Mack Brown will win every press conference before next season.

UNC’s new-old football coaching hire will create the big splash that perhaps no other candidate for the job could have. The former national champion at Texas will be inducted into the college football hall of fame this month – after his official return to Carolina.

Clearly, Tar Heel football needs a big splash to follow two bad seasons and Larry Fedora’s ouster. And, like he did 30 years ago, Brown will have UNC brass, alumni and fans chirping at perhaps the game’s most charismatic salesman. It is a new beginning, however.

The competition of in-state rivals and the schools in Virginia and South Carolina is far stronger now than when Mack arrived here in 1988. He lost his first seven games against Duke, State and Wake Forest, and then went 20-2 against the Big Four from then on, reaching six straight bowl games with top recruits from the region.

Carolina is counting on Brown to work the same magic, only without the two 1-10 seasons that began his rebuilding job. The plan is for him to bound out of retirement with a lot of sizzle and an all-star staff that hits the recruiting trail, hoping to gain commitments from some undecided high school stars. Despite all the good PR, the rubber meets the road when the Tar Heels tee it up in 2019.

Unquestionably, more young talent is already here than Brown inherited the last time. But a priority is to sign a quarterback or land Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant or develop the returning QBs or all of the above. UNC can’t go another fall without a quality field general.

With the Tar Heels starting the new season against South Carolina in Charlotte, beating the Gamecocks would dub him St. Mack. A winning record and bowl bid would justify whatever the amount of money needed to pay off Fedora and hire Brown and a new staff and give them the recruiting budgets they need to produce right away.

If the plan works like a charm, Brown coaches at least five years and has a successor chosen for when he does step down.

Then Mack can re-retire as the UNC football coach with the most wins — and two saves.

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