I’m going to jump right to a conclusion and say that North Carolina found the right guy to lead its football program.

You might remember that John Bunting and Butch Davis were not among my 10,000 favorite football coaches.

Me liking Larry Fedora has nothing to do with his name ending in a vowel, but he does look like somebody who belongs in the original Ocean’s Eleven.

Surely, he has to be labeled with a nickname. The only one it could be is, “The Hat.”

It’s not as rhythmic as Harry “The Hat” Walker, the former St. Louis Cardinals great and a friend of mine in Birmingham, Ala., but Larry “The Hat” is close enough.

Fedora is not Italian for hat, although Frank Sinatra sure looked good in one.

I was quite pleased with Baylor’s Robert Griffin III winning the Heisman Trophy over Andrew Luck and Trent Richardson. That’s the exact order I would have filled out in my ballot. You don’t get votes for it or maybe you do, but Griffin was the best speaker and had the best persona.

Phil Taylor’s excellent column in the latest Sports Illustrated echoes one of my sentiments on the Heisman.

Because Taylor is one of 926 people to vote for the Heisman Trophy “that means (he bears) roughly one tenth of 1% of the responsibility for deciding who will be called to the podium in New York City when the results are announced this (past) Saturday. So, yeah, I’m kind of a big deal.”

I met plenty of superb individuals as a TV broadcaster. One of my favorites was former Alabama star wide receiver Joey Jones, who is the head coach at the University of South Alabama.

Jones is 23-4 in four seasons at USA including a 35-13 loss to N.C. State back in September.

Following this season, he received the award with the longest name in college football – The College Sports Madness NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Independent Coach of the Year.

I would say that the chances he will someday return to Alabama as head coach are around 75 to 80 percent.

Despite the success Nick Saban has enjoyed in Tuscaloosa, they still love Bear’s Boys.

My darling daughter Samantha provides me with a subscription to The New Yorker. The magazine’s book and movie reviews compare favorably to the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

They are my favorite sections of all three publications.

In its December 12 edition, is a six-page story on ESPN’s Jon Gruden, superbly written by Kelefa Sanneh.

If you love the NFL or like Gruden, I strongly recommend reading Sanneh’s opus.

I predict it will make its way into the 2012 edition of Best American Sports Writing.

Grillo