CHAPEL HILL -- Larry Fedora had never been to Chapel Hill before, had never seen the University of North Carolina campus. When he rode around town on Wednesday, though, and saw the campus for the first time, he had already agreed to become the Tar Heels' new head football coach.
Fedora didn't receive a walking tour on Wednesday. There was no opportunity for him to step through the gates of Kenan Stadium, or to see first-hand the Tar Heels' locker room or weight room or any of the other things that he expects to show recruits in the years to come.
Instead, Fedora viewed what will become his new surroundings through a window while he rode by them.
"He didn't get out of the car because there was enough speculation at that point that we didn't want to do that," said Holden Thorp, the UNC Chancellor. "But he did get to see the campus and see the facility from the outside."
Thorp and UNC formally introduced Fedora as the Tar Heels' new coach on Friday. The introductory press conference, where people gathered to celebrate Fedora's arrival and welcome him, signified the formal end of a coaching search that will be remembered for its smoothness and speed.
One week ago today, Fedora was less than 24 hours removed from coaching Southern Miss to a 49-28 victory at Houston in the Conference USA championship game. Six days later, on Friday, he was standing behind a podium at the Loudermilk Center, before him a wall of cameras.
"Today is the first day of a new era of UNC football," Fedora said.
After his press conference ended, between interviews and meetings, Fedora attempted to describe what his life had been like recently. In a span of six days, he had led his team to a conference championship, flown to New York, interviewed for a job, received an offer, accepted it, agreed on terms, flown to Raleigh, met with Thorp and others, toured UNC's campus, flown to Hattiesburg, Miss., and then back to North Carolina.
"It went very fast," Fedora said. "In fact it's very hard for me to tell you a timeline. It was hours, minutes, flying by."
He said there hadn't been much sleep.
Fishing for candidates
Fedora's hiring represented the end of a coaching search that began Oct. 16, two days after UNC hired Bubba Cunningham to replace Dick Baddour as the university's athletic director. Cunningham said Friday he first met with Everett Withers, the Tar Heels' interim football coach, on Oct. 16. They talked about where things stood and where they might go.
Then Cunningham formed a team to assist him in the search. The team included John Montgomery, the executive director of the Rams Club; Larry Gallo, a senior associate athletic director; Martina Ballen, the athletic department's chief financial officer; Clint Gwaltney, an associate athletic director; and Rick Steinbacher, an associate athletic director for marketing.
To help guide Cunningham and the search team he assembled, UNC also hired Carr Sports Associates, Inc., a consulting and search firm that assists universities through coaching searches. Carr Sports is run by Bill Carr, who served as an athletic director at Houston and Florida.
Cunningham said he and his team began the search with a list of about 75 names.
"We did research on an awful lot (of names)," Cunningham said. "And as a group, (we) just discussed - what do you think about this person or that person? And for various reasons, just tried to narrow the list."
That process lasted several weeks, and the list grew narrower while the college football season became shorter. In the meantime, Cunningham said he and other UNC officials, as well as members of Carr's search firm, spoke to "a lot of people."
"And sometimes you're fishing a little bit," Cunningham said. "(Saying), 'Hey - do you want to recommend somebody?' Hoping in the conversation they might say, 'I'm interested.'"
Off and running
Drawing interest wasn't a problem, Cunningham said, and by the time college football's regular season ended he had a firm grasp of the direction of the search. By then, Fedora had already been recommended.
One of the strongest recommendations might have come from Grant Teaff, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. Teaff was the head coach at Baylor in 1990 when he gave Fedora his first Division I college coaching job. When the UNC position came open, Teaff thought of one name.
"Knowing Larry's background as a coach and as a husband and as a father, as a leader, he just to me seemed to be the right person for the job," Teaff said.
He said he told the same things to Carr, who worked as an intermediary for Cunningham and UNC.
Before the interview process, Cunningham knew Fedora casually but not well. Their paths had crossed at rival schools in Conference USA - Cunningham at Tulsa, where he was the athletic director from 2005 until arriving at UNC; and Fedora at Southern Miss, where he arrived to coach the Golden Eagles before the 2008 season.
Cunningham said he and Fedora clicked immediately.
"(I) really became engaged with him and on the same page very quickly," Cunningham said.
Many meetings
The interview that won Fedora the job took place in New York City. Fedora flew there early last Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after coaching the Golden Eagles to the conference title. After that game, he flew back to Mississippi, celebrated with his players and his staff, and then boarded a plane the next morning.
Fedora flew to New York in part to attend the National Football Foundation's annual awards dinner and banquet, an event that draws coaches, athletic directors and administrators from all over the country. Cunningham was there, too, and the two met Monday morning in a New York City hotel.
The interview went so well that by Tuesday, Fedora already had an offer. All that needed to be worked out, by then, were the terms of the contract. On Wednesday, Cunningham returned to Chapel Hill. He brought company.
Fedora met that day with Thorp in a meeting at Thorp's house. Wade Hargrove, the chairman of UNC's board of trustees, attended that meeting. So, too, did Lowry Caudill, another UNC trustee.
Thorp and Hargrove said they saw in Fedora what Cunningham saw: the man to lead the UNC football program.
"Everything that we have learned about coach Fedora is very reassuring," Hargrove said. "He's incredibly competitive. I think he will be able to attract terrific kids. I think he'll be able to motivate his players. And he seems to be committed to winning and winning within the rules."
The finish line
Another meeting came after Fedora met with Thorp and the trustees. This one involved lawyers. Ones representing Fedora and others representing UNC met and finalized the terms of Fedora's contract.
"By, I don't know, 9:30 on Wednesday night - maybe a little earlier - we had all that done," Thorp said.
In the meantime, Fedora had time - not too much, but enough of it - to ride around the UNC campus. Montgomery, the Rams Club director, drove. The tour ended, and Fedora flew back to Hattiesburg, Miss.
By the time Fedora returned, the UNC Board of Governors and the university's trustees had formally approved his contract - a 7-year deal that will pay him $1.73 million annually. That approval made Fedora's hiring official.
Hours after that final trustees' meeting, Fedora walked into the Loudermilk Center with his family by his side. He rose from his seat and stood behind a podium and had to wait a moment for the applause to quiet down. Then, he could speak his first words as UNC's new football coach.
