Roy Williams’ retirement resonated with Mack Brown.

After UNC’s Hall of Fame basketball coach said he was no longer “the right man for the job,” it seemed natural to ask his famous football counterpart if taking five years off means even more to him now.

Brown said he felt like what Williams described during his last of 16 seasons at Texas in 2013. “I was worn out, after 26 straight years in two places,” Brown said. “In coaching, there is no sabbatical.”

While working for ESPN for five years and being around coaches, Brown realized how much he missed it.  But there was only one place he and his wife Sally would go to resume their coaching career.

“Truly, I didn’t want to do this unless it was Chapel Hill,” he said. “Sally was kidding about the Bahamas and Hawaii. We would go back to Carolina if the situation was right. When the job came open, Bubba asked me if I was interested. I told him I didn’t want to interview and be one of five candidates. He said everyone was on board, so the only person I had to ask was Sally. She said, ‘Let’s do this.’”

Brown always had criteria where he wanted to coach. A good academic school, somewhere you didn’t have to cheat to win, and a great place to live. Appalachian State, Tulane, Carolina and Texas checked all those boxes. Texas had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and there was one other reason Mack needed to come back.

“I wanted to give Sally back the life I took away from her when we went to Austin,” Mack said. “She was making more money than I was, her business was established and she was involved in the community and favorite charities. And she had so many friends here.”

Brown said they were done with coaching unless they could come back to Carolina and the circumstances were right. He had rebuilt the Tar Heels program once, and after talking with Bubba Cunningham he thought they could do it again.

Now, on the verge of having another top ten team, Brown says he has more energy than ever, largely because he took that sabbatical to recharge his battery without losing his passion for the game and coaching kids. “We knew people here, and it’s a state we both love,” Brown said.

It’s also a true love story you can’t make up.

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