This upcoming year of UNC Athletics will be different

COMMENTARY | The offseason of North Carolina Tar Heel athletics is about to come to an end on August 29th, as it is the opening game of the football season. The game of course is against the South Carolina Gamecocks, and will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Mar 3, 2013; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head football coach Larry Fedora (wearing visor) reacts in the student section. The Tar Heels defeated the Seminoles 79-58 at the Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Although that sounds exciting, football usually plays second fiddle to the basketball team. Basketball season is thought of to be the best time of the year in Chapel Hill, and rightfully so, as UNC has seen some great players and coaches in Carolina blue.

This year though, this trend needs to come to an end.

Wait, what? North Carolina football is better than North Carolina basketball?

Yep, it is this year. For the basketball team, it has been an offseason filled with drama, as star P.J. Hairston can’t seem to stay out of trouble. It seems like every time we go on the Internet he’s done something stupid, like drive 93 MPH in a 65 MPH zone, or all this rental car stuff that won’t seem to go away, he has been a total distraction. For all of this, some want him to be dismissed from the team, but as of now he has only been suspended.

Even if this P.J. Hairston saga clears up, and he is able to play again, I don’t see it being a good year. Since the departure of Reggie Bullock, I don’t believe it will be that good of a season for the Tar Heels.

UNC also struck out on the recruitment of young star Andrew Wiggins, as he instead decided to take his talents to Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks. Many are comparing him to LeBron James, and he would’ve been a much needed addition to the Tar Heels.

I believe if Wiggins would’ve came, and P.J. would’ve behaved, the Tar Heels had a national championship caliber team. With Andrew Wiggins running the show with P.J. Hairston, and James Michael McAdoo down low, they would’ve been a fun team to watch, but, it wasn’t meant to be.

On football side of things, they are going through the loss of the beloved Giovanni Bernard offensively, and offensive lineman Jonathan Cooper was selected 6th overall by the Arizona Cardinals.

Even with those losses, the upcoming season looks to be very promising for Tar Heel football. Last season was the first year under Head coach Larry Fedora, and his high-powered spread offense. It was very fun to watch last season, and you can expect it to be better this year as Quarterback Bryn Renner will be going into his senior year, and will have a year under his belt working under Larry Fedora’s offense.

My point is that basketball has always been the dominant sport in Chapel Hill, mainly because they always have the better team compared to the other sports at the college. This year though, football has the better team, and them playing second fiddle to the basketball program needs to come to an end this season, as Larry Fedora’s team looks to go to the next level this year, and get to the ACC championship game, and a possible BCS berth.

I am not telling you to forget the basketball team, but don’t place high expectations on them, but instead, place them on the football team.

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