New Facilities Provide Optimism Heading Into UNC Football Training Camp

When head coach Mack Brown made the decision to return to UNC for a second stint in charge of the Tar Heels, he knew right away that the team would have to improve its facilities in order to keep current players happy and to help recruit new talent to Chapel Hill.

In order to fix that, the 67-year-old Hall-of-Famer did not waste time. He essentially went to the returning players and asked a simple question: What do you want?

A few short months later, with training camp set to open on Friday, the results are here and they are impressive.

Brown held a press conference on Wednesday, then took the media on a tour of the new facilities–which includes a new locker room, weight room, players lounge and a new state-of-the-art artificial turf field inside Kenan Stadium.

The new UNC football locker room. (Photo via Dakota Moyer)

“To see the faces of the players when they walk in, we had the seniors walk in first,” Brown told reporters. “We locked them out 10 days before, so they couldn’t see the locker room.

“To hear them, to see them snapping all their pictures and doing their videos—that was really heartwarming,” the coach continued. “It shows a true commitment from [Director of Athletics] Bubba [Cunningham] and [Interim Chancellor] Kevin [Guzkiewicz] and our administration here to get this thing fixed, and I think the players feel that.”

For a program that has won just five games over the last two seasons combined, these new facilities–and Brown’s presence–have provided a much-needed breath of fresh air.

The new players lounge includes a pair of pool tables, multiple TV’s, a ping-pong table, old-school arcade games like Mortal Kombat and even two pop-a-shot basketball machines.

Always known as one of the best salesmen in college football, Brown joked that he had given up on pop-a-shot now that he loses to his eight-year-old grandson, Drake.

(Photo via Avery Trendel)

He then promptly walked over to one of the machines and put a few shots up to prove his point, with a grin on his face the entire time.

It was a stunning contrast to the major media stories surrounding the team a year ago, when former head coach Larry Fedora questioned the legitimacy of research into concussions and CTE while also declaring that the game of football was “under attack.”

That same tone carried on throughout the rest of Brown’s tour, as he made sure to highlight just how important these changes are–both for the present and the future.

Ventilation systems in the lockers will now make sure that players never have to practice with wet shoulder pads or helmets. There’s now enough space in the weight room to fit the entire team in there, if needed. The new field turf provides a fantastic playing surface that should help to prevent injuries caused by the constant re-sodding that was previously a necessity.

When asked how important it was for UNC to compete in the facilities race throughout college football, Brown replied swiftly.

“You have to,” he said. “The players look at that as a commitment. Are they committed, and is [football] really important here or not?”

Despite not having played a single game yet in Brown’s return to Chapel Hill, the answer to that question is clear. For the first time in a long time, it feels as if this program has become a priority.

Obviously it will take wins to keep the optimism going over a long period of time, but so far Brown and his staff are off to a flying start.

Cover photo via Dakota Moyer