Carolina Athletics announced on Tuesday UNC football head coach Mack Brown will not be returning to the program at the end of the 2024 season.
A release from the athletics department and Director Bubba Cunningham said Brown was informed on Monday he would coach the regular season finale vs. N.C. State on Saturday. The news came after Brown’s weekly availability where he adamantly said his plan was to return the following season to coach in Chapel Hill.
The 2024 season is Brown’s 16th in Chapel Hill and his 36th as a head coach. He also spent 16 seasons at Texas, where he led the Longhorns to a BCS national title in 2005 and an appearance in another national title game in 2009. Brown also served as the head coach at Appalachian State and Tulane before coming to Carolina for the first time in 1988.
Cunningham’s statement on the decision read:
“Mack Brown has won more games than any football coach in UNC history, and we deeply appreciate all that he has done for Carolina Football and our University. Over the last six seasons – his second campaign in Chapel Hill — he has coached our team to six bowl berths, including an Orange Bowl, while mentoring 18 NFL draft picks. He and his wife Sally have done an outstanding job supporting the Carolina community, including raising funds for UNC Children’s Hospital while hosting other popular events such as the Ladies Day Clinic. Both also have been terrific in leading our program during some incredibly tough stretches, including the tragic passing of wide receiver Tylee Craft this season.
“Coach Brown has led the Carolina Football program back into the national conversation as we improved the program’s facilities, significantly increased the size of the staff, invested in salaries and bolstered our nutrition and strength and conditioning programs. He also has been a dedicated fundraiser, strengthening the Football endowment while also supporting our other sports programs.
“We thank Coach Brown for his dedication to Carolina, and wish him, Sally and their family all the best.”
Brown released a statement of his own shortly after:
While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time. I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and will always cherish the memories and relationships Sally and I have built while serving as head coach. We’ve had the chance to coach and mentor some great young men, and we’ll miss having the opportunity to do that in the future. Moving forward, my total focus is on helping these players and coaches prepare for Saturday’s game against N.C. State and give them the best chance to win. We want to send these seniors out right and I hope our fans will show up Saturday to do the same.
The choice to part ways with Brown comes in the days after UNC looked lifeless in a 41-21 loss to Boston College, which snapped the Tar Heels’ three-game winning streak. The return to a winning record came after an earlier four-game skid — as Carolina dropped games to James Madison, Duke, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech before beating Virginia, Florida State and Wake Forest. Adding to the air of the skid were Brown’s locker room comments made in the wake of the 70-50 loss to JMU, which some around the program interpreted as the head coach saying he would step down from the head coaching position because of the loss. Brown later addressed the media that night and the following Monday, saying he did not plan to leave.
Tuesday’s message from Carolina Athletics said a decision has not yet been made on whether Brown will coach UNC in its upcoming bowl game.
In his first stint with the Tar Heels, Brown resurrected a moribund program: after consecutive 1-10 seasons in 1988 and 1989, Carolina rose to prominence in the 1990s, reaching the Peach Bowl in 1992. UNC would qualify for a bowl in each of Brown’s final six seasons in Chapel Hill, including back-to-back Top 10 finishes in 1996 and 1997. Following a 10-1 regular season in 1997, Brown left for Texas — and it would be 18 years before Carolina reached the Top 10 again.
Brown returned to UNC in 2019, once again charged with rescuing a program down in the dumps. The Tar Heels had won just five combined games in 2017 and 2018. With Brown back at the helm, Carolina finished 7-6 in 2019 and won a bowl game for the first time since 2013. The next season would be the program’s most successful in Brown’s second stint, as the Tar Heels finished 8-3 in the regular season earned a trip to the Orange Bowl for the first time in program history.
Still, late-season success eluded Carolina after the 2019 season: UNC lost four consecutive bowl games between 2020 and 2023. The 2022 and 2023 seasons were marked by torrid starts and cold finishes: Drake Maye and the Tar Heels started 9-1 in 2022 but lost their last four games. In 2023, the team started 6-0 and reached the Top 10 again, only to lose five of its final seven games. Carolina has also lost three consecutive games to rival NC State, including contests in 2021 and 2022 which were decided on the final play.
Tuesday’s release said as Brown finishes out the season, Cunningham and UNC Chancellor Lee H. Roberts will begin the search for a new head coach. Brown’s release comes with three years left on his contract, which will remaining payments be paid by the Department of Athletics and not through state funds.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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