Mack Brown has come up with another cool recruiting gimmick.
Mack and Sally Brown recently moved into their beautifully restored house in the historic district of Chapel Hill. Those who have toured it say it is undoubtedly the work of Mrs. Brown, who was building luxury homes and neighborhoods in Chapel Hill when she met Mack in the fall of 1992.
Buying, remodeling, restoring houses became Sally’s passion when the Browns moved to Texas in 1998, and imagine how hard it was to sell a home owned by the Longhorns football coach and remade by his wife. Not very.
So after the Browns returned to Chapel Hill for their second stint coaching the Tar Heels, Sally found an older house on a cherished downtown street that was barely within one mile of the football office, which would allow Brown to entertain recruits who were on unofficial visits to Chapel Hill (it’s another nonsensical NCAA rule that no one seems to understand).
It took the architect and builder Sally picked two years to basically gut and rebuild the home. And it has a special touch that has already resonated with one recruit, a junior quarterback from Cornelius, NC, who visited Chapel Hill over the weekend.
The golf simulator Brown installed at the house allowed Tad Hudson, the Nations’ No. 13 QB in the high school class of 2023, to play the famed Pebble Beach course with his dad from the warmth of the Brown’s home. “There is no other school in the country where you can do that,” Hudson told 247 Sports. “At least that I know of, so that was pretty cool.”
Brown and the Tar Heels can’t compete, dollar-wise, with the 100 million Clemson dropped on its new football center, but bet you if the Tigers don’t have a golf simulator, they will shortly, since they are also on Hudson’s early short list.
In case you’re wondering, golf simulators run from $5,000 to $50,000, plus whatever license you have to buy to put Pebble and other iconic courses on it. Brown is known to not skimp when it comes to recruiting, even if he had to spring for the machine himself.
No worries. A business expense and nice tax write-off for Mack!
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
