By R.L. Bynum
The long-running tradition of a weekly Tar Heel Sports Network radio show for football and men’s basketball — typically featuring the head coach and carrying his name — will change this season.
Voice of the Tar Heels Jones Angell will once again host the football program, which returns to the Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery in downtown Chapel Hill. But this year, the show will be rebranded as “Carolina Football Live” and will include regular appearances by General Manager Mike Lombardi and others.
Coach Bill Belichick, entering his first season at UNC, will appear on the first half of the season’s debut episode on Wednesday, Aug. 29, with Lombardi coming on for the second half.
“Our goal is to talk about the week-to-week, but also have different perspectives, different people, different stories, different voices on the show,” Angell said on Friday’s episode of the “Carolina Insider” podcast. “There is the potential that Coach Belichick will join us as well throughout the year at different times. I would not expect that every single week. This is a new experience for this particular staff. It’s a very college thing compared to a professional thing.”
Lombardi has been a podcast host and host for XM Radio shows, and has made frequent appearances on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“We’re going to have multiple people join us,” Angell said. “We expect to have assistant coaches. We expect to have players. We’re hoping to [Deputy Athletic Director/Chief Revenue Officer] Rick Barakat join us on that first show as well to talk about gameday stuff.”
The basketball show has had the coach in the name for years, with “Roy Williams Live” and now “Hubert Davis Live.” During Mack Brown’s second stint at UNC, the football show was called “Mack Brown Live.”
Assistant coaches sometimes substituted for Williams or Davis but they generally appeared nearly every week.
As in previous seasons, the hourlong program will stream live on GoHeels.com and air on the Tar Heel Sports Network. After the Aug. 29 premiere, “Carolina Football Live” will shift to its regular Monday slot beginning Sept. 8. There will be no shows on Sept. 22 and Oct. 6, coinciding with the Tar Heels’ open dates. The season will wrap up on Nov. 24, ahead of the rivalry matchup with N.C. State.
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