On day one, Mack Brown showed why he is still the perfect fit.

At a press conference that was American Idol for some and déjà vu for others, Carolina’s new football coach said in so many words that he is better at 67 than he was at 37 when he took over the Tar Heels for the first time in 1988. While that should be obvious, given what Brown has accomplished in between, something else became crystal clear even before he spoke personally and passionately.

Chancellor Carol Folt and Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham gave heartfelt thanks to former coach Larry Fedora, ticked off UNC’s standing as a highly ranked research institution and public university and welcomed Brown back to complete a championship crew of coaches in 27 other Tar Heel intercollegiate sports.

There was something besides two losing seasons that brought on the change in football. Whatever his record has been and will be, Mack Brown represents exactly how a university sees itself today and in the future. He has done it before so he can do it again.

From his first stint at Carolina through his 20 years living in Austin, Texas, Brown and his wife Sally, whom he met in Chapel Hill in 1992, had kept a close and consistent kinship to UNC. The Browns stayed in touch with their closest friends here and took every opportunity to come back – whether weddings, funerals, a celebration of Mack’s induction into the College Football Hall of Fame or his invitation to speak at Roy Williams’ Fast Break for Cancer breakfast.

Having missed coaching and the connection with his players, Brown explained in fairly dramatic detail how he puts a football program together – building a base with in-state recruits and searching the country for superstars who have seen, and he says will see, the virtues of playing in Kenan Stadium for a “cool” school.

From critiquing players on the field and in practice to serving as their “second parents” away from home, Brown and his wife personify exactly what UNC wants in a football coach. For reasons that go far beyond winning games, they are back to fill that role again.

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