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Has Mack Brown made up his mind?
One of Brown’s former players said he saw him this week and was surprised at how relaxed his old coach was. After all, Carolina has three straight losses and faces nemesis Georgia Tech Saturday at noon in Kenan Stadium.
Those who attended or watched Brown’s weekly press conference Monday noticed his answers were more direct than usual and informative about what was troubling his 3-3 team halfway through this season.
For example, the coach who is sometimes nicknamed “Mr. Fix-It” said his staff does not try to correct mistakes repeatedly made by a player. If it’s the same mistake by the same player, UNC will put someone else in that position and move on. If an error is made by someone who rarely makes that mistake, Brown’s staff will coach him hard to help him get it right.
He said his team made fewer mistakes against Pitt than in past games and only a few plays marked the difference between a 34-24 loss and possibly their fourth win of the season. He said the defense gave up too many “explosive” plays to the Panthers and his own offense did not complete two long drives, one for 19 plays that resulted in giving up the ball on downs.
Brown reiterated what he said before the opening game that, after losing quarterback Drake Maye and other key veterans, the inexperienced 2024 Tar Heels would probably get better as the season wore on. “And we still have a chance to have a great year,” he said.
He talked about playing Carolina in a home-and-home series after he left for Texas in 1998. When the Tar Heels of first-year coach John Bunting visited Austin in 2001, Brown was more concerned with comforting the family of a Longhorns player who was killed in a car crash the previous summer than coaching the game. The player’s number was 44, the same amount of points Texas had after a late touchdown; he called a timeout so his team could agree to not kick the extra point and take a knee in honor of No. 44.
“Some Carolina fans thought I had done that to go for two and run up the score,” he said with a laugh.
When they came up to Chapel Hill the next season for the rematch, he was asked if the fans might boo him when he ran out with his team. “They booed me for 10 years when I was here, so I’m used to that,” he answered.
He called Pitt the best team Carolina had played so far this season but hinted that Georgia Tech, which has beaten the Heels the last three years and is currently 4-2, might be even better than the Panthers.
It was almost as if Brown was resigned to letting the season play out or he had decided, amidst the mounting criticism, that this would be his last.
Featured image via Associated Press/Daniel Lin
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.
Yep. Here’s Mack 2.0 – still trying to convince us that by beating NC Central and playing up to the level of Pitt or Georgia Tech “big time football is back in Chapel Hill.” Enough. Lets move on.
i agree.mack brown 2.0 is over.if you going to build a program.you must have players that want to play football with passion .4 or 5 stars in front of a players name does not make you a player.you must be coachable up to standard to understand the game and be held accountable.stop talking football and play football!