The Mack is back in Chapel Hill

It’s not uncommon for a head coach to return to a school that they were once apart of. Many have done it – Bobby Petrino at Louisville, Bill Synder at Kansas St, Bill Walsh at Stanford, and many more. Now the University of North Carolina is rolling the dice(snake eyes) with veteran head coach Mack Brown. Coach Brown is no stranger to this institution. In his first stint at Chapel Hill, he coached from 1988-1997, with a record of 69-46 and also a 3-2 bowl record. This resume projected him to land the head coaching job at Texas, where he coached for 16 years, with a record of 158-48, along with a bowl record of 10-5 and a National Championship. That’s pretty impressive. However, there is a difference between winning at Texas and winning at UNC.

Let’s keep this 100. Texas is a football school. It’s the state school and the state itself has a colossal amount of money and resources that pour into Austin. Some of the best recruits in the nation live in Texas, which is not a shocker considering the size of the state. North Carolina is a totally different animal. It’s a basketball school. Don’t believe me? Ok, look at how many fans attend games at Kenan Stadium in the fall and compare them to how many attend the Smith Center in winter and spring. It’s night/day difference. Winning 8-9 games at North Carolina in football gets you a raise. Winning 8-9 games at Texas gets you fired. That’s the difference.

So why would Mack takes this job again? And why would UNC hire him when they could had found someone younger or a new up and comer in the college football coaching tree? I think it’s a few reasons. First, let me answer the first question. Coach Brown hasn’t coached a game since 2013. He’s 67. I’m sure he’s had plenty of time to reflect on his life and coaching career. Recentley, at an alumni donor event in Charlotte, NC he told the crowd ““I absolutely thought I wouldn’t coach again,” Brown says. “I didn’t blink.” And who’s to blame him? He’s had a heck of a career. Later on he told the crowd “We’ve got unfinished business,”. What does that mean? It means he’s still got the itch. He’s still got gas in the tank. He’s still got something else to prove. And most importantly, he loves the game. Everything that comes with college football- the players, the boosters, recruiting…it’s his passion.

Now to the answer the second question, why would the tar heels take another shot with him? Well, there are many reasons but I will give you three obvious ones:

1. North Carolina knows Mack is a good coach. Coach Brown is a winner. Everywhere is has gone he has won. Whether it’s Tulane, App St, UNC, or Texas, he has proved he can win.
2. North Carolina knows Mack is a good recruiter. Guys like Ricky Williams, Vince Young, Colt McCoy, Dre Bly, and Natrone Means were no scrubs. They left their marks in college and some of them had great careers in the NFL. So he knows talent and that is something that has been missing in Chapel Hill.
3. And quite frankly, no one has been able to replicate his success. The Tar Heels are 108-135 since Mack first left. It’s not awful but it’s not great. The ACC has gotten a lot stronger since Mack left for Texas. FSU is no longer king of the rock and Miami, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, and Notre Dame have all joined the party. It’s going to take a coach like Mack Brown to turn them around and make them competitive in the new ACC.

The odds are against coach Brown. He’s already drawing criticism from other coaches and former players and fans, saying things like ” He’s too old. He’s out of touch. He hasn’t coached in five years”, etc. You know, if you listen to that long enough, you would probaly believe it. But not Mack Brown. He told almuni recently “I’m a lot smarter than I was when I left,”. “My body’s not as good, but my mind is better.” That sounds like a man that is driven and that is exactly the type of coach North Carolina needs.