UNC Football: Tar Heels fire Larry Fedora

The University of North Carolina has decided to fire head coach Larry Fedora after another 9-loss season in Chapel Hill.

The Larry Fedora era in North Carolina is officially over.

Following another disappointing season in which the Tar Heels went 2-9, AD Bubba Cunningham made the move to fire the head coach after seven seasons in Chapel Hill. It was the second-straight season the Tar Heels have lost 9 games and Fedora’s overall record with the program dropped to 45-43.

The move came following another loss to rival NC State, dropping the season finale 34-28 in overtime. Fedora lost his last six games to Duke and NC State, one of the lows in his tenure with the Tar Heels.

On Sunday morning, Cunningham released the following statement on the firing:

"“We appreciate all that Larry Fedora has done for us over the last seven years — coming to Carolina in the midst of an NCAA case and bringing stability to our football program when we most needed it. Despite injuries, despite setbacks and hardships, Larry never made excuses. He focused his teams on overcoming adversity, and I deeply respect the way he persevered and led our program each day with integrity through some tough times. This was not an easy decision because of the deep affinity I have for Larry. It simply is time to take our football program in a new direction.”"

The Fedora era started off good as he took the team to four-straight bowl games and won the 2015 Coastal Division, taking the Tar Heels to the ACC Championship Game.

The following season, Fedora returned almost all of the starters from that team for the 2016 season and had Mitchell Trubisky as his quarterback. But UNC struggled down the stretch after losing a home game to Virginia Tech and dropped three of their last four including a bowl game to Stanford.

After that, it was all downhill for the head coach.

In 2017 the Tar Heels were hit by injuries and finished 3-9 as it started to get ugly with the program. That carried over in 2018 as UNC earned just two wins on the season and Fedora’s fate was ultimately decided with the struggles.

Now Cunningham’s search for a new head coach begins and names like Mike Norvell , Seth Littrell, Mel Tucker and former UNC head coach Mack Brown are being thrown around.

The University will owe Fedora $12M as part of his buyout but that can be migrated if he finds another head coaching job.

For more on UNC’s coaching search and the football program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.