This is what I'll say about Butch at North Carolina because a whole lot of context is being ignored by his ridiculous bashers and a whole lot of fair criticism is being ignored by his out of control supporters.
Butch took over a North Carolina time that went 17-18 and 10-14 in the ACC under Carl Torbush and 27-45 and 18-30 in the ACC under John Bunting. The success that Mack Brown had built up after being there for 10 years was long gone. So Year 1 Butch went 4-8 and 3-5 in the ACC. How much better should he have done given what he took over? This isn't McElwain at Florida where a wealth of defensive talent and good offensive talent was left for him or Harbaugh at Michigan where he inherited exactly the defensive players he wanted and needed. That's about par for the course.
Year 2 Butch doubled up his wins and went 8-5 and 4-4 in the ACC. First bowl appearance since 2004 and first 8 win season since 2001. That's the proper improvement he should've shown.
Year 3 is the one I have no answer for and can't wrap my head around. That's the year he should've broken through and won 10 games and competed for the Coastal and he didn't really come close. A loss to 3-9 Virginia and 5-7 NC State at the stage of development is pretty much inexcusable. That's also the point where he should've wised and fired John Shoop. For a coach who has the claim to fame of having an elite eye for talent in coaching staff selections that's a pretty big miss who hadn't been good all three years at UNC. It was the first back-to-back 8 wins seasons at UNC since 1996-1997 and first back-to-back bowl appearances since the same years but he should've still accomplished more and not lost to Virginia, NC State, and maybe even the Pittsburgh at the end of the season.
Year 4 was littered with suspensions. UNC had the pre-season
#1 rated defensive units at all three levels of the sport and were decimated. But even so with the suspensions, losing to 6-7 GT is still unacceptable. Having John Shoop two years too late is unacceptable when staff management is Butch's strength. It was the third 8 win season and third bowl game season in a row and that was the first time it had happened since 1992-1994 but even with the suspensions he should have achieved more than he did.
The Larry Fedora comparison is strange. Fedora took over a team ladened with all of Butch's talent that he gets credit for but didn't get to benefit from. How much did Butch exactly benefit from Eric Ebron? Sylvester Williams? Jonathan Cooper? Having all these players that are now excelling in the NFL now doesn't matter a whole lot when they're true freshmen. Fedora had them when they were NFL ready and went 8-4, 7-6, and 6-7 with that. But then Fedora went and did what Butch should've done with John Shoop. Fedora fires his defensive coordinator and hires a stud who made an immediate impact in Gene Chizik. I can't get over that Butch wouldn't do it. Fedora, an above average recruiter in his own right, is succeeding because of that when Butch didn't.
Butch has been and still is my first choice for the job. I think he could come back, stack talent, hire an excellent staff, and have the team clicking after the first year growing pains that everybody goes through when making a drastic style, scheme, and attitude change. That being said, his North Carolina record does give me pause. He should've achieved more than he did even taking into account the difficult situation he inherited. I've gone back and watched as many games as I can find from his North Carolina career and I saw some elite defensive scheming and game planning and just atrocious offensive with enough to talent to be aggressive. I saw some bad clock management and I saw some great half-time adjustments. I saw enough to not want to change my preference for him.
With that also being said, to just hand him the job after a lazy search is bordering on an insult. I don't want to just hire Butch without doing our due diligence. Call Patterson and Gundy. Make them say no. When they probably do, bring in Fuente, Herman, and Mullen and stack them head-to-head with Butch. Interview them all. If Butch is as great as I think he is and his supporters feel he is, then the comparison should lay to rest any fear that Butch isn't the right hire. If the result of the interview is that somebody just blows the interview away, then you go from there and have a hard decision to make. If they do rehire Butch, does he hire make a great evaluation of coaching talent and hire the DB coach of the Chicago Bears to be a great DC in Greg Schiano or does he hire a bad coach ala John Shoop? Assuming he brings in Dorsey as OC, does Butch give him the keys (which is his reputation) and let Dorsey be aggressive or does Dorsey turn out to be too green at the time to succeed early? That is the real grey area that makes this a troubling hire.
I want them to bring back Butch. I hope they do. Fans would turn out and money would go through the roof. It would be a leading story on ESPN. Other schools would be intimidated from the jump. We would land our South Florida kids with relative ease. It would be great football and I genuinely believe we would win and win big ala another potential dynasty. But I don't see any reason why the most important of these listed possibilities, winning and winning big, can't be achieved with Herman or Feunte or somebody else for that matter. The search should be as thorough and comprehensive as possible to make the best hire for the university and the program. I feel that's Butch but interviewing one candidate is an idiotic way to instill confidence and lay very legitimate and genuine fears to rest on the subject. If Butch is so much better than anybody else, then there's nothing to fear about interviewing everybody. He'll still end up being the selection. Let's do this right and go through everybody even if the opening leading candidate is the first interview out of 100. That's the right way and the best way to handle it.
Bring Back Butch.