Way-too-early look: North Carolina Tar Heels

With the football season less than 60 days from opening, we take an early look at each of the Tigers' 12 opponents for the 2019 season. Next up, Clemson's Week 5 opponent, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

With the football season less than 60 days from opening, we take an early look at each of the Tigers' 12 opponents for the 2019 season. Next up, Clemson's Week 5 opponent, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Head coach: Mack Brown, who propelled the University of North Carolina's football program to the top 10 and the University of Texas to a national championship, is returning to Chapel Hill with the goal of leading another Tar Heel resurgence.

Brown won more college football games than any coach in the nation during a 24-year period from 1990-2013.

He was previously the head coach of the Tar Heels from 1988-1997. He led Carolina to three 10-win seasons, six consecutive bowl games and two top-10 AP finishes. At Texas, the Longhorns won the 2005 BCS national title, two conference titles and four Big 12 South Division titles.

The Tar Heels went 69-46-1, posted winning records in each of his final eight seasons and finished in the AP top 25 four times. The 1996 team went 10-2, beat West Virginia in the Gator Bowl and finished No. 10 in the AP poll. A year later, UNC was 10-1 in the regular season and was No. 4 in the final coaches' poll and No. 6 in the AP poll.

Tar Heels on offense: The job of orchestrating the Tar Heel offense will fall on Phil Longo.

Longo, a 29-year coaching veteran, joined the North Carolina football staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. 

Longo joined Mack Brown’s staff following a two-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. During his last 10 seasons as an offensive coordinator, Longo has helped produce an 88-38 (.698) record, won six conference championships and made six playoff appearances.

Longo is seen around the nation as one of the top offensive coaches in college football with 23 years of experience running his offense. Longo engineered two successful seasons at Ole Miss, producing top-20 units both years. In 2018, his offense ranked seventh nationally in yards per play (7.1), ninth in total offense (510.5 yards per game), fifth in passing offense (346.4), 25th in red zone offense (88.9) and 33rd in scoring offense (33.9). 

The Rebels finished the year sixth on the SEC’s all-time list for passing yards per game and were first in the nation in first down production.

The Tar Heels on defense: The task of rebuilding the Tar Heel's defense will fall on a pair of co-coordinators — Jay Bateman and Tommy Thigpen.

Bateman joined the North Carolina football staff as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach following a five-year stint as Army’s defensive coordinator (2014-18).

Bateman’s tenure at Army coincided with a resurgence for the Black Knights. Army won 29 games, including three bowl games, over his last three seasons, which included two Top-10 finishes in total defense.
In 2018, Army finished eighth nationally in total defense (295.5 ypg) and 10th in scoring defense (17.7 points per game), while posting the program’s first 11-win season. The Black Knights finished the season ranked 19th in the AP Poll and 20th in the Coaches Poll. Bateman was named one of five finalists for the 2018 Broyles Award, which goes to the nation's top assistant coach. 

Thigpen, a three-time All-ACC linebacker under Brown, served as a graduate assistant in 1998-99 and coached the UNC linebackers for four seasons under John Bunting and Butch Davis before spending four seasons at Auburn, where he helped the Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2010. 

Thigpen will also serve as the Tar Heels' safeties coach along with Bateman.

The Early Line: The Tar Heels expect to be able to compete with the Tigers, according to Brown.

"We’re going to believe in our team," Brown said. "We’re going to be disciplined. We’re going to play hard every week, and we plan on winning every game."

However, Las Vegas is not quite as bullish on the Tar Heels' chances, as they are currently 28-point favorites.