Why is the Carolina brand is so appealing in college realignment?
While he is against almost everything going on in college football and conference realignment these days, Mack Brown says he is not worried about what happens to UNC when all the dust settles.
We know Brown is against eliminating divisions in ACC football because it hurts the underdogs’ chances of winning the conference championship. And he absolutely hates what UCLA and USC are doing to the Pac-12 and what Oklahoma and Texas are doing to the Big 12.
But he says whatever happens, UNC will be okay because it is a brand that’s in demand in college athletics. And we know that, since Carolina is always mentioned among names of other schools the Big Ten and SEC may try to poach.
Those who don’t follow Tar Heels teams that closely think it is all about basketball, which has won three national championships in this century and had four other teams that reached the Final Four, two going to the closing seconds of Monday night game before losing heartbreakers.
But it is more than that, and Brown knows that the up-and-down progress of his football program is helped in recruiting and notoriety by the brand, which is enhanced by Michael Jordan’s Jumpman logo on everything athletic along with Alexander Julian’s argyle now seen from football helmets to the playing field.
But, truth is, the broad-based Olympic program which has been dominant in so many sports for so many years helps the university finish in the top 10 of the Director’s Cup almost every year. And people who don’t notice or care about that might like the latest CBS Sports poll that ranked UNC No. 4 in overall athletics for the 2021-22 school year.
And looking at those rankings tells you more about why the brand is in such demand.
Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State – behemoths of major-college athletics – were rated as the top three programs for the past school year. Carolina was No. 4 but was also the only ACC school in the top 11. Miami was No. 12, N.C. State was No. 22 and Clemson was No. 25.
Most of the other top 25 finishers were from the two leagues that may soon become the Super Conferences – Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan State, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas and UCLA.
So the Carolina brand is still strong and in demand. Where it winds up in the pantheon of college athletics remains the only question.
Featured image via USA Today Sports
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