This won’t be a rebuilding process, new UNC coach Mack Brown says. He plans to win now.
There was excitement in the air Tuesday afternoon at North Carolina that had been missing the last two years.
For many in the crowd watching new football coach Mack Brown’s introductory press conference — from donors, to staff and former players — there was hope that UNC could get back to the top of the ACC.
Brown had done that when he was last at UNC. Brown, 67, coached the Tar Heels from 1988 to 1997, and he helped turn the program around. In his first two seasons, his teams finished 2-20. In his last season there, he finished 10-1 and was No. 6 in the AP Top 25 poll. UNC also made it to five consecutive bowl games and Brown amassed a 69-48-1 record in his 10 seasons there.
“We know this place, and we know you can be successful at football here,” Brown said Tuesday about why he and his wife wanted to return.
UNC had struggled in the last two seasons under former coach Larry Fedora, who was fired on Sunday after seven seasons. The Tar Heels finished 3-9 in 2017 and 2-9 in 2018, after finishing 19-8 in the two seasons prior to that. Its 2019 recruiting class ranked among the bottom of the ACC’s 14 teams, and many fans were yearning for a change.
The fans got that when UNC announced that they had hired Brown to a five-year contract on Tuesday morning. He will make $3.5 million a year, which will make him the 35th highest paid coach in college football, according to the USA Today coaching database.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have him here, and I know that the players, the high school coaches, the university community, this town will completely embrace him,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said. “And I’m looking for really good things to come, and come very quickly.”
Said UNC chancellor Carol L. Folt: “We are welcoming back a coach who built a winning football program during his first tenure in Chapel Hill – one that reflected the values, culture, and commitment to the excellence we aspire to in everything we do at this University.
“While chancellor, I have gotten to know Mack and have always admired his commitment to the success of student-athletes and passion for the college game.”
After leaving UNC in 1997, Brown coached at Texas, where he won a national championship in 2006, and made it to another in 2009 before losing to Alabama. His record in 16 seasons at Texas was 158-48. He was also selected to the College Football Hall-of-Fame in January 2018.
Brown said he accepted this job because he felt he needed to help UNC get back on top.
“I love this place, Sally loves this place,” Brown said. “It needs to be really, really great in football. Every other sport is great. Football needs to pick it up.”
No staff yet
Brown said he wants the instill discipline into the program, and make sure the players go to class, eat right and get enough sleep. He said his biggest rule will be to, “always do what you know is the right thing to do.”
“And if you have to ask somebody if it’s the right thing to do or not, it’s not,” he said. “Don’t do it.”
Brown said he saw every game UNC played. He also got a chance to watch the team practice during the fall. So he feels he has a good feel for the program, he said.
“The thing I was really proud of for these kids, these assistant coaches — Larry’s staff — they played hard,” Brown said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
Brown said he doesn’t have a staff in place, and has not talked to anyone, but he said he has a few coaches in mind who he would like to hire.
Brown, who will be 68 when the 2019 season starts, has not coached since 2013, his last season at Texas. Brown resigned from Texas in 2013, after an 8-5 season. His last job was as a commentator for ESPN.
But Brown said he is starting from a better place than he was after he left Texas.
Recruiting challenge
He will also be behind in recruiting. The Early Signing Period for football is less than a month away, on Dec. 19. UNC has 12 commitments from the 2019 class. Jerrod Means, a 6-3, 205-pound receiver decommitted from the program on Monday.
In recruiting, Brown said he believes in winning “at home first.” In recent years, the top in-state recruits have signed with out-of-state programs. N.C. State has done a good job in recent years in making up ground.
Brown said he plans to recruit heavily in-state before moving out-of-state.
“You’ve got to win at home in recruiting before you can go out of state,” Brown said, “because if the locals won’t come why would an out-of-state guy that’s really good want to come.”
Secret weapon
Brown said the biggest challenge will be earning the players’ trust.
“But that’s my job,” he said.
His secret weapon? His wife, Sally.
He said she loves kids.
“Sally is the best thing I’ve got about being a head coach because she is the powerful person behind the scenes,” Brown said. “But she’ll pull the kids off to the side and I’ll find out more from her than I ever find out from them.”
“Their way to get to me is through her, and I usually listen.”
Brown said he was going to talk to the team for the first time Tuesday afternoon. He said will not talk about winning, but about “process, confidence, discipline, and developing the players.”
“I’m going to tell them that enjoy your holidays, because this is the last time you’re going to have them,” Brown said. “We’re planning on winning next year. For the seniors, you can’t say we’re going to rebuild, you can’t say we’re going to play all young guys, we want to win next year.
“We want to win now.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 4:58 PM with the headline "This won’t be a rebuilding process, new UNC coach Mack Brown says. He plans to win now.."
