It’s been some months since UNC parted ways with now former head coach Mack Brown in exchanged for former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. We hadn’t heard much from Brown since everything happened, but Dusty Dvoracek and Danny Kanell from SiriusXM College Sports Radio got to do an interview with him to discuss the state of the program, and as one would expect, Brown had some interesting things to say.
> “It was time for me…North Carolina didn’t have NIL money, and I said that we were kind of a slow bleed. We weren’t able to recruit the top kids like we were when we first got there. So, it was time for them and it was time for me, so it was kind of like a divorce. Everybody was ready. It’s just who and how and how you split it at the end.
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> “So it was best for me to get out. We always built programs on fit and in the last couple of years there we were having to get parents with money, we were trying to get players over a 3.0, because that’s who we could get. We signed 26 players at North Carolina next to last year, high school players, and didn’t pay them a penny. I felt guilty because we even had Omarion Hampton, he got offered a million plus to leave and he stayed for $300,000. I told him he should leave, because it was just crazy as you were looking at those things.
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> “As far as North Carolina and Bill Belichick now, he’s arguably the best coach ever. They’ve committed money to it, they’ve helped him with academics. They’ve lowered the standards some, so there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t be successful. And anymore, they’ve changed the roster, I think they’ve signed 60 something new transfers. So you’ve got a chance to succeed at the highest level, and I expect him to do that and I’m proud for him.”
There’s a lot to unpack from what Brown said during this interview, which is why I thought it was important to share the entire quote from the tweet. But let’s start with the NIL thing: it’s interesting that the way Brown simply saw NIL as being a slow bleed as far as money goes, but didn’t take the time to address why that was. Donors/NIL entities were energized when Mack Brown returned to Chapel Hill, mostly because of his proven track record. He found a way to sell out Kenan pretty regularly, the money was flowing in, and there was even new facilities built for players on campus. So then what changed? Was it losing four bowl games in a row after his first season back? Was it not having a single 10+ games? Perhaps struggling to even win a bad Coastal Division? Just thinking out loud here.
It’s also interesting to me that Mack Brown keeps saying that it was just time for him to leave. As I recall, Brown said that [he planned to stay with the program](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/42623049/north-carolina-fires-football-coach-mack-brown) the day before UNC fired him, which seems to be a more accurate representation of what happened. Why say you plan to stay, only to mysteriously decide the next day that “it was time to leave?” The only thing I can think of is that someone is lying, and I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t Bubba Cunningham and the way too handsy UNC Board of Directors.
Finally, there’s the Bill Belichick part of our broadcast. I want to be clear: I don’t think Mack Brown is lying when he talks about money/academic standards changing for Bill Belichick. In fact, I would be willing to bet that academic standards in particularly are changing across the country in favor of having/retaining the best players that teams are able to acquire. College sports need to spend money to make money now more than ever, and something has to be sacrificed in the process. With that said, my issue is that the way Brown said it just sounds like sour grapes. It’s hard to not hear/read what he said and not hear it like: “I would’ve been able to have a great football team if they gave me the money and gave players an easier academic path. Bill is going to get all this credit despite having an easier path to success. HRMPH!!!”
Tell me I am lying.
Look, Mack Brown is a pretty established figure in Carolina football lore, and nobody can take away what he was able to do at either UNC or Texas. I really don’t enjoy picking on him like this, but the way he handled the 2024 season, the aftermath, and his second retirement has been non-stop gaslighting. We all saw the missteps made during Mack Brown 2.0 era, and while I am willing to concede that more money could’ve been invested into NIL, I have to point out that they were very willing to spend that money after he left. Again, why is that? Is it that they had more faith in giving Belichick that money than you? Why would that be? I’m simply asking questions here.
Now that I have stepped down from my soap box, what do you all think about Mack Brown’s comments? Do you agree with anything he said? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comments below.