Tag: Mack Brown

Programs likely to re-recruit UNC football’s top 2025 commit

How will UNC’s top Class of 2025 football recruit be affected by the Mack Brown firing?

Big news shook the North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday, with athletic director Bubba Cunningham announcing the firing of head football coach Mack Brown.

This move comes a day after Brown announced he wants to return in 2025. Fans don’t feel the same way, though, fed up with Brown’s coaching letdowns throughout UNC’s current season.

One of the greatest areas affected by a coaching chance is a team’s recruiting cycle: and for North Carolina, that could include the de-commitment of its top Class of 2025 player.

Bryce Baker, a 4-star quarterback from East Forsyth High School in Kernersville, NC who’s leading his team through an undefeated season and playoff run, is the commit in question.

Look at what Baker’s father, Michael, had to say about Brown’s firing and Bryce’s future:

“We need to talk as family to process this unfortunate news,” Michael Baker told On3 Sports’ Steve Wiltfong. “We’ll speak as a family tonight with Bryce to figure out what Bryce’s future will look like.”

If Baker decides to de-commit, he wouldn’t be the first to do so from the Tar Heels.

On Tuesday afternoon, Class of 2026 edge rusher Zavion-Griffin Haynes re-opened his recruitment. Days before Brown’s firing, 2025 4-star offensive tackle Alex Payne announced he was doing the same.

Baker announced his commitment to North Carolina back in June 2023. East Forsyth is just under 90 minutes from Kenan Stadium – and I can’t imagine passing up the opportunity to play in your home state, despite a coaching change.

If you want the full scoop on UNC commitments and de-commitments, make sure you follow along with our tracker.

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Former Texas Head Coach Mack Brown fired by North Carolina

Former Texas Head Coach Mack Brown fired by North Carolina.

Former Texas Head Coach Mack Brown, who led the Longhorns to a 2005 National Championship, was fired by his current University, North Carolina. ESPN announced on Tuesday that Mack Brown was informed that we would not be returning to the Tar Heels next season.

The move comes one day after the Hall of Fame coach declared his intentions to return to the Tar Heels. Brown will coach the team’s final game against rival NC State.

“While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time,” Brown said in a statement. “I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and will always cherish the memories and relationships Sally and I have built while serving as head coach.

Mack Brown, the winningest football coach in UNC history, has had a storied career with 288 FBS wins, ranking eighth all-time. Across two tenures at North Carolina, he achieved a 113-78-1 record, including an ACC championship game appearance in 2022.

Brown is the only FBS coach with 100+ wins at two schools. Over the past six seasons, he led UNC to six bowl games, mentored 18 NFL draft picks, and enhanced the program’s facilities, staff, and resources. Despite three years left on his $5 million annual contract, Brown will step down after the season following months of speculation about his future.

During his 16 seasons at Texas, Brown led the Longhorns to a 158-48 record (.767), highlighted by a 2005 National Championship, 11 bowl wins, and nine consecutive 10-win seasons, a streak second only in NCAA history.

North Carolina Tar Heels announce that football coach Mack Brown won’t be back in 2025

The North Carolina Tar Heels will part ways with legendary football coach Mack Brown after the season, the school announced on Tuesday.

After Saturday’s 41-21 loss to Boston College, the North Carolina Tar Heels football team is preparing for an offseason coaching change.

The school announced on Tuesday that legendary coach Mack Brown won’t be back for 2025 despite initially being under contract through the 2027 season.

Brown first coached UNC from 1988-97, a tenure that started with consecutive 1-10 seasons before ending with back-to-back 10-win seasons. He left Chapel Hill for the Texas Longhorns, where he won a national championship in 2005 before he stepped away from coaching in 2013.

He chose to return to Chapel Hill in 2019, and he’s won at least six games in all six seasons since. However, despite his program-leading 113 wins in 16 seasons, the Tar Heels suffered some embarrassing losses in 2024. UNC gave up 70 points to James Madison in their home stadium in Week 4 and blew a 20-0 lead over the Duke Blue Devils in Durham before letting Boston College quarterback Grayson James lead a 20-point victory in his third start with the Eagles.

