The 2007 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

as a member of Coastal Division of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) during the

2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 30, 2007, and ended on D ...

. Led by first-year head coach

Butch Davis Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Florida International University. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he became an assistant coll ...

, the Tar Heels played their home games at

Kenan Memorial Stadium Kenan Stadium (formerly Kenan Memorial Stadium) is a college football stadium located on Stadium Drive in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Opened in 1927, it is home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's (UNC) football team, which comp ...

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

. North Carolina finished the season 4–8 overall and 3–5 in ACC play to place fourth in the Coastal Division.

Preseason

Immediately after Bunting's firing on October 22, 2006 there was much speculation over who North Carolina would name their new football coach. Rumors immediately started to circulate that former head coach of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

, was interested in the position." Athletic director Dick Baddour confirmed the accuracy of the rumors when he announced on November 13, 2006, that Butch Davis had agreed to become the new head football coach." Soon after his hiring, Butch Davis began to assemble his coaching staff. He was able to lure offensive coordinator

John Shoop John Shoop (born August 1, 1969) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head coach of the Nordic Storm in the European League of Football (ELF). He played college football at Sewanee. He has coached in the Nat ...

and defensive coordinator

Chuck Pagano Charles David Pagano (born October 2, 1960) is an American football coach who is currently a senior secondary coach for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 ...

from the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), and defensive line coach John Blake from

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. Blake is regarded by many to be one of the best recruiters in all of college football." As of March 2007 many publications began releasing preseason rankings for the upcoming football season. Although UNC still ranked in the lower tier of the Atlantic Coast Conference, many publications were impressed with the Tar Heels' hiring of Butch Davis and their top ranked recruiting class."

Recruiting

The Tar Heels received 20 letters of intent on

National Signing Day National Signing Day has traditionally been the first day that a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for a collegiate sport with a school that is a Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

, February 7, 2007. Three student athletes had already enrolled before National Signing Day making this class relatively large with 23 commitments.

Coaching staff

Schedule

Team statistics

References

{{North Carolina Tar Heels football navbox

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

North Carolina Tar Heels football seasons

North Carolina Tar Heels football The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the sport of American football or gridiron football. The Tar Heels play in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subd ...