What To Do About Mack Brown

​Each season, the Tar Heels show promise, appearing poised to make a strong run in the ACC and break into the Top-10, only for things to unravel. Mack Brown has demonstrated that he may not be the coach to elevate us beyond this point, and it’s time for a change. The inconsistency has grown tiresome, and it’s frustrating to see such talent, especially with generational quarterbacks, not translating into significant victories. It’s time for the Tar Heels to move forward and build upon the solid foundation that Brown has established.

Since Mack Brown took over the Carolina football program in 2019, the Tar Heels have posted a 41-28 record. This record looks decent, but it looks much less impressive when you factor in his 4-14 record against ranked opponents. 

During this run at Carolina, the Tar Heels' most significant win was against the Miami Hurricanes in 2020. Miami was ranked #9 in the Country at the time, and Carolina ranked 20th, but it didn't mean a whole lot because it was the last game of the season, and Carolina already had three losses under their belt, so there was no shot at competing for an ACC Title. Carolina would go on to play Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl that year but would come back to Chapel Hill empty-handed after losing 27-41. 

At one point during the 2020 season, Carolina was ranked #5 in the Country behind Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, and Notre Dame. This lasted only a short time because the week the AP placed them at #5, they would travel to Tallahassee and lose to Florida State 28-31. This win for Florida State was one of their three wins of the 2020 season. 

Lastly, Mack Brown's only contribution to the Carolina Trophy Room since 2019 is a Military Bowl Trophy. Nowadays, when players are transferring out before the bowl games are played, a bowl win doesn't carry as much weight as it used to. Despite that, Carolina has gone 1-4 in Bowl Games since 2019 and has only competed in one ACC Title Game in 2022, where Clemson manhandled the Heels. 

So, where am I going with all this? This blog is in response to Carolina's 70-50 loss to the James Madison Dukes last Saturday and Brown's message to the team after the game. 

As reported by David Hale with ESPN, "Mack Brown said he told his team that if players didn't feel they were getting the leadership they needed from him, he would step aside. A number of people in the locker room left believing the 73-year-old Brown planned to step down, but on Monday, he said that was a misinterpretation while taking full responsibility for the rumors that swirled after an emotional meeting in the locker room.
"I shouldn't have put that pressure on them, so I'm disappointed in me," Brown said. "I love my job, I love these kids, and I love this place. That's why I hate losing so much.""

The question now has to be asked: Is it time for Carolina to move on from Mack Brown? Mack Brown was brought in to bring some stability to the program after Larry Fedora had back-to-back seasons with three or fewer wins, and he did a fantastic job doing so. Brown has laid a good foundation for someone else to come in and build from, but I feel if we don't let go of Brown at the end of this season, the Tar Heels will never win 8 or 9 games each season, but will never win anything of real significance. 

Inconsistency plagues Mack Brown's Carolina Teams. Again, I will bring up the 2020 season, when we started off 3-0 with wins against Syracuse, Boston College, and #19 Virginia Tech, but then we lost to a 1-3 Florida State team whose only win was against Jacksonville State, which was in the FCS at the time. The next week, Carolina bounced back, beating in-state rival #23 NC State, but the next week, we lost to Virgina, who only had one win.

I use the 2020 season as an example because Carolina has a ton of losses against unranked opponents when we were supposed to win those games. In 2021, we started the season with a loss to Virginia Tech as the #10 team in the nation then a few weeks later we lost to a Georgia Tech team that would have two FCS wins all season. 

2022 was a little better because we had a 9-1 record heading into our matchup against Georgia Tech, who was 4-6 at the time. We lost the next four games against Georgia Tech, NC State, Clemson in the ACC Title game, and Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. 

In 2023, Carolina started 6-0 and worked their way up to be the #10 team in the country before falling to Virginia (1-5 at the time with a win against an FCS opponent) and Georgia Tech (3-4 with one win against an FCS opponent). After these two losses, Carolina would finish 2-3 with a win against Campbell (FCS) and Duke and losses to Clemson, NC State, and West Virginia in the Dukes Mayo Bowl. 

Each season, the Tar Heels look like they will make a good run in the ACC and crack into the Top-10 before things start falling apart. Mack Brown has proven that he is not the answer to get us over that hump, and it is time to move on. The inconsistency is becoming old. The winning nothing while having generatonal quarterbacks is becoming old. It is time for the Tar Heels to move on and build off the foundation Brown has built for us.