and Duke. When Mike Krzyzewski signed on as the head coach of the U.S. Basketball team in October of 2005, you thought pulpit might bring a bevy of great players to Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Krzyzewski has had his recruiting wins since then – Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler in particular – but the wave of elite prospects hasn’t materialized.
Meanwhile, Williams’ program continues to gain strength.
Comparing the numbers between Williams and Krzyzewski since Williams arrived in Chapel Hill is revealing. Here are the numbers since that 2003-04 season:
UNC
Two national titles
Three Final Fours
Two ACC titles
21-4 in NCAA play
176-37 record
72-24 ACC record
Duke
No national titles
One Final Four
Three ACC titles
11-6 in NCAA play
179-36 record
73-23 ACC record
What’s amazing is how close the regular season and ACC records are, with
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By Dane Huffman
Nov 10, 2009
Seven years ago, East Carolina shifted a football game to Friday night so the game could be on ESPN2 and was excoriated by the high school community – and rightfully so.
High school officials, from NCHSAA executive director Charlie Adams on down, wanted to protect Friday nights for high school football and were concerned that college football would intrude on that space in the sports landscape. High schools depend on that gate, especially during the playoffs.
The Pirates played that game in 2002 against Cincinnati, lost on a brutally cold night in front of a small crowd, and coach Steve Logan promptly got fired. It couldn’t have been a more disastrous situation overall for East Carolina.
But what’s interesting is how the NCHSAA football playoffs start Friday, and the sports calendar in the Triangle is simply packed.
The Carolina Hurricanes play at home against the New York Islanders at 7 p.m.
Duke opens its men’s basketball season at home against UNC-Greensboro at 7 p.m.
The UNC women open at home against the College of Charleston at 7 p.m.
The N.C. State women hold their first game with Kellie Harper against Florida International at 8 p.m.
And even the Duke women open at Houston Baptist at 8:30 p.m.
There’s no college football team playing in the Triangle, but there’s plenty of that now on TV.
This isn’t the only Friday where high school supremacy has been challenged. North
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By Dane Huffman
Nov 3, 2009
One of Duke’s toughest losses became what turned the football program around.
In November of 2007, everyone knew coach Ted Roof was in danger of losing his job when the Blue Devils played at North Carolina on Nov. 28.
Carolina was rebuilding in the first year of Butch Davis and N.C. State was showing new promise under Tom O’Brien. Even Wake Forest was winning. But the Devils had won just six games overall under Roof and you figured Duke was about to fire yet another coach.
Then suddenly, Duke played a marvelous game in Chapel Hill, a game it should have won. The Blue Devils drove to Carolina’s 23-yard line and called timeout for a field goal with a second to play.
But Nick Maggio’s kick was wide left from 40 yards as time expired, and the kick was so close the Blue Devils were already pouring on the field and dumping ice on Roof.
Duke, in shock, couldn’t regroup. Roof had a different kicker, Joe Surgan, try a field goal in overtime, but his 42-yard attempt was wide left. UNC’s Greg Little blasted through a deflated Duke defense on Carolina’s first play for the win.
Roof was fired two days later.
Now, Duke is one of the ACC’s surprises and David Cutcliffe will be the league’s coach of the year. Cutcliffe is great with the press, knows how to get the most from his players and has infused Duke with a new will to succeed.
He has also had the benefit of a school determined to
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 28, 2009
The Panthers have had some bizarre days in their history, but Wednesday was one of the strangest. Coach John Fox, who made his name on the defensive side, was, well, defensive in announcing his quarterback for Sunday.
“It will be Jake Delhomme,” said Fox, chin out.
So Delhomme will start at Arizona, and the Panthers have gone full circle. The last time the teams played, he lost a fumble and threw five interceptions.
It was so bad it was comical. Heck, you could almost forgive Delhomme even if he did botch a golden path to the Super Bowl.
But the Panthers haven’t recovered, and Delhomme is a disaster. He has four touchdown throws and 13 interceptions. If this were baseball he’d be back in Triple-A.
