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The pressure is gone, but the challenge is just beginning.
Over his last five years back at Carolina, Mack Brown has talked about being “that close” to reaching his goal of winning the ACC title and making the College Football Playoff. That hasn’t happened, and before the coming season Brown says his team is not in the conversation and knows it.
“They don’t like not being given respect,” Brown said. “They read everything. They know everything that I know. So I don’t have to say you’re not in the top 25. They know nobody’s talking about them not being in the mix. Nobody’s talking about you being in the playoff. You are not mentioned.”
The Hall of Fame head coach claims the Tar Heels have been right on the doorstep with two NFL quarterbacks under center. He points back to being 9-1 in 2022 and clinching the ACC Coastal Division before losing to 21-point underdog Georgia Tech at home and to State, Clemson and Oregon and finishing 9-5. Last year, they were 6-0 and ranked No. 10 before losing at home to a 1-5 Virginia and going 2-4 down the stretch. They also won seven games by less than a touchdown, so they might have lost more. Is that “being close?”
Brown has a roster filled with veteran players, but he is rolling out a new QB and has suffered enough injuries during the off-season to put his long-sought depth in question again going into Saturday’s Spring Game at Kenan Stadium.
“They do feel challenged,” he said. “And if you’re in the preseason conversation every year, you expect it. And when you expect it, then you have to handle it better than we have. We lost some games that I thought we should have won. And is that on the coaches? Absolutely. A hundred percent. Is that on our players? Absolutely and they’ve gotta step it up. It’s on all of us.”
The Heels do want to regain their relevance. “We are a team that they look at in the top three or four every year in this conference,” Brown said, somewhat lowering the bar from his hype that didn’t last.
He adds, “This team’s very similar in attitude to the team two years ago. The people don’t expect ’em to be very good, and they expect to be good. They’re kind of running under the radar ’cause you lose Drake. You lose some really good players and nobody’s talking about us. And that’s a good place to be. You’ve got a lot to prove.”
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.
