Larry Fedora filled the last slot on his staff bringing in former Tar Heel Randy Jordan to coach the running backs.
Via Inside Carolina:
Former Texas A&M running backs coach and Tar Heel standout Randy Jordan has accepted the running backs coach position at North Carolina, according to multiple sources.
Jordan joined Nebraska’s coaching staff as running backs coach in 2004 and coached four years in Lincoln before joining Mike Sherman’s staff at Texas A&M in the same role in 2008 and coaching through 2011. His first coaching job came as a special teams assistant in 2003.
Jordan played for Mack Brown from 1989-1992 and joins Gunter Brewer as the second member of Fedora’s staff to have either coached or played at UNC before.
This position will bear watching for a couple of reasons. The first is Fedora did not retain longtime and well liked assistant Ken Browning after he had been coaching the running backs. If Jordan does not do well it will raise the ire of the fan base a tad given Browning had obviously done a good job with the likes of Gio Bernard. Speaking of Bernard, obviously UNC has a legitimate running back with one 1000-yard season under his belt. The words “don’t screw that up” come to mind when you talk about bringing in a new position coach and quite frankly a new offense.
Of course Jordan is a former Tar Heel player and it is nice to see family return to Chapel Hill. He grew up in North Carolina and built some coaching experience at major programs like Texas A&M and Nebraska. It will be interesting to see how much he helps on the recruiting front which it still an unproven area for Fedora and his staff.
With staff complete I think it is important to take a long view of them given the circumstances and the fact there is still an element of uncertainty here. I am fairly satisfied with the hiring of Fedora and his subsequent moves to build his staff with the notable exception being his handling of Ken Browning. So my take on staff is we, as fans, have plenty to be excited about. There is great potential here and I love Fedora’s passionate approach. Now let’s see if that potential can be realized in moving the program past the NCAA scandal and towards competing in the ACC Coastal Division.
![[Bloglines]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[MySpace]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Technorati]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Windows Live]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](../../../wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
The last line is very important, IMO. When Davis came to town it felt like everyone was talking about NCs moreso than ACCTs. It’s great to have high goals, but I think baby steps were, and are, in order.
I have a legitimate question about Browning, Jordan and the RBs. I recall Bernard being the first 1,000-yard RB in several years (like the late ’90s maybe). And, it seems like UNC had a rep for regularly producing 1,000-yard RBs before that. So, is replacing Brown that big a deal, or was the HC/recruiting/whatever trumping his ability to “coach up” RBs during the “lost years”?
I lived in Ehringhaus with Randy Jordan during the 1-10 years in ’88 and ’89. He might have been able to run a 4.3, but I could whip him in ping-pong.
Just to give you an idea on how delusional Cornhole fans are up here, Randy Jordan was the Devil during the Bill Callahan years. These idiots up here were so pissed about what was happening with this vaunted program that they were blaming Nebraska’s woes on a running back coach. The insults about him on local sports talk radio were downright stupid, and quite a few were based on how a guy from a school that wears “feminine” colors could coach any running back to be hard nosed and physical.
This is a small example of the crap I deal with up here…..
I thought light blue was for boys, pink for girls. But I digress.
We’ve had good running backs over the years but injuries have had a role in preventing those 1,000-yard seasons. In Gio’s case, he had the injury early on and then came back for a healthy full season, and the yardage.
Of course there were running backs who didn’t get that much playing time — until making it in the NFL, e.g., Willie Parker.
Here’s top 5 ACC RB’s 2011…
1. David Wilson, VT 1709
2. Lamar Miller, MIA 1272
3. Giovani Bernard, UNC 1253
4. Andre Ellington, CLEM 1178
5. Tevin Washington, GT 987
Solid hire. It is good to have Randy back in town. He will be a great coach and recruiter. Now that the staff is complete, the only piece that doesn’t quite seem to fit is Disch. I just hope there is no conflict over who is calling the shots on defense. Koenning defintely needs to be the man.
Has anyone heard where Kenny Browning will land since he turned down the “admin position” with UNC?
I’m not sure why Browning wasn’t retained but I don’t think letting him go was that big of a gamble. Gio is awesome - without question, but the other RBs Brown coached (Houston, Draughn, the Greg Little experiment) didn’t put up very impressive numbers. Here is the caveat though: those RBs also never had decent run blocking to help them out (and neither did Gio, but he had the speed to create something anyways).