Chansky's Notebook: 'So Close'

Mack Brown’s coaching staff could have more changes.

Brown said Monday that he was forced to hire a new offensive coordinator and line coach as soon as possible because Phil Longo and Jack Bicknell sprung it on him that they were leaving for Wisconsin.

“It totally surprised me,” Brown said of Longo’s phone call. “I’m in a recruit’s home in Atlanta and he tells me he’s leaving the next day. I’m preparing for the bowl game, so I gotta figure out what to do there.”

Brown said the assistants he temporarily moved into those positions “did a great job and gave us a chance to win.” New replacement coaches Chip Lindsey and Randy Clements attended the Holiday Bowl but did no coaching.

For most of the 9-5 season, Brown was unhappy with the balance between running the football and Drake Maye passing it. “Part of what we did was by scheme and we didn’t run the ball as much as I wanted. Therefore, we weren’t physical because Drake was so good we threw the ball so well, and then when he didn’t, we didn’t win.”

Lindsey has experience with the Air Raid offense that Longo coached, and Clements’ favorite saying is, “Run the damn ball.” He is the third offensive line coach Brown has had in three years after Bicknell and Stacy Searels, whose offensive line at Georgia is much superior to what he had at UNC and steamrolled TCU in the national championship game.

Under Bicknell, the Tar Heels had fewer sacks than in 2021 and now Clements’ job will be to develop a more physical offensive line that won’t be dominated the way Notre Dame and Clemson did.

On defense, Carolina gave up 437 yards per game and 27 touchdown passes, and Brown says he has yet to meet with defensive coordinator Gene Chizik and most of his assistant coaches because they were recruiting and attending the football coaches’ convention.

He will meet with Chizik and each of his coaches and perhaps with both. “There’s no urgency because recruiting is over,” Brown said.

“My job is to figure out what I need to do, what the coaches need to do. Maybe some of the coaches are speaking with other staffs. If you are, just tell me. I want people that are happy and like it here.”

The 71-year-old head coach is crystal clear about his top priority, and it is not losing five times. “I want to win all the games with really nice kids who play well on Saturday afternoon and that’s what I’m gonna do.

“And we are so close.”

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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Chansky’s Notebook: ‘So Close’

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