The Panthers’ season started out bad, with a humiliating home loss to Philadelphia, and has only gotten worse. Carolina is now 2-4, and while Fox pointed out Carolina’s loss total is now only the same as a year ago, it’s also true there’s no chance of the Panthers matching last season’s 12 wins.
There’s plenty of blame to go around here. Carolina never should have given Delhomme a contract extension in the offseason with $20 million guaranteed. They’ve failed to develop a backup quarterback, failed to find a second receiver and failed to realize Julius Peppers means it when he says he doesn’t want to play for Carolina.
So
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 27, 2009
A measure of how bad the Triangle football schools have been is that this could mark the third time in four years the area fails to send a team to a bowl.
That’s an astonishing achievement, given that the ACC has eight bowl tie-ins this year and the league is far from being a football juggernaut.
The Triangle didn’t send teams to bowls in 2006 and 2007, and the fact that the programs were so depleted was why all three made coaching changes in the last three years.
But making a bowl won’t come easy this season, especially if this weekend comes with further setbacks for the local schools. Both N.C. State and Duke face games they almost have to win to make a bowl.
Here’s how it looks for the three local schools, each of whom needs seven wins this year to qualify:
N.C. State (3-4 overall)
Oct. 31 @ Florida State
Nov. 7 Maryland
Nov. 14 Clemson
Nov. 21 @ Virginia Tech
Nov. 28 North Carolina
Do you see four wins there? Not likely. State could win all three at home but has to have a road win to squeeze into a bowl
It’s hard to imagine the Wolfpack winning at Virginia Tech, which means it has to win this Saturday at Tallahassee.
And with that secondary against FSU’s Christian Ponder? Wow. The good news for N.C. State is it’s coming off a bye, and we all know what that can mean for a Tom O’Brien team.
But a big stretch run just seems
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 25, 2009
Roy Williams loves this time of year, and you could see that Sunday. Relaxed, candid, excited about his team, Williams seemed unconcerned about where his North Carolina club would be picked in the ACC and what others expected of it.
He is coming off his second national title, a remarkable feat for an accomplished coach who once yearned to finally land the sport’s biggest prize.
He has taken a UNC program that had fallen behind Duke and made it the league’s elite team again. Even in a year where Carolina pumped a ton of talent into the NBA, the Heels are still right there, picked with Duke to win the ACC again.
But Williams’ perspective on this title is a surprising one, and it’s a perspective that to some extent North Carolina shares with Duke. For all the differences in the schools and fan bases, the two eternal rivals share a common rival – complacency.
You’ve seen it at Duke, where students don’t clamor for space in Cameron Indoor Stadium the way they once did and Mike Krzyzewski has been vocal in saying success is not to be taken for granted.
And Williams, perhaps, got a hint of it this offseason, when the celebratory mood across the vast swath of UNC fans wasn’t quite what he expected.
“It seemed to me and my coaches and families that in ‘05 it was such a level of enthusiasm – the exhilaration of winning, the thrill of victory was unbelievably high,” Williams said.
This
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 20, 2009
This was the Tom O’Brien Show that wasn’t, the Monday night on an off week when O’Brien is away and the N.C. State coordinators take over. So it wasn’t a big crowd this time at the Backyard Bistro as Tony Haynes peppered Dana Bible and Mike Archer with questions.
The opening was interesting. Both Bible and Archer insisted O’Brien remains the right coach for the job – you’d expect that on his show after all, right? – and they also insisted State has a plan in place.
“We’ve been there, done that and we’ll do it again,” said Bible, the offensive coordinator.
And that N.C. State will stick with that plan.
There was a hint of defiance in that as well. Let’s face it – no one thought State would be in this predicament when O’Brien arrived. Yet here we are three years in and the slope is sliding downward.
The Wolfpack coaches are pointing out that linebacker Nate Irving was lost for the year, a heavy blow that had an impact on the defense. But a football program can’t rest on one player, no matter how talented. State needs more good players, and soon, to get its program turned around.
