Close only counts…
…in horseshoes and hand grenades! I understand that we have lost 7 of our 9 games by 8 points or less, but that doesn’t cut it in my book. We should have never been in the position to lose half of those games. Akron? Seriously. Southern Miss? Virginia? UNC? ECU? This season our offense averaged just 17.5 points per game. While our defense gave up an average of 21.8 points per game. Yes, I do realize that it puts the average margin of our losses at just over 8. The most points our offense put up this season was…24, and surprisingly that was against Florida State.
Sorry Chuck, but to me, close isn’t good enough. Sorry Chuck, Florida State isn’t our rival, and yes, you are 4-3 against them, including two wins down there, but you are also 3-4 against OUR RIVAL UNC. You played here, you know how bad we want to beat them! Sure you can say two of those loses to UNC were because of bad calls by the officials. I’m sure you can say a lot of things, but why were we in that position to get screwed by a bad call? I know that TA’s knee wasn’t down in 2004, heck everyone except the official knew it, but why were we in that position? I know the Akron player was down before he scored the game winning touchdown this season, but why were we only up by 3 to Akron, a team that finished 5-7 in the Mid-American Conference?
Chuck, you’ve been so close, so many times. That has me questioning if you have what it takes to take this team to the next step. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud to say you helped bring this program to the National Stage. I’m proud to say I witnessed a defense that ranked #1 in the Country, I witnessed a defense that saw 3 of the 4 linemen go in the 1st round of the NFL Draft, but there are two sides of the ball Chuck. A great defense doesn’t do you much good if you don’t have a decent, I’m not even looking for great, offense. I would like an offense that can move the ball down field. I’m not even getting picky and asking for points on the board, I just want to see some consistent movement!
Consistency is what we want to see Chuck. We want to see our offense move the ball the way they use to when you first got here and had Philip Rivers and Jerico Cotchery. We have to talent to do it. In the last 5 years, we have had THE BEST 3 running backs ever to come out of the state of North Carolina. We had T.A. McLendon who held the single season and career rushing records for a while. Then came Andre Brown who broke the single season rushing record, and then Toney Baker who broke the career rushing record. We have Leroy Harris who was selected to the preseason watch list for the best offensive lineman in the country. We have Darrell Blackman who is a multi threat, catching passes, returning kicks. We have the talent Chuck, where are our results?
Jeff likes you, Jeff wants you to stay, but I’ll be honest with you Chuck, close doesn’t cut it for me. Thank you for all you have given to us. You are an amazing man when it comes to raising money for our football program, you have really built it up to the edge of the National Stage, but I don’t think you can get us onto the stage to stay. You have a lot to offer, and I wish you the best, I wouldn’t even be against you staying as a defensive coordinator. I just don’t think you have what it takes to be a successful Head Coach in the ACC.
Again, thank you for your time and energy Coach Chuck Amato, but it’s time for you to pack up your office, it’s time for a change in the Wolfpack football family. But who do we want to handle the search for a new coach? Oh, that is another subject in itself, one I don’t have the time to get into. I personally would like to see a change. If it isn’t Chuck, please be Trestman. Give the loyal fans something new, give us message board and blog junkies something to do for the next week or so as we try to get the inside scoup of who will be filling Chuck’s red shoes.
As of now your guess is as good as mine in what will happen within the next 24-48 hrs. Will there be a change? Or will Fowler stick to his word and keep him? Only time will tell.