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John Bunting - Head Football Coach Article on his NFL career and coaching the Tar Heels Simply put, John Bunting beat the odds. Nearly 250 players, including 28 linebackers, were chosen in the 1972 NFL Draft before the Eagles selected the North Carolina linebacker in the 10th round. However, when the regular season kicked off in Dallas, Bunting was on head coach Ed Khayat's roster. "Back then, you couldn't watch football every day, they didn't have ESPN. So you didn't know much about any other team except your favorite teams," Bunting said. "You knew the Packers and who the Redskins were. I didn't know who the Eagles were. So it was a shock to get into the city of Philadelphia and see all the oil refineries and the fires. It just was a real shock to my system. "And then to go to mini-camp and see that they were four, five or six linebackers deep at each one of the positions, I didn't think I had much of a chance to make the team. But fortunately for me, I was in a position where a couple guys retired, a guy got hurt, another guy held out of camp, and all of a sudden, you're up there competing." Bunting faced tough odds again in '78, his seventh season with the Eagles -- and the first winning campaign he experienced -- when he went down during the sixth game of the year with a knee injury that required total reconstructive surgery. "It was a pretty upsetting time, believe me," said Bunting. "I knew that we were going to win that year. We were really on a roll and then went up to Foxboro and I blew my knee out sometime in the first or second quarter. And that was curtains for me. It was a 50/50 shot to ever play ball again because of the substantial damage to my knee." Two seasons later and physically at 100 percent after working closely with team trainers Otho Davis and Ron O'Neil, Bunting helped Philadelphia compile a 12-4 record and capture the NFC title. However, unfortunately for the Eagles, by falling to the Raiders in Super Bowl XV, the stellar season came to a close just shy of their goal. "The whole year was a magical year. We played with a great deal of confidence," Bunting said. "We felt we were going to win every game we played. When we went to play in the NFC Championship Game, we just knew we were going to beat the Cowboys. And, of course, the conclusion of the season wasn't fun. "There was some satisfaction, but at the same time, when you lose in that game (Super Bowl), particularly for some of the individuals that played -- it'd been so long to get there, you really know how special it is -- and had developed a deep appreciation for how hard it is to get there. So many things have to happen for that to happen. I don't care how good the Patriots are or how good the Eagles are now, it just doesn't happen year in and year out. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most of the people that are involved in the game of pro football." During his 11 seasons with the Eagles, Bunting was involved with the game on and off the field. As the team's union representative and member of the Players Association's executive committee, he played an integral role in the '82 NFL players strike. "I'm proud of what we did in 1982 in formation of what eventually becomes, I think, a real responsible relationship between players and management," said Bunting. "That strike, 57 days out, took a lot of courage by a lot of players. "I'm thrilled that the players are able to make the money that they are today. I'm not always thrilled about players moving from team to team. I wish there was a better way for the management to hang on to players that make up the bulk of their team as opposed to paying large numbers for big-name players. I wish they shared the money more with the guys that are the marginal or the second-tier players. "I wish there was a better way to handle that and I thought our percentage of the gross concept was a great way to do it, with the players having more involvement. I don't like the fact that sometimes players are cast aside because they've played too long and their cap number is too big. No system will be perfect, but at least the NFL has a system of managing a cap and managing players and very little stoppage in terms of games. I think that's significant in this day and age." These days, Bunting is still heavily involved with the game as the head coach at the University of North Carolina. His journey through the coaching ranks has seen him go from the college level: Glassboro State (now Rowan University) and Brown to the pros: Baltimore Stars (USFL), Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints. Each stop presented valuable experience and equally valuable advice. "From every coach you played for, you pick up things that you see as important and obviously were stressed as being important by those coaches," Bunting said. "They're important in the leadership that I try to provide here at Carolina. And, of course, getting to coach for Marty Schottenheimer and Dick Vermeil and Jimmy Haslett, and other great coaches, defensively and offensively. Being around professionals like that has really reinforced everything that I try to do. "This profession is extremely hard and it's not fair probably at least half the time as to what happens to coaches. But at the same time, it's a great profession, I think particularly at the college level when you can work with kids and see them grow." Bunting and his wife, Dawn, live in the Chapel Hill area and have two adult children: Kimberly, 35, and Brooks, 30. "Dawn is at the practice field every single day. She's a former (college basketball and softball) coach. I met her when I was coaching at Glassboro State," says Bunting. "She's a gal that's played basketball, softball and even put the pads on and played women's professional football in California. She was a running back, an outside linebacker and a punt returner. I guess it was an attraction." |
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