While Brown should have been celebrated, his UNC future had become alarming

By David Glenn

Looking back, it’s easy to conclude that Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown deserved more time leading North Carolina’s football program.

However, looking forward, it gradually became almost impossible to reach the same conclusion.

UNC fired Brown, who turns 74 next summer, on Tuesday, a day after the coach said he intended to coach the Tar Heels in 2025.

“Mack Brown has won more games than any other football coach in UNC history, and we deeply appreciate everything he has done for Carolina football and our university,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “Over the last six seasons – his second season in Chapel Hill – he has earned our team six bowl berths, including an Orange Bowl, while overseeing 18 NFL draft picks. …

“Coach Brown has put the Carolina football program back in the national conversation by improving the program’s facilities, significantly expanding staff, investing in salaries and strengthening our nutrition, strength and conditioning programs. He was also a dedicated fundraiser, strengthening the football foundation while supporting our other sports programs.

“We thank Coach Brown for his commitment to Carolina and wish him, Sally and their family all the best.”

During Brown’s first tenure (1988–97) in Chapel Hill, he orchestrated perhaps the greatest success in UNC football history. While the Tar Heels fell short of the ACC title, largely because their peak overlapped with legendary coach Bobby Bowden’s dynasty at Florida State, they achieved many other rare or even unprecedented program milestones.

Brown’s 1997 team, which finished 11-1 and was ranked No. 4 in the coaches’ poll, may have been the best in school history. Carolina has crushed most of its opponents and has had nine double-digit wins. The 1948 Tar Heels (9-1-1 under coach Carl Snavely) were the only UNC football team to ever achieve a higher national ranking, ranking No. 3 nationally based on their 9-0-1 regular season record there was no poll after the bowl games, and the Heels probably would have fallen behind by at least a few points after their 14-6 Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma.

From 1990 to 1997, Brown enjoyed eight straight winning seasons in Chapel Hill, capped by national top-10 finishes in 1996 (10-2) and 1997 (11-1). The only other time in UNC football history that the Tar Heels had such a winning streak was in the early days of the college game, when – under five different head coaches! – They had nine straight winning campaigns from 1897 to 1905.

During Brown’s current tenure (2019-24), he stabilized and revitalized a program that had finished 3-9 and 2-9 in the final two seasons of the Larry Fedora era.

The Tar Heels end this season with their sixth straight bowl game. In 2020, they played in the Orange Bowl for the first time in program history and finished in the national top 25 (at 8-4) for just the second time in the last 27 years. In 2022, they went 9-5 and played for the second time in program history in the ACC Championship Game.

Just as he did in the 1990s, Brown also changed the way prospects viewed UNC football during his second tenure in Chapel Hill.

Sam Howell and Drake Maye were two of the best quarterback prospects to ever emerge from North Carolina’s high school ranks. Howell originally committed to play at Florida State. Maye originally committed to play at Alabama. Thanks largely to Brown, both Howell and Maye eventually signed with the Tar Heels. After their brilliant, record-setting careers in Chapel Hill, they are now considered one of the best quarterbacks the National Football League has ever produced.

All of these were spectacular accomplishments from Brown, especially given the modern state of UNC football, which has not won a single ACC championship since 1980. Since 1982, the Tar Heels have finished in the national top 25 just seven times; Six of those teams were coached by Brown.

Lately, however, UNC football has just seemed stuck in an above-average state, perhaps trending toward true mediocrity…or worse.

Rounding the numbers, Brown’s average record during his second UNC tenure is about 7-5. While the Tar Heels have made five straight bowl games, they have lost the last four, most recently a 30-10 loss to West Virginia in the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Their extremely promising 2022 and 2023 campaigns crashed with demoralizing late-season setbacks back to earth. They have lost three straight games to archival NC State.

Perhaps most concerning is that Brown also appears to have lost track of recruiting. An impressive run of six straight bowl games would be viewed more optimistically if the next generation of special talent was on its way to Chapel Hill, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Among current high school graduates whose first opportunity to sign with their college choice is next week (Dec. 4-6), only one of the top 20 ranked prospects in North Carolina has committed to Brown and the Tar Heels decided. When it comes to in-state recruiting, this is UNC’s worst performance since the 1980s.

Overall, UNC’s 2025 recruiting class is currently ranked 77th nationally, according to 247Sports. Under Brown, the Tar Heels finished 14th in these rankings in 2020, 14th in 2021, 11th in 2022, 31st in 2023 and 26th in 2024. According to the (more reliable) basketball recruiting rankings, this is an extremely alarming one Decline.

Likewise, Carolina’s recruiting through the transfer portal is down.

Ahead of the 2023 season, Brown found a variety of impactful players in the portal, including offensive guard Willie Lampkin (Coastal Carolina), cornerback Alijah Huzzie (East Tennessee State), wide receiver Tez Walker (Kent State) and cornerback Armani Chatman (Virginia Tech ), defensive end Amari Gainer (Florida State), free safety Antavious Lane (Georgia State) and wide receiver Nate McCollum (Georgia Tech). All became starters for the Tar Heels, and Lampkin, Huzzie and Walker became stars. Walker and Gainer are in the NFL.

However, heading into the 2024 season, Carolina was largely sniffing around the portal while Miami, SMU, Duke, Syracuse, Louisville, Pittsburgh, NC State and other ACC teams found some of the best players on their roster. Only four new transfers have become regular starters for the Tar Heels this season: Jacolby Criswell (Arkansas via UNC), left tackle Howard Sampson (North Texas), center Austin Blaske (Georgia) and strong safety Jakeen Harris (NC State). . While they all had good moments this fall, none are considered realistic All-ACC candidates.

Looking ahead, some of North Carolina’s top high school juniors have already announced their college commitments, and none have chosen the Tar Heels. They chose Tennessee, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Miami, all schools that are currently ranked in the national top 25.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, UNC fans should be grateful for Brown’s legendary contributions to UNC football in both the 1990s and the last six years.

However, hopes for a Happy New Year in 2025 under Brown are much harder to believe.

UNC football’s present is mediocre. The future of UNC football has become alarming. That’s why now was the right time for a change.

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David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, author and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered North Carolina sports since 1987.

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