CHAPEL HILL -- Only one face is different, the man with the whistle, interim coach Everett Withers. Butch Davis is gone, and nothing is going to change that for North Carolina.
But, with or without Davis, what has actually changed for the Tar Heels?
Davis' departure certainly will put a crimp in recruiting, fund-raising, long-term planning and all the other macro areas a head coach oversees. It will put a strain on the defense, as Withers' attentions move to other areas and staff responsibilities are reshuffled.
As far as this season goes, though, all the players are still here. The rest of the coaches are still here. The head coach might have changed, but the goals and expectations for this team haven't.
"Not one bit," Withers said Friday after North Carolina's first practice. "It's just another guy standing up there in front of them in a team meeting. The goals are clear. We want to play and win as many games as we can, and play in a bowl game. That's what we want to do."
Withers' message to the team Thursday night was even more pointed, junior guard Jonathan Cooper said, emphasizing the importance of picking up where North Carolina left off before Davis was fired last week.
"We still have all the pieces we had before," Cooper said Withers told the team. "Yes, we're going to miss coach Davis, but we still have the players, the rest of the coaching staff, the scheme, so we're pretty much ready to move forward."
Cooper said the players in the room were in agreement, and for good reason. Withers was right: There are a lot of pieces in place.
The quarterback so many fans hoped would start ahead of T.J. Yates last season, Bryn Renner, is back - and looked as good as a quarterback can look in the first 30 minutes of the first practice. Renner might be inexperienced, but he's talented, and the Tar Heels are in the same situation as just about every other team in the ACC at that position.
The offense has plenty of skill players and both lines are experienced. The secondary needs work, but few teams could lose Quan Sturdivant and Bruce Carter and still feel pretty good about their linebackers.
The Tar Heels also should feel pretty good about their schedule, which sees them host Rutgers and Louisville while avoiding Florida State. They go to Virginia Tech on a Thursday night, where they won two years ago under similar conditions.
Maybe the loss of a head coach is enough of a distraction to cost the Tar Heels a win or two, and the NCAA investigation will continue to hang over the team until at least November, but the schedule is ripe for nine wins, maybe even 10.
"The same coaches are coaching us, there's just one guy missing," senior safety Matt Merletti said. "We have the same goals. We want to win an ACC championship, and that's not going to change."
There still is a big void other than Davis. Last year's team was epitomized by a group of veteran leaders that pulled the team through unprecedented turmoil, most notably Yates. All those guys are gone. New leaders have yet to emerge. They better, or the Tar Heels will be in trouble.
The raw material is still there, whether Davis is or not. How well it comes together will be the biggest challenge amid all the turmoil.
