The North Carolina Tar Heels football team (often known as the "Tar Heels", "North Carolina" or simply "Carolina") represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the sport of American football. They are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
North Carolina has played in 37 bowl games in its history, winning three Southern Conference championships and five Atlantic Coast Conference titles. Thirty Tar Heel players have been honored as first-team All-Americans. Carolina had 32 All-Southern Conference selections when it played in that league until 1952 and since joining the ACC in 1953, has had 174 first-team All-ACC choices. Since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953, the team has won five conference championships, with the most recent title coming in 1980.
One of the first uses of the forward pass occurred in an 1895 Carolina game against the Georgia Bulldogs. This was one of the play's first uses prior to its legalization in 1906. The team uses "I'm a Tar Heel Born" as its official fight song and Rameses as its mascot. Carolina football's fiercest and most important rivalry is with the NC State Wolfpack. Their rivalry with the Virginia Cavaliers, referred to as the "South's Oldest Rivalry", is also significant.
The Carolina football program has had intermittent success and has featured a number of players who have gone on to play in the National Football League, including Lawrence Taylor, Charlie Justice, Chris Hanburger, Ken Willard, Don McCauley, William Fuller, Harris Barton, Jeff Saturday, Alge Crumpler, Willie Parker, Greg Ellis, Dré Bly, Julius Peppers, Hakeem Nicks, T.J. Yates, Mitch Trubisky, Sam Howell, Javonte Williams, Josh Downs and Drake Maye.
History
Early history (1888–1958)
The University of North Carolina fielded its first football team in 1888. The Tar Heels played four games with a final record of 1–3. The team captains for the 1888 season were Bob Bingham and Steve Bragaw. The game against Wake Forest was the first in the state, and the first against Trinity the first "scientific" game in the state. Ergo, one or the other is the first intercollegiate game in North Carolina. Between the first two games played in 1888 and next two games played in 1889 Princeton star Hector Cowan traveled south and trained the team. At the beginning of 1889, UNC played two games with a final record of 1–1. The team captains for the 1889 season were Lacy Little and Steve Bragaw.
William A. Reynolds coached the Tar Heels for four seasons. In 1897, Carolina played ten games with a final record of 7–3. The team captain for the 1897 season was Arthur Belden. In 1898, the Tar Heels played nine games with a final record of 9–0. The team captain for the 1898 season was Frank O. Rogers. The team claimed a Southern championship. The season opened with an 18–0 defeat of the Guilford Quakers. Charles Baskerville was umpire. The starting lineup was Tate (left end), Shull (left tackle), Miller (left guard), Cunningham (center), Cromartie (right guard), Bennett (Right tackle), Klotz (right end), Rogers (quarterback), Howell (left halfback), Gregory (right halfback), Graves (fullback). In the second week of play, the Tar Heels defeated the in-state rival North Carolina A&M 34–0. Against the Greensboro Athletic Association, UNC won 11–0 which was followed by a victory over Oak Ridge by a score of 11–0. Touchdowns were made by Bennett, Gregory, Copeland, Shull, and Howell in a 28–6 win over V. P. I.
After beating Davidson 11–0, UNC traveled to Macon, Georgia to take on Georgia. the Tar Heels blew out the Georgia Bulldogs 53–0. Tick Tichenor wrote "Such a crush defeat as Georgia sustained at the hands of North Carolina today is almost unparalleled in football". The starting lineup was Klotz (left end), Shull (left tackle), Cromartie (left guard), Cunningham (center), Phifer (right guard), Bennett (Right tackle), Gregoy (right end), Rodgers (quarterback), Austin (left halfback), McRae (right halfback), Graves (fullback). After defeating John Heisman's Auburn Tigers 29–0, UNC beat rival Virginia 6–2, its first win since the first year of the South's Oldest Rivalry. The safety was made just as time called, and Howell scored for UNC. In 1899, UNC played eleven games with a final record of 7–3–1. The team captain for the 1899 season was Samuel Shull. In 1900, Carolina played eight games with a final record of 4–1–3. The team captain for the 1900 season was Frank M. Osborne. From 1897 to 1900, Reynolds posted a 27–7–4 record before departing the Tar Heels to coach Georgia.
Herman Olcott was the head coach for the Tar Heels for two seasons, 1902 and 1903. He compiled an 11–4–3 record. In 1895 and from 1913 to 1915, the Tar Heels were coached by Thomas Trenchard, who posted a 26–9–2 record in those four seasons. His best season was a 10–1 1914 season. Brothers Bob and Bill Fetzer served as co-head coaches for the Tar Heels from 1921 to 1925, posting a 30–12–4 overall record. Bob would go on to serve as Carolina's first athletics director from 1923 to 1952. Chuck Collins served as head coach for the Tar Heels for eight seasons, the longest of any coach to that time in Tar Heel history. His record in Chapel Hill was 38–31–9, his best season being a 9–1 record in 1929, during which Carolina defeated Wake Forest, Maryland, Georgia Tech, VPI, NC State, South Carolina, Davidson, Virginia and Duke.
Carl Snavely, nicknamed "The Grey Fox" for his grey suits he would wear on game day, served two stints as the Tar Heels head football coach. He first came to Chapel Hill from Bucknell. He departed after the 1935 season to accept the head football coach position at Cornell but returned in 1945. Snavely then departed again after the 1952 season to accept the head football coach position at Washington University. His final record at UNC was 59–35–5 and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1965. A proponent of the single wing offense, Snavely's teams were known as some of the quickest in the south. His 1946 and 1948 teams reached the Sugar Bowl but lost, finishing ranked No. 9 and No. 3, respectively. Those teams posted 8–2–1 and 9–1 records, respectively. Snavely's 1949 team finished 7–4, lost the Cotton Bowl and ranked No. 16 in the final polls.
