Inside Carolina: It’s Official

The Tar Heels had their first open practice under coach Mack Brown, and this edition of “Inside Carolina” goes over the outlook from the ground with Ross Martin’s in-person account of what the future UNC football squad is shaping up to be in the coming season.

On day one, Mack Brown showed why he is still the perfect fit. At a press conference that was American Idol for some and déjà vu for others, Carolina’s new football coach said in so many words that he is better at 67 than he was at 37 when he took over the Tar Heels for the first […]

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. […]

Here is some of what Mack Brown said on Tuesday. The Tar Heels have not had a positive test in a month after 37 players, coaches and/or staff members proved positive in early July. To keep his players safe during practice, they are either wearing plastic double shields on their helmets or putting on masks […]

It’s the D, not the O, most responsible for Carolina’s fast start. Before the season I asked Lee Pace, who is the best writer of Tar Heel sports around, how he thought Mack Brown’s first team of his second tenure would do. Pace predicted Carolina would be 4-0 going into the Clemson game because a […]

Is that Miami game still ringing in your eyes or ears? Due to the ACC Network still being a work in progress, we had several ways to follow Carolina’s classic win over the Hurricanes in Kenan Stadium Saturday night. Best bet, of course, was to be there. The game sold out after the Tar Heels stunned South Carolina […]

Mack is back, but I’m not sure we can say the Tar Heels are — because they may never have been in this position before. A quarterback who was in high school a year ago. Linebackers who had never played linebacker. Others who had never been in a college game. A new coaching staff that […]

Starting a freshman quarterback doesn’t matter for UNC now, does it? When Mack Brown announced freshman Sam Howell would be running the first team offense as the time clock to the opener against South Carolina begins to tick, what does he have to lose? Howell is a true freshman who was playing high school football when redshirt […]

Can Mack Brown’s offense score enough points to win six games? The Tar Heels’ second-stint head coach says one of the differences between the old Mack and the new Mack is that he is not going to be a CEO anymore. That is how Brown was labeled in the past — hire a great staff, […]

Saturday is the first big test of the Mack Brown magic. No other coach could have shaken Carolina football out of the apathy that had finally overcome the program in Larry Fedora’s last two losing seasons. The alumni and fan base had moved on from anger to the annual excitement of another basketball season. Kenan had […]