Before hiring Bill Belichick to become the new head coach, North Carolina fired Mack Brown. And Brown recently had some things to say about whether Belichick will fare better than Brown did in Chapel Hill.
Appearing on SiriusXM College Sports Radio (via Nick Schultz of On3.com), [Brown said this](https://www.on3.com/college/north-carolina-tar-heels/news/mack-brown-unc-invested-money-lowered-academic-standards-help-bill-belichick-succeed/): “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 those standards some. So there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t be successful. And . . . they’ve changed the roster. . . . 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.”
Brown is walking a bit of a tightrope here. On the surface, he’s being very positive. But his comments carry a little of that homespun, “bless his heart” edge. Or, more bluntly, it’s extremely passive-aggressive.
They fired Brown. They hired Belichick. They raised the money bar. They lowered the grades bar. Brown’s unspoken point seems to be this: “They could have done this stuff for me.”
So, basically, they’ve hired a great coach other than Brown, and they’re putting a thumb or two on the scale to help the new coach they’ve hired. Which they didn’t do for Brown.
Eventually (we think), we’ll learn the names of some of the North Carolina non-employees other than Jordon Hudson (_i.e._, the UNC football players).