Mack Brown is worried about the future of college football.
He obviously loves his job and is building another power at UNC, which is lucky to have him back. But the Hall of Famer is concerned about the game he has played and coached for his entire adult life.
Brown says the NIL (Name-Image-Likeness) controversy has been dropped into the schools’ laps because the NCAA knew it would lose court cases and doesn’t have the structure to deal with it. Brown calls it “dangerous.” He wants the players to benefit, but someone has to figure out how to implement and manage their individual marketing rights across a level playing field of college athletics.
Mack won’t say it publicly, but the NCAA couldn’t control the agents and washed its hands of trying to regulate them, which is why more players than ever are opting out of bowl games and, in some cases, going into the transfer portal when they think their progress toward the pros is being stunted.
“I think more than 2,000 (football) players have entered the portal,” Brown said. “Last year it turned out good for about 37 percent. I think it is encouraging young people to quit at the first sign of trouble.”
While Carolina picked up super senior RB Ty Chandler from Tennessee to help fill the void left by Michael Carter and Javonte Williams entering the draft, Brown says his strategy is to recruit “the right ones and treat them fair, and then they won’t want to leave.”
All of this leads Brown to the same conclusion he has had for years: that college football needs a commissioner (as does college basketball) to oversee the rules that are being interpreted differently by the conferences and, in some case, the schools within a league.
Until this unusual season, at least, the NCAA has proven it can run events successfully. For everything else, doesn’t it make more sense for each sport, with its indigenous regulations, to have a commissioner like the MLB, NBA, NFL and every other pro league? That person probably should come from coaching.
Brown, one of the great ambassadors for his sport, would be perfect for the job with experience in every respect. Unfortunately for the good of the game, UNC just renewed his contract through 2025.
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