Raymond Wolf came to Carolina from his post as TCU defensive line coach. In 1936, the Tar Heels finished with an 8–2 record. Wolf's 1937 Tar Heels finished 7–1–1. The next year saw UNC finish 6–2–1. The Tar Heels would enjoy their best season under Wolf's tutelage in 1939, finishing 8–1–1. In 1940, the Tar Heels finished 6–4. The 1941 season saw Carolina finish 3–7, which would result in Wolf's dismissal. Wolf's overall record in the six seasons he was head coach was 38–17–3, with most of his success coming with players that Snavely recruited.
Jim Tatum served two stints as head football coach at his alma mater. He enlisted in the Navy for World War II and left the team but returned in 1956. His overall record at UNC is 19–17–3. George T. Barclay, another UNC alum, was promoted from assistant coach to head coach following Snavely's second departure. Barclay struggled as UNC's head football coach, posting an 11–18–1 record in his three seasons before resigning. The most notable part of Barclay's tenure is that the Tar Heels helped charter the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports in 1953. Tatum was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1984, primarily for his tenure as head football coach at Maryland. Tatum died unexpectedly in the summer of 1958 from a rickettsial disease.
Jim Hickey era (1959–1966)
Jim Hickey was promoted from assistant coach to head coach after Tatum's death. In Hickey's first season, the Tar Heels finished with a 5–5 record. The season began with a close loss to No. 18 Clemson and another loss to Notre Dame before Carolina defeated NC State and No. 19 South Carolina. After a loss to Maryland and Wake Forest, the Tar Heels lost to No. 20 Tennessee by a score of 29–7. Carolina then lost to Miami before shutting out both Virginia and Duke. In 1960, Carolina finished 3–7. The Tar Heels defeated Notre Dame, No. 6 Duke and Virginia and lost to NC State, Miami, Wake Forest, South Carolina, No. 11 Tennessee, Clemson and Maryland. Hickey's third season saw Carolina improve to 5–5. That year, Carolina faced two ranked teams, defeating No. 10 Maryland and losing to No. 4 LSU. In 1962, the Tar Heels finished 3–7.
Hickey’s most successful season came in 1963, when North Carolina posted a 9–2 record, captured a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with NC State—marking the program’s first ACC title—won the 1963 Gator Bowl, and finished ranked No. 19 in the final Coaches’ Poll. The Tar Heels opened the season with an 11–7 victory over rival Virginia on September 21. After suffering a 31–0 shutout loss to Michigan State, Carolina rebounded with five consecutive victories, including shutout wins over Wake Forest (21–0) and South Carolina (7–0), along with victories over Maryland (14–7), NC State (31–10), and Georgia (28–7). A five-game winning streak was halted on November 9 with an 11–7 loss to Clemson, but the Tar Heels closed the regular season with three straight wins over Miami (27–16), archrival Duke (16–14), and Air Force in the Gator Bowl, a 35–0 shutout victory.
Following the 1963 season, North Carolina regressed to a 5–5 record in 1964, followed by a 4–6 mark in 1965 and another losing season in 1966. Hickey departed Chapel Hill following the 1966 season to become athletic director at the University of Connecticut. Over eight seasons as head coach, he compiled a 36–45 record at North Carolina.
Bill Dooley era (1967–1977) Bill Dooley, brother of former Georgia head football coach Vince Dooley and uncle of former Louisiana Tech and Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley, came to North Carolina from his post as Offensive Coordinator at Georgia. Dooley enjoyed success at UNC, compiling a 69–53–2 record in 11 seasons. Six of those seasons were bowl appearances, five losses and one win.
In 1967, the Tar Heels struggled to a 2–8 record, with wins over Maryland and Duke. In 1968, Carolina showed a little improvement, finishing 3–7 with wins over Vanderbilt, No. 7 Florida, and Duke. In 1969, Carolina finished 5–5, their best season in five years.
Dooley’s 1970 team finished 8–4 and concluded the season with a loss to No. 8 Arizona State in the 1970 Peach Bowl. The Tar Heels improved in 1971, posting a 9–3 record that included a loss to No. 6 Georgia—coached by Dooley’s older brother—in the 1971 Gator Bowl (December). Altogether, the match was also called the "Dooley Bowl". The 1971 team finished the season ranked No. 18 in the Coaches’ Poll and captured its first outright Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship with a perfect 6–0 conference record.
The 1972 season marked the pinnacle of Dooley’s tenure at North Carolina. The Tar Heels finished 11–1, defeating Texas Tech in the 1972 Sun Bowl, and became the first team in school history to win 11 games in a single season. Dooley also became the only head coach in UNC football history to win back-to-back ACC championships. The Tar Heels finished the season ranked No. 14 in the Coaches’ Poll and No. 12 in the AP Poll.
North Carolina struggled in 1973, finishing 4–7 with wins over William & Mary, Kentucky, and Wake Forest. The Tar Heels rebounded in 1974 with a 7–5 record but lost to Mississippi State in the 1974 Sun Bowl. The 1975 season proved difficult, as North Carolina finished 3–7–1.