THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608211223
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL, N.C. LENGTH: 76 lines
Ken Mack believes that change is good, which he says explains why he is now coaching running backs at the University of North Carolina instead of Virginia.
``Sometimes you need to move on and learn new things,'' said Mack, who had been an assistant to George Welsh, first at Navy and then Virginia, since 1981.
``I enjoyed Virginia and working for coach Welsh, so I wouldn't have gone just any place. This was my alma mater, so I was interested.''
Mack, a native of Mt. Olive, N.C., graduated from UNC in 1979. ``When I was here as a player, it was fun,'' he said. ``This time, there is a lot more pressure involved.''
But for one who is a believer in change, this certainly is the right place and the right time for Mack.
Change is everywhere you look around the football program.
Tuesday afternoon, bulldozers and steam shovels were taking huge bites out of the area just beyond the west end zone in Kenan Stadium, making way for a new athletic building and 6,000-seat addition scheduled for completion in 1997.
More changes are noticeable on the practice field, where coach Mack Brown is preparing the Tar Heels for their Aug. 31 opener against ACC rival Clemson.
In addition to Mack, Brown has hired a new offensive coordinator, Greg Davis, who was at Georgia last year. Davis' assignment is to bring UNC into the 1990s offensively.
The Tar Heels, who have produced more 1,000-yard running backs than any other college, no longer will be known as Tailback U. The new offense, Brown says, resembles that of the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. Look closely, and you also notice that it looks a lot like Virginia's, too.
``North Carolina has never had a starting quarterback in the NFL,'' Brown said, ``so it has been difficult for us to recruit great quarterbacks who had a dream of playing in the pros.''
The Tar Heels have had the reputation of being an option team, and Brown said other coaches used that against him in recruiting.
``They would tell quarterback prospects that if they came to Carolina they would be running the option and taking a lot of hits and probably would not stay healthy for four years,'' Brown said.
In truth, Brown said UNC has not run the option in recent years as much as most people believe. But it did take a toll on his quarterbacks, keeping them bruised and tired.
``The new offense is going to take a lot of pressure off our quarterback,'' Brown said.
``We are going to have new formations, motions, shifting, and passing game. But, with Leon Johnson back at tailback, we are going to run the ball a lot, too.''
The task now for Brown is to determine a starting quarterback. He has to decide between sophomore Oscar Davenport and Chris Keldorf, a junior college transfer from California.
``They are very close, but Keldorf has a slight lead after our last scrimmage,'' Brown said. ``If he does as well in our next scrimmage, we could go ahead and name him as the starter.''
Keldorf is in the mold of a classic dropback passer and has impressive credentials. He is 6-foot-5, and completed 264 of 461 passes for 3,037 yards and 30 touchdowns last year at Palomar Junior College.
Keldorf is only the second transfer that Brown has brought in during his nine seasons. Brown said he felt the move was necessary since Davenport injured his knee last season and there was no guarantee he would be ready to play this year.
``All of our other quarterbacks were young and inexperienced,'' Brown said. ``We felt we had to bring in someone to fill the void.''
The Tar Heels face an enormously difficult early schedule. Games against Syracuse, Georgia Tech, and Florida State follow the Clemson opener.
Carolina fans, who have bought up all 28,000 season tickets, are confident it will be a great year.
If the Heels slip against Clemson, though, most of them will leave Kenan Stadium talking hoops.
Some things never change around here. MEMO: Coming Thursday: The University of Maryland. by CNB