| Larry Fedora | |
|---|---|
| Sport(s) | Football |
| Current position | |
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | North Carolina |
| Conference | ACC |
| Record | 0–0 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | September 10, 1962 |
| Place of birth | College Station, Texas |
| Playing career | |
| 1981–1984 | Austin |
| Position(s) | Wide receiver |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1986 1987–1990 1991–1996 1997–1998 1999–2001 2002–2004 2005–2007 2008–2011 2012–present |
Austin (GA) Garland HS (TX) Baylor (WR/TE/RB) Air Force (QB/WR) Middle Tennessee (OC) Florida (OC) Oklahoma State (OC) Southern Miss North Carolina |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 34–19 (college) |
| Bowls | 2–2 |
| Statistics | |
| College Football Data Warehouse | |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1 C-USA (2011) 1 C-USA East Division (2011) |
|
Larry Fedora (born September 10, 1962) is an American football coach and former player, and is the departing head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi.[1] He has been hired to be the new head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a position he accepted in December 2011. After Southern Miss plays against Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve, he will begin his duties at UNC.
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Fedora played wide receiver at Austin College before starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant there in 1986. He spent four seasons as head coach at Garland High School, a powerhouse in Texas high school football, but then returned to the collegiate ranks, coaching tight ends, wide receivers and running backs for six seasons (1991–96) at Baylor. Fedora moved on to coach the passing game and receivers at United States Air Force Academy from 1997–98, before he became offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee State University in 1999. In 2002, he was hired by Ron Zook to join his coaching staff at the University of Florida. Fedora served as run game coordinator in 2002, perimeter game coordinator in 2003 and offensive coordinator in 2004. During those three seasons, Fedora also coached the running backs and receivers.
In 2005, Fedora joined Mike Gundy's staff at Oklahoma State. His brother, Lee Fedora, serves as head coach at Navasota High School in Navasota, Texas.
As one of the most prolific offensive strategists in college football and a proponent of the spread offense[1] Fedora drew several assistant coaching offers from top-tier schools including LSU and Alabama as well as some head coaching offers including Rice and Air Force.[2] Earning $393,000 a year at Oklahoma State, Fedora was one of the top paid offensive coordinators in the country. In November 2007, Fedora was rumored to be a candidate for the head coaching job at Baylor University, which eventually went to Art Briles.[3]
On December 11, 2007, Fedora was named the new head coach of Southern Miss, replacing outgoing Jeff Bower.[4] He signed a four-year contract with a $650,000 base salary, but incentives in the contract could bring the contract close to $900,000.[5]
He made a big splash in his first recruiting season, as Fedora was able to land five-star prospect DeAndre Brown, who had offers from several Southeastern Conference schools, such as LSU, Ole Miss, and Auburn. Southern Miss was generally regarded as having the best recruiting class of the mid-major schools.
Fedora opened his first season as head coach at Southern Miss with a 51–21 drubbing of Louisiana–Lafayette, in which the Golden Eagles broke the school record for total yards in a single game with 633.
Under Fedora, Southern Miss notched the four most prolific offensive seasons in its 100-year football history. His players also graduated at a higher rate than at any time in school history.[6]
In 2011, Fedora led his 24th-ranked Southern Mississippi team to winning the Conference USA championship by defeating then-No. 6 ranked and then-undefeated, Houston Cougars, two weeks after losing to perennial Conference USA doormat UAB.[7]
On December 7, 2011; ESPN's Joe Schad reported that Fedora accepted an offer to take the job at North Carolina, but still planned to coach the Golden Eagles in the 2011 Hawai'i Bowl.[8] His hiring was officially announced the next day.[9] '
He was formally introduced as UNC's 34th full-time head coach on December 9.[10] He promised to implement an aggressive, attacking philosophy on both sides of the ball, with the same wide-open spread offense he implemented at Southern Miss and a blitz-heavy defense. He summed up his philosophy with a quote from George S. Patton--"Instead of waiting to see what might develop, attack constantly, vigorously and viciously. Never let up, never stop, always attack."[11] Fedora was already a familiar face to recently hired UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who had arrived a few months earlier from Conference USA rival Tulsa.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Conference USA) (2008–2011) | |||||||||
| 2008 | Southern Miss | 7–6 | 4–4 | 3rd (East) | W New Orleans | ||||
| 2009 | Southern Miss | 7–6 | 5–3 | 3rd (East) | L New Orleans | ||||
| 2010 | Southern Miss | 8–5 | 5–3 | T–2nd (East) | L Beef 'O' Brady's | ||||
| 2011 | Southern Miss | 12–2 | 6–2 | 1st (East) | W Hawai'i | ||||
| Southern Miss: | 34–19 | 20–12 | |||||||
| North Carolina Tar Heels (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2012–present) | |||||||||
| 2012 | North Carolina | 0–0 | 0–0 | (Coastal) | |||||
| North Carolina: | 0–0 | 0–0 | |||||||
| Total: | 34–19 | ||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. |
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