066: Uncoordinated

A look at Carolina's defense since 2012 under the different defensive coordinators.

Since 2012, North Carolina football has won 83 of 153 games or about 54 percent of the games its played.

This stretch is under two head coaches, Larry Fedora and Mack Brown, and several defensive coordinators. By my count using the school’s official website, there are six different defensive coordinators since 2012.

• Dan Disch and Ron West¹ (co-coordinators from 2012-2014)

• Gene Chizik 1.0 (2015-16)

• John Papuchis (2017-2018)

• Jay Bateman (2019-2021)

• Gene Chizik 2.0 (2022-23)

A useful way to measure the performance of a defense is by its scoring efficiency or points per drive. Brian Fremeau provides an invaluable resource - bcftoys.com - that measures drive efficiency for games between two FBS opponents.

Here is how Carolina’s defense has fared under these different coordinators:

The average ranking is 76.8 across all FBS defenses and the median ranking is 81. Both these rankings are below average given the 130-ish teams in FBS each season during this span.

The best defense by ranking during this time period came in 2013. UNC allowed 1.36 points per drive against FBS opponents².

The worst defense was the following season in 2014 when Carolina gave up 3.08 points per drive, good for 124th amongst all FBS teams³.

There was tons of lowlights during this span that include:

• Georgia Tech scoring 5.17 points per drive in a 68-50 loss in 2012

• Florida State scoring 5.00 points per drive in a 35-25 loss in 2021 when Carolina was a double-digit home favorite

• Appalachian State scoring 4.90 points per drive, including 40 points in the fourth quarter, in a 63-61 win in Boone in 2022

The average FBS ranking by coordinator:

Avg DPD by coordinator
Disch/West...74
Chizik 1.0...57
Papuchis.....80
Bateman......76
Chizik 2.0...98

Whether you think North Carolina is an unserious program or not, it’s been a long time since Carolina had a sustainable competent defense.

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1. Vic Koenning was the associate head coach for defense, not listed as the actual coordinator. It probably makes sense to lump all three of these coaches together, but short of listing the entire defensive staff each season, I settled on Disch and West.

2. This includes the 55-31 beating from East Carolina. It helped that Carolina held four other opponents under 20 points in a game - NC State, Virginia, Boston College, and Cincinnati - that season.

3. This includes when East Carolina and Shane Carden hung 70 on Carolina in Greenville. 70 points!