To reflect on the year, Chapelboro.com is re-publishing some of the top stories that impacted and defined our community’s experience in 2024. These stories and topics affected Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of our region.
After another disappointing end to the season in 2023, many fans were pessimistic about the outlook for Carolina football heading into 2024. Head coach Mack Brown, who turned 73 in August, was back for another season on the sidelines. But gone was star quarterback Drake Maye, as well as several other key contributors on offense and defense. A regression seemed likely. What no one saw coming was a season of tumult and upheaval at the Kenan Football Center, one which would change the face of the program by season’s end.
Once James Madison hit 50 points in the first half at Kenan Stadium, it was clear something was wrong with Carolina football.
The Dukes of the Sun Belt Conference were humiliating Mack Brown’s Tar Heels, so much so that the stadium had started to empty out before the Marching Tar Heels even took the field at halftime. JMU led 53-21 at the break and won 70-50. The game set a pair of dubious UNC records: the Dukes’ 53 points in the first half were the most allowed by the Tar Heels in any half of football in school history and the 70 total points were the most allowed in any game in school history. The University of North Carolina has played football since 1888.
And yet, the most bizarre headlines came after the game had finished. Reports from the Tar Heel locker room described an emotional postgame address from Brown, one which left many present believing the Hall of Famer had abruptly resigned his post. That turned out not to be true: Brown apologized for what he saw as a simple misunderstanding and reaffirmed his commitment to the program in his weekly press conference the following Monday.
James Madison’s historic blowout of Carolina plumbed a new low for the program and caused a bizarre postgame atmosphere in the locker room. (Image via UNC Athletic Communications)
The uncertainty created by that unforgettable weekend would follow the Tar Heels throughout the season. Doubts about the 73-year-old Brown’s longevity and the current direction of the program grew louder as one loss turned into two (a blown 20-point lead in the second half at Duke, Carolina’s first loss to the Blue Devils since 2018), which then turned into three (a home loss to Pittsburgh) and then into four in a row (a fourth straight loss to Georgia Tech).
But the four-game losing streak was quickly rendered negligible by tragedy. Receiver Tylee Craft, who had been battling a rare form of lung cancer for more than two years while still participating in meetings with the football team, died the day of the Georgia Tech game. Craft had been in good spirits for most of his fight, but his conditioned rapidly deteriorated in the weeks leading up to his death. He was admitted to hospice care in the last days of his life.
“I never heard him gripe one time about anything,” a tearful Brown said of Craft. “He wouldn’t even admit he was sick when he was throwing up. He’d say, ‘I’m good, I’m good.’ He is a blessing from God for Sally and I for the last three or four years, and for this team.”
Tylee Craft’s battle with cancer galvanized and inspired his teammates – as well as football fans around the country. (Image via Associated Press/Reinhold Matay)
Remembrances for Craft came pouring in from across the country. In Carolina’s next two road games at Virginia and Florida State, both programs featured honorary emblems with Craft’s No. 13 jersey around their stadiums. The Tar Heel wide receivers made the joint decision to have one player wear the No. 13 in each game for the rest of the season, starting with Craft’s childhood friend J.J. Jones. In addition, UNC re-named its nutrition room after Craft and installed signs with Craft’s signature motto, “Keep Swinging,” near the Kenan Stadium tunnel.
A previously-scheduled bye week after the Georgia Tech game provided the Tar Heels needed time to mourn their late teammate. A service was held in Craft’s hometown of Sumter, S.C., with current and former Carolina players in attendance.
After the open date, the inspired Tar Heels rattled off a three-game winning streak, turning 3-4 into 6-4 and clinching bowl eligibility. The whispers about Brown’s potential exit from Chapel Hill still abounded, but the head coach showed no signs of making plans to leave. In fact, before Carolina’s penultimate regular-season matchup at Boston College, reports surfaced of Brown telling Tar Heel recruits he would be back in 2025.
Brown’s confidence backfired in a major way. The Eagles trounced Carolina by 20 points that weekend, doing nothing to quiet the calls for the Hall of Famer to resign at season’s end. And still, Brown told assembled the media the following Monday it was his intention to stay in Chapel Hill.
Less than 24 hours later, that decision was no longer his to make. On Tuesday morning, athletic director Bubba Cunningham announced Brown would be dismissed following Carolina’s regular-season finale against NC State that weekend. It was the first time in Brown’s head coaching career – a career which stretched back into the 1980s – that he had been fired.
The Tar Heels dropped that final game against NC State, 35-30. It was UNC’s fourth consecutive loss against the Wolfpack. Afterward, Brown held a brief press conference in which he didn’t take any questions. The outgoing head coach refuted previous reports – and, it should be noted, his own words – which had indicated his unwillingness to leave his position.
“I agree with the administration that we need a change of leadership at the top,” Brown said. “I just wanted it to happen after the season was over.”
Brown told the media the negotiations of his exit were between himself, Cunningham and John Preyer, chairman of UNC’s Board of Trustees. The head coach also implied he and Cunningham were at odds throughout the talks. Preyer himself was more straightforward.
“I have no doubt Coach Brown would have done whatever the university would have wanted him to do at the end of the season,” Preyer told The News & Observer’s Chip Alexander. “And for some reason, that I do not understand, the athletic director would not allow that to happen and instead fired him from halfway around the world [Cunningham was in Hawai’i with the men’s basketball team at the time]. And I think that is shameful.”
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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