July 29, 2011
Press Conference Photo Gallery
First Day Photo Gallery
By Lee Pace
Everett Withers was walking from the practice field through the dorms and the pine trees one April afternoon in 2008, back to the Tar Heels' locker room and his office in Kenan Stadium. The chimes of the Bell Tower struck six and resonated across central campus, which was dotted at the moment with flip-flops, Frisbees and frolic. Just another postcard spring afternoon in Chapel Hill.
"I pinch myself every day I come to work," said Withers, new to his job as the Tar Heels' defensive coordinator. "I look out my office window, into the stadium and see the helmet on the scoreboard at the far end. I always wanted to be here. It was a dream of mine. Now that I'm here, I want to do everything I can to help us be successful. I'm excited every day I come to work."
Multiply by infinity today.
Withers, a Charlotte schoolboy in the early 1980s deemed too slow to play for the Tar Heels, was introduced as Carolina's interim head coach Friday afternoon, replacing Butch Davis, who was dismissed Wednesday in the wake of NCAA and institution probes into improper benefits and academic fraud. From defensive back at Appalachian State to assistant coach at a half dozen stops to head football coach at Carolina--Withers' career reached quite the unexpected pinnacle this week.
"This is really surreal today," Withers said. "Really surreal.
Withers, the son of a postman and school teacher, played at West Charlotte High at the time Lawrence Taylor, Darrell Nicholson and Donnell Thompson were terrorizing Tar Heel opponents with their brand of smash-mouth defense. Bruce Hardin, one of the high school coaching legends in North Carolina, was the Lions' head coach at the time and remembers Withers for his attitude, brains and ability to take a pounding from his positions of defensive back and running back.
"Everett was a leader, a quiet leader," Hardin says. "Everyone liked him and respected him. He was a student of the game. And he was tough. I remember a big game at the end of the year when we were playing South Meck for the conference championship. We had bunch of injuries and both running backs were out. He played offense and defense and carried the ball 25 times.
"Everett knew we didn't have anyone else, that it fell on his shoulders that night. He was black and blue and could hardly move when it was over. But we won the game and won the conference title because of Everett. I call it `service leadership'--you lead not by being loud but by serving your teammates and setting an example."
Withers remembers during his senior year sitting in on a visit by Tar Heel assistant coach Mel Foels to one of his West Charlotte teammates, but he says his inclusion was nothing more than a courtesy by Foels. Withers got some serious recruiting interest from Duke, East Carolina and N.C. Central and in fact signed to play at NCCU until an unknown coach named Mack Brown got the ASU job and offered him a scholarship. Withers opted for Boone and later acknowledged a twinge of envy toward a Lions teammate who was a walk-on at Carolina.
"I truly wanted to be here in the worst way," Withers said. "But things have a way of working out for the best. I couldn't have had a better mentor for getting into the coaching business than Coach Brown. He was at Boone for only one year, but I learned the importance of organization and people skills. He set me on the right path of learning how to become a good football coach."
Withers even worked for Brown for three years at Texas. When word got out Thursday night that Withers had been named the new coach, his cell phone buzzed with a congratulatory text message from Brown.
"I think it's time," Withers said. "My wife and I were talking about it last week. We kind of had a timetable in place. I don't necessarily like it on these terms. But I'm excited."
Tar Heel Athletic Director Dick Baddour acknowledged in introducing Withers at a Friday press conference that the new coach has a "very, very difficult task." You think? A splintered fan base ... multiple whippings in the media and incessant lambasting by opposition recruiters ... players and assistant coaches blindsided just over a week before August training camp opens ... an impending date with the NCAA in late October.
But Withers' words, composure, confidence and body language on Friday provided much needed salve to a program billeted from all directions.
"Hiring Everett was an outstanding move by the University," said offensive line coach Sam Pittman. "He's the guy that can lead this football team."
Pittman acknowledged he had interviewed for the job himself and was disappointed when he didn't get it.
"That lasted about five minutes," he said. "Then Everett called, we talked and I'm ready to go."
Pittman nodded toward the just-vacated podium where Withers had worked from for half an hour.
"He was impressive, it sounded like he'd been preparing for this for a while, because he was awfully good up there."
"I think Everett's an outstanding man as far as caring for young people," running back Kenny Browning added. "His success as a coach speaks for itself. I think he's a motivator. I think he communicates well with players. Our first staff meeting today was to the point, he said exactly what needed to be said. He's got us in position to move on. Everyone is ready to do that."
Withers said he was reeling with various emotions: excitement, anxiousness to get started, sadness for the dismissal of his friend and ex-boss Davis. He said he had spoken personally with 35 to 40 players and, to a man, they were ready to get on with football and dispense with the drama. He said there would be no major schematic changes on offense or defense, that John Shoop was a talented offensive coordinator and Art Kaufman would now adroitly handle the defense as the new coordinator.
"I'm going to get out of the way and let them coach," he said.
Withers spent considerable time addressing the kinds of problems that had fractured the program over the last year. He mentioned more than once the total "student-athlete" concept and that the ideal would not get short shrift in his administration. He talked of "building bridges" and "reaching out" to the faculty. An inquisitor mentioned the transgressions that led to nine NCAA alleged violations and wondered how things "had gotten away" from Davis and his staff.
"I don't know if it's `gotten away,'" Withers answered. "There have been instances, there have been things that have happened. I think what we've got to do is just go back to doing what we do with our own kids. We have to teach our kids right from wrong and hope and pray they take our leadership. That's what we have to continue to do. That's our No. 1 objective, getting our football family back together so we can be a first-class, talented, hard-playing football team."
Withers has seen Carolina football when it's made its periodic ascendancies into the nation's Top 10--back in the early 1980s when he was a Tar Heel wannabe; in 1996 when he was a defensive assistant at Louisville and lost in Kenan Stadium to the nation's No. 1 defense; and just last year then Tar Heels could have contended for a conference title if not stripped of 13 players in game one and three for the entire season. No one has ever argued that Carolina cannot be good; it's being good consistently that has driven otherwise reasonable men to rubber rooms.
"The resources are here, there's a recruiting base here," Withers said. "With these assistant coaches recruiting and coaching and being outstanding role models, there are a lot of things in place with this program. Yes, this program can be good for a long time."
It goes without saying that Withers would like to be the architect of that long-term success--in 2011 and beyond.
"I can tell you this: We will not flinch as staff or a team," he said. "We've been through an awful lot already and nothing can come at us now that will bother us. We will play hard, we'll play with class. We'll make the lettermen proud, and we'll make the Carolina family proud."
After Withers had left the room, tight ends coach Allen Mogridge was among the assistants who lingered to discuss the recent events and the coming season. He was caught in the jaws of a coaching transition once as a player himself--back in 1997 when Brown left Chapel Hill for Texas. Once the emotions wane, in that case or this one, it's time to move on.
"I pray that the fans will be here for these kids," Mogridge said. "I cannot stress enough these kids in this locker room, these kids, they need the Carolina family now. Now. Not in a minute. They need them yesterday.
"The circumstances are the circumstances. They're not ideal. But I know this: I'm in. All in. Let's go."
Lee Pace writes "Extra Points" throughout the football season and has been doing so for 21 years. He has attended introductory press conferences for Dick Crum, Mack Brown, Carl Torbush, John Bunting, Butch Davis and Everett Withers. You can reach him at leepace7@gmail.com
