So let’s pretend multiple choice options about Mack Brown’s future are put before Carolina alumni, fan base and, most importantly, the UNC administration. Here they are:
A) We should be grateful for Brown twice rebuilding the Tar Heel football program, but the time has come for him to step down. Now.
B) Brown is told he won’t be back in 2025, and it is up to him whether he wants to coach out the rest of this season.
C) The Hall of Famer and active college coach with the most wins, and all-time record holder at UNC, continues as head coach as long as he wants to rebuild for a third time.
The 21-20 loss at Duke on Saturday will stoke that debate, although Brown will bring up the positive facts. His Tar Heels rebounded with one of their best halves of the season, shutting out the Blue Devils offense and scoring 17 points against one of the best defenses in the country. It looked to be redemption day.
The final statistics are exceedingly close with Carolina having the edge in passing and Duke in rushing. The Tar Heels were better on third and fourth downs and had the ball for nine more minutes. But their Achilles heel, again, was 10 penalties, which killed drives and turned almost sure touchdowns into field goals as the victory slowly and painfully slipped away.
The head coach will remind us this is the first time Duke won the blue blood rivalry since 2018, the season before he returned to UNC and the first time the Blue Devils have beaten him personally since the infamous “scoreboard picture” game in 1989, a personal streak of 13 wins that came to an end with the second-half collapse in Durham.
And whoever participates in such a survey will have good reasons to support whatever choice they make.
Response to A) Brown has transformed the program from the anger and apathy under Dick Crum and Larry Fedora into excitement in the stands and success on the field. But, at 73, the game itself and/or the way he runs his program appears to have passed him by. The reasons and the people behind it are no longer relevant.
Response to B) He deserves to coach out the rest of the season and maybe move into fund-raising at UNC, where some believe he would be successful because he has a great rapport with alumni and is passionate about Carolina bringing in more NIL money where Brown says UNC is close to last in the ACC. And such a role would protect his legacy.
Response to C) Or, despite the high (and largely unmet) expectations he has set, winning eight or nine games and reaching a bowl game has been good enough for Carolina over six decades. And he is a great representative of the university, doesn’t cheat and is beloved by much of the fan base. So let Brown keep doing his thing.
Whether Brown was serious about quitting after the 70-50 debacle last week, the defeat at Duke was worse in some ways. It further exposed the lack of depth in the roster, the “average” ability on the offensive line and wide receivers and the continued indiscipline of untimely penalties.
Although being shut down by Duke’s nationally ranked defense after going ahead 20-0 midway through the third quarter, the Tar Heels still had a chance to pad what had shrunk to a 20-14 lead with nine minutes left in the game. They had the ball at their own 40 after stopping Duke on downs.
UNC tackle Treyvon Green was called for a 10-yard holding penalty. After the whistle, wide receiver J.J. Jones got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and another 15 yards. The drive then restarted at their 15-yard line with a first down and 35. They managed only five yards and Tom Maginness shanked a 20-yard punt; Duke took over at midfield to begin their winning touchdown drive. Or should we say was invited.
In the first half, a resurgent defense that gave up record points and yardage to James Madison a week ago held Duke to 97 yards of total offense compared to 220 for Carolina. The script completely flipped in the second half as the Tar Heels were beaten down by the black-clad Blue Devils.
The veteran Duke defense contained Omarion Hampton and ferociously went after inexperienced quarterback Jacolby Criswell, who had thrown two touchdown passes in the first half. He was chased out of the pocket without much time to look downfield and got his team close to the end zone only once — when penalties again forced them to kick a field goal to complete their scoring for the night with 23 minutes still to play. Hampton, who had 71 yards in the first half, finished with 103 for the game.
Omarion Hampton (28) was bottled up by Duke’s defense on Saturday during the second half, despite finishing with 103 rushing yards. (Photo via UNC Athletics Communications.)
As Brown said after the JMU blowout, all these mistakes and miscues go back to him and his coaching staff. Carolina has digressed over the first five games and remains unable to meet the challenge of a better-prepared offense or a defense that is deeper and more physical. If this is on the players, they were all recruited and signed by the head coach.
Now, what was another fast start like the last two seasons looks ill-equipped to handle the rest of the ACC schedule that continues with Pitt and Georgia Tech at home. The Panthers (4-0) are the third straight undefeated team UNC plays while 3-2 Georgia Tech will have faced Duke at home by the time the Jackets get to Chapel Hill.
Brown had some kind of emotional incident last week but reverted to coach-speak after his team fell to 3-2. He rolled out the “go back to work” plan for his players who began the game like they wanted to keep the Victory Bell before allowing their arch-rival to pull off its biggest comeback since 1962 and register its first 5-0 start since 1994.
Brown will face the media on Monday and entertain supporting fans at his live radio show that night as his old positive self. However, his undermanned team is looking down the barrel of Brown’s third losing season as a head coach since the Blue Devils of the long-retired Steve Spurrier frolicked in front of the electric scoreboard that read 41-0 and some nincompoop at Carolina did not turn it off as soon as the game ended.
A lot has happened to Tar Heel football in those 35 years — mostly good things during Mack’s two tenures that surrounded a 123-135 record under five fired coaches over 21 seasons. Brown has done a lot better (41-29) than that quintet since then, but the same kind of factious fan base that forced the end of his 16-year stay at Texas is debating whether that’s good enough.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
If these questions even need to be asked, the answer is clear.
Mack should step aside while he’s doing what he does best: Lose games he should win, blame everyone but himself, talk only about the positives, and throw in a sideways comment about the officiating costing him the game.
And win around 60 percent of his games, most of his wins being against teams that should be playing at the community college level.
Mack could go into the used car sales profession. I can hear him now: “Yes, the driver’s side door is smashed in, but the other 3 doors work. And don’t you just love a pink Volkswagen? You better get it before Bubba does.”
And speaking of Bubba, an AD worth his weight in the stuff Mack constantly spouts could/should do the drastic thing and tell him to resign/retire NOW OR ELSE!
It’s disgusting to hear Mack say he’ll stay as long as he enjoys “working with kids” and “mentoring young people.” It’s disgusting in that while those are very admirable things, he shouldn’t be the one deciding when he’ll step aside. Everyone has a boss (except Mack)!
Mack is already the ultimate car salesman. For six years he had us convinced we had bought a Mustang Mach 1 even though the name on the back read “Pinto.”