North Carolina's first bowl game was in 1947, when head coach
Carl Snavely led them to the
Sugar Bowl, where they lost to
Georgia 20–10.[2] Snavely led the Tar Heels to another Sugar Bowl and one Cotton Bowl, which both resulted in losses for the Tar Heels.[2] Taking over for Snavely following the 1952 season was
George Barclay, who did not lead the Tar Heels to any bowl games during his three-season tenure.[4] Barclay's successor,
Jim Tatum, coached for three years without reaching a bowl game.[4]Jim Hickey replaced Tatum after the 1958 season and coached North Carolina to one bowl game, the 1963 Gator Bowl, where they won their first bowl game in program history.[4][5]
Bill Dooley succeeded Hickey as head coach and led the Tar Heels to six bowl games through his eleven-season run as head coach.[6] Of the six bowls Dooley led North Carolina to, they won only one, the 1972 Sun Bowl.[6]Dick Crum took over as head coach before the 1978 season. Crum led the Tar Heels to four consecutive bowl victories before losing the final two of his tenure at Carolina.[7] Crum handed over control of the program to
Mack Brown after the 1987 season.[8][9] Brown assisted the Tar Heels into making a bowl game in six straight seasons; however, before the
1998 Gator Bowl, Brown accepted the head coaching position at the
University of Texas at Austin and was subsequently barred from coaching in the bowl game.[9] Defensive coordinator
Carl Torbush was promoted to head coach.[9][10] Torbush led the Tar Heels to two bowl victories – the 1998 Gator Bowl and the
1998 Las Vegas Bowl – before being let go after the 2000 season.[11][12]
North Carolina alum
John Bunting was hired as coach before the 2001 season.[13][14] Bunting led the Tar Heels to a
16–10 Peach Bowl victory in his inaugural season,[15] and later to the
2004 Continental Tire Bowl, where they lost to
Boston College.[16] Bunting was dismissed after the 2006 season.[17] North Carolina's then Athletic Director, Dick Baddour, subsequently hired
Butch Davis to be the coach of the Tar Heels.[18] Davis brought the Tar Heels to three bowl games before being fired in the midst of an NCAA investigation into the North Carolina football program.[19]Everett Withers took over the program as the interim head coach for the 2011 season.[20] Withers helped the Tar Heels become bowl-eligible and participate in the
2011 Independence Bowl, where they lost by seventeen points to the
Missouri Tigers.[21]Larry Fedora, coming off of a
successful season as the head coach for the
Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team, was hired to be the next head coach for the Tar Heels.[22] After obtaining a bowl eligible record but not being able to play in the postseason due to self-imposed sanctions in his first year, Fedora led North Carolina to a victory in the
Belk Bowl over
Cincinnati in his second season.[23]
Key
General
†
Bowl game record attendance
‡
Former bowl game record attendance
Results
W
Win
L
Loss
Bowl games
List of bowl games showing bowl played in, score, date, season, opponent, stadium, location, attendance and head coach[A 1]
^Results are sortable first by whether the result was a North Carolina win, loss or tie and then second by the
margin of victory.
^Links to the season article for the North Carolina team that competed in the bowl for that year.
^Links to the season article for the opponent that North Carolina competed against in the bowl for that year when available or to their general page when unavailable.
References
General
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
"Bowl/All-Star Game Records"(PDF). 2013 NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA.org.
Archived(PDF) from the original on July 22, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
"History"(PDF). 2009 North Carolina Tar Heels Football Media Guide. University of North Carolina.
Archived(PDF) from the original on May 23, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
^
abcUNC Athletic Communications Office.
"Record Book". Carolina 2011 Tar Heel Football. University Directories. p. 140.
Archived from the original on July 22, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2013.