North Carolina appears to be standing at a crossroads.

Its 11-win, Coastal Division championship season in 2015 was hailed as the moment when untapped potential had finally been realized. How did the Tar Heels follow that up? With a disappointing 8-5 season, one that featured losses to Duke and NC State despite having the potential No. 1 overall draft pick in the NFL in Mitch Trubisky and several other draft prospects on both offense and defense.

So which direction is North Carolina heading? Andrea Adelson and Jared Shanker have differing opinions.

Adelson: Headed into 2017, there are even more questions surrounding the program given the uncertainty at several key positions, and yet another NCAA investigation into academic fraud that remains unresolved. That breakthrough two years ago may very well be a blip. North Carolina has had back-to-back double-digit win seasons just once since 1982.

Since the ACC expanded in 2004, North Carolina has averaged 6.8 wins per season. Despite its many resources, North Carolina has been unable to put together a consistent football product and that has frustrated many, leading to the idea that this program cannot find a way to meet expectations.

On paper, North Carolina should be consistently good every single season. When the Tar Heels are not, that just becomes par for the course.

What is interesting here is that 2015 could have been used as a springboard to turn the tide, but it was yet another missed opportunity. Many programs see a recruiting bump after a breakthrough season. North Carolina finished 2016 ranked No. 34 nationally -- behind the likes of Duke, Arizona State, Mississippi State and Houston.

With a week to go before national signing day, North Carolina stands at No. 24 nationally -- behind Colorado and Maryland. Coach Larry Fedora has repeatedly discussed his frustrations with the lingering NCAA investigation and how that has directly impacted his efforts on the recruiting trail. Those are legitimate frustrations.

But the North Carolina football program failed to put up consistent results even before the first NCAA investigation began under Butch Davis in 2010 (that one focused on assistant John Blake and his ties to an agent). The 11-win season showcased exactly what North Carolina can do when it is hitting everything just right. Seasons like that should be the norm, not the exception.

Instead, seven- and eight-win seasons have become the norm. There is no reason to believe anything different until proven otherwise.

Shanker: Why is North Carolina’s lamentable history a reflection on Fedora? It’s not his fault the Tar Heels have underachieved for decades, so the fact that there is only one instance of back-to-back seasons with at least 10 wins is nothing Fedora needs to answer for.

What Fedora does need to answer for is the current North Carolina program, and it’s in the best hands since Mack Brown took ownership nearly three decades ago. Did you forget already Fedora won the 2015 Coastal title and ended Florida State’s 22-game home winning streak four months ago?

The late losses this season were bad, no doubt. UNC can’t lose to Duke or NC State when neither team is very good. But we also can’t expect North Carolina, which just two years ago had its best season since 1997, to be Alabama and never lose a game it’s supposed to win.

Yet the Heels’ recruiting is improving significantly under Fedora. Players commit so early that many made commitments long before UNC won 11 games in 2015 and wouldn’t impact the 2016 class. Look at when some of their top 2017 recruits committed: Oct. 2015, Nov. 2015, two in Jan. 2016, Feb. 2016. There’s your bump.

And the Heels could sign five of the top 10 players in North Carolina (and six of the top 11). From 2012-16, they signed six top-10 in-state recruits.

Overall, the 2017 class has four ESPN 300 players and nine of the 19 commits are four-star recruits. Your alternative facts suggesting Colorado and Maryland recruit better neglects that Carolina has more four-star recruits despite fewer overall pledges.

It’s plausible North Carolina might not be very good in 2017. It might be likely considering they’re losing 14 starters. Expectations should be for the Tar Heels to compete for a division crown most years and play for an ACC title every few seasons. UNC is heading in that direction.