Inside Carolina has the Mack Brown story right on the money.

This is a tough week for Mack and Sally Brown. Cedric Benson, an all-star running back and one of the Browns’ favorite players at Texas, was killed in a motorcycle crash. His funeral is Saturday and the Browns will be there to celebrate and mourn Benson’s life and death.

Also this week, Inside Carolina came out with a long-form story on Brown’s Hall of Fame career and why he has been so successful as a coach, a mentor and a friend to so many people over the years. Matt Morgan went back to Brown getting the job at Carolina in late 1987 and how he connected immediately with players he inherited.  Kennard Martin was a troubled and talented running back who was fighting the imprinting of drug and alcohol addiction in his family, and when Martin kept fumbling the ball in practice, a 37-year-old Brown dug way deeper than this kid as a football player and found out what was truly bugging him. With Mack’s guidance, Martin became a very good player and person for the Tar Heels.

Morgan went back to how and why Brown got the Carolina job with a so-so record as a head coach at Tulane. It was the relationship with UNC athletic director John Swofford, and these two under 40s clicked on what the Carolina program needed following Dick Crum, the football coach with the most wins in Chapel Hill but a personality that turned off alumni and fans during a losing streak.

There were more experienced candidates, some with way better records than Mack, but Swofford said he was looking for a coach “who could build relationships, starting with the players, the students, the faculty, the alumni, the high school coaches and the media—someone who could reach out to our constituencies and make them feel a part of Carolina Football. We wanted a leader and a motivator with an enthusiasm and a passion for college football. We wanted a coach with an aggressive, effective and entertaining offensive philosophy.”  Brown checked all of those boxes.

His career at UNC and Texas has left a wake of people who trusted Brown from recruiting through graduation, and while all his players didn’t turn out to be great, they were part of a family that is still growing.

Read Matt Morgan’s long-form piece on Mack Brown at Inside Carolina.com, which is the independent website that covers the Tar Heels and can tell the whole story. This one is well worth the read.

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