Archer’s comments were particularly interesting, and you have to give the defensive coordinator credit for candor. He pointed out the problems of confidence and the continuing injuries in the secondary. And he harped on one particular issue, and it’s worth a closer
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 18, 2009
Saturday's performance at Boston College continued a season that's a lost opportunity for N.C. State.
The Wolfpack entered this fall with two of its better players in memory, Russell Wilson and Nate Irving. It had a season with eight home games, two of them guaranteed wins. And it faced an ACC schedule that was desperately mediocre.
Then Irving was lost for the season in a car accident, and State's defense lacks teeth without him. Willie Young is a good player and great quote, but State just needs more talent on that side of the ball.
Now the Wolfpack must win four of its last five games to reach a bowl, and this doesn't look like a club capable of that.
It's too bad. N.C. State thirsts for success in football as much as any ACC school, and that hunger has elevated as the basketball team has struggled. State is a good school with a great fan base, but winning doesn’t come easy for the Wolfpack.
The last two losses in football are crushing. Duke's win at Carter-Finley Stadium was a signature victory for a Blue Devils program scrapping to get out of the ACC dungeon. It completed back-to-back losses to Duke and Wake Forest, two programs that used to be easy pickings for ACC powers. It’s easy now to sneer at Tom O’Brien’s boast that State was the best program in the state, but if you can’t win within your borders, you can’t compete for ACC titles and national recognition.
The loss at Boston College is a blow.
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 9, 2009
The ACC has nine bowl ties this season, which means there are plenty of options for teams in a league where only seven teams have three wins by the second weekend of October.
N.C. State, North Carolina and Duke all need seven wins to qualify for a bowl. All three could fail to make it. But given the mediocrity in the league, there are huge opportunities if any of those teams can finish strong. As we head into the second half of the season, it's worth taking a quick look at the ACC’s bowl schedule this season.
ACC champion: Orange Bowl
The winner of the ACC championship game goes to the Jan. 5 Orange Bowl (if the winner doesn’t go to the national championship game, which is unlikely). Virginia Tech looks like the best team out there, but given the mediocrity of the league, anything is possible. If you can find a good team in the Atlantic Division, let us know. Strange though it sounds, the biggest ACC game of the weekend could be Maryland (1-0, 2-3) at Wake Forest (1-1, 3-2).
No. 2: Chick-fil-A Bowl
The Chick-fil-A is Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta and the Chick-fil-A will get the second pick for an ACC team to face an SEC rival. This is always a great trip, and what used to be called the Peach Bowl has steadily moved up the ACC ladder. N.C. State and UNC, because of their big fan bases, are always of interest to the Chick-fil-A, but those teams would need strong finishes to compete for this one.
No.
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By Dane Huffman
Oct 8, 2009
The change coming at the NCHSAA is a major development, and how Davis Whitfield performs in his new role will shape high school athletics across the state.
Whitfield, an assistant commissioner at the ACC, is taking over as executive director at the NCHSAA, a change that hasn’t happened since 1984. That’s when Simon Terrell, the longtime executive director for whom the building is named, resigned and the NCHSAA promoted his assistant, Charlie Adams.
Today, the NCHSAA offices remain on a quiet street in Chapel Hill right after a bunch of fraternity houses and before you get to the golf course. But otherwise, the change has been dramatic.
Adams energized the NCHSAA from the beginning. He had a keen sense of people, a fantastic ability to recall names and faces and he connected immediately with the press. He knew how to engage a powerful school superintendent and gently bring that person to his point of view. And he also knew when he’d picked a battle he couldn’t win and the wise course of action was to find a new direction.
Adams pushed hard to get the NCHSAA championship games in better venues – no small accomplishment at a time when universities weren’t begging high schools to come to their campuses.
He drove the association to raise funds through corporate partnerships – a dramatic shift for educators and coaches who weren’t used to the selling and bartering of the corporate world – and it’s
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