Larry Fedora is setting a new standard for football guys.

Not only is football declining with so many trying to make the game safer, but the North Carolina coach said it’s doing so in tandem with America.

“Our game is under attack,” Fedora told reporters at UNC media day, per The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach. “… I fear that the game will be pushed so far from what we know that we won’t recognize it 10 years from now. And if it does, our country will go down, too.”

We’ve heard takes about football being in decline before. We’ve never heard takes about its subsequent impact on the country.

“The lessons that you learn in the game of football relate to everything that’s gonna happen in the rest of your life. And if you stop learning, you’re gonna struggle,” said Fedora, UNC’s head coach since 2012. “I think in some ways we’re struggling more right now than we ever have. Are we ever going to be a perfect country? Nope. Not by any means. But I do think the game of football has had a major impact on who we are as a country.”

Fredora went on to say that a military member told him that America’s military is great because so many soldiers played football growing up, according to Auerbach.

As you probably expect by now, Fedora also doesn’t think football causes CTE.

“We don’t really know that,” Fedora said, per Auerbach. “Are there chances for concussions? Of course. There are collisions. But the game is safer than it’s ever been.”

And if it gets any safer, apparently, our national security is at stake.