Tar Heel fan has has an excellent take on the Herald-Sun's Frank Beamer article. (Dodge the registration with BugMeNot. Love that first login name.) I don't think any UNC fan is particularly perturbed by Beamer's dismissal of the UNC job seven years ago. At the time, I was hanging around a forum heavy on Hokie fans and almost devoid of UNC folks. The general consensus was Beamer wasn't going to UNC, and so it wasn't really a surprise when that turned out to be the case. The only person spurned was Dick Baddour, and he's probably got enough on his plate without dwelling on that.

And of course, the article tossed out the same, tired "Football coaches could never coach at a basketball school" argument that always annoys, but that's to be expected. The question that leaps to my mind is, would Beamer had succeeded at UNC?

Figure that Virginia Tech would have done the standard thing when replacing a successful (or even unsuccessful on occasion) coach and hired from within. The odds-on favorite there is Bud Foster, so most of the defensive staff stays, cutting into the recruiting advantage and a good deal of the coaching prowess. The first season goes well, what with Curry and Peppers still on the team. After that, you have to pretty much rebuild the team from scratch.

Frnk Beamer hasn't had to start over since when, 1987? And this time around, he'd have to do so under tougher competition than the late-80's independent scene. Recruiting would be better than under Bunting, and less players would have kicked off the team for infractions - Beamer seems to be much more lenient on those regards - which may have allowed for a quicker turn around. But the NCAA is littered with coaches who learned that past success does not prevent future failure.

I somehow don't see a Beamer-led Tar Heel team vying for a national championship in 2007. Would he have done better than Bunting? Almost certainly. He'd still have the job. Or the fanbase could be grumbling after years of at or near .500 without much signs of improvement. I don't know. I don't care. Tech will probably beat up on the Heels again in Blacksburg tomorrow, but I'm quite happy with our coaching choces at the moment, and am more than willing to wait things out.