Saturday’s loss dropped the team to 6-5 for the season with three wins in its last eight games.

Despite a headline earlier this season that insinuated Brown asked his players if he should step away, the UNC coach insisted he wanted to return for next season.

North Carolina parts ways with an all-time great, head coach Mack Brown

UNC is looking for a new head coach.

North Carolina announced it has fired head football coach Mack Brown, which officially closes a remarkable second tenure in Chapel Hill.

Athletic director Bubba Cunningham credited Brown’s legacy at UNC football, calling him the winningest coach in the history of the program. With  Brown, the Tar Heels went to six bowl games, including an Orange Bowl, and produced 18 NFL draft picks. Beyond football, he and his wife, Sally, were outstanding contributors to the community, raising funds for the UNC Children’s Hospital and hosting events such as the Ladies Day Clinic.

Against those successes, however, was a six-season record of 44-32 for Brown that included four consecutive bowl losses. He also led the program through traumatic times, including the tragic death this season of wide receiver Tylee Craft. Cunningham credited Brown for improvements within the program, including upgraded facilities, expanded staff, enhanced nutrition programs, and increased support for athletics.

Brown, the oldest active coach in college football and one of just three with a national championship in addition to Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart, told his team about the decision Monday morning. The always optimistic Brown had told people publicly he wanted to coach longer than 2024, but the university officials decided otherwise.

His legacy at North Carolina includes not just wins, but a broader cultural and structural transformation of the football program. The university has yet to announce plans for a successor.

North Carolina fires head coach Mack Brown

Mack Brown is out at North Carolina

Mack Brown said he wanted to return as North Carolina’s head football coach for the 2025 season. The school had other ideas.

The veteran coach was fired by the Tar Heels on Tuesday,

The Tar Heels are 6-5 in a disappointing season.

Overall, at UNC Brown’s record is 44-32 in his second run as Tar Heels head coach.

UNC football, Mack Brown to part ways after 2024 season

Mack Brown will not return to the UNC football program after the 2024 season.

The North Carolina Tar Heels football program is preparing for its regular season finale on this weekend as they host NC State before playing in their bowl game. With just two games left, the future of head coach Mack Brown is in question.

On Tuesday morning, that decision was reportedly made.

Per Inside Carolina, Mack Brown will exit UNC after the 2024 season, coaching his final two games with the Tar Heels. The news comes just a day after Brown said he had not had conversations with Bubba Cunningham regarding his job and wouldn’t until after the season.

However, Inside Carolina is reporting that there were conversations on Monday night and the decision was made:

Mack Brown will not coach UNC beyond the 2024 season, Inside Carolina sources have confirmed. The decision was reached by school officials during conversations on Monday. Brown informed the team on Tuesday morning, sources confirmed.

The Tar Heels have had a turbulent 2024 season, starting off 3-0 before losing four straight games. They rebounded by winning three straight games to become bowl-eligible. But Saturday’s loss to Boston College was another embarrassing performance was another indication that they needed to go in another direction.

Now, North Carolina will begin its head coach search as they need to find a replacement to get this program back where it needs to be.

This was the second stint for Brown at North Carolina, coaching the program from 1988-97. He was hired in 2018 after the Tar Heels fired Larry Fedora and has led them to a bowl game in every season since.

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Mack Brown updates future plans as UNC head coach

How much longer will Mack Brown be coaching the Tar Heels?

There’s no question that Mack Brown returning to Chapel Hill gave the UNC football program a needed boost, particularly after how Larry Fedora’s tenure ended.

Despite Brown leading North Carolina to bowl games in each year since he came back in 2019, Brown’s coaching abilities have repeatedly come into question, particularly this season.

Recently, Brown said he plans to coach past 2024. He also revealed, though, he hasn’t talked with UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham about his future.

“You never talk to your athletic director until the year’s over,” Brown said in his Monday afternoon press conference. “Everybody always does that. My total focus is on NC State. What an awful thing to be talking about me when we just played a bad game and need to beat (NC) State.”

The Tar Heels (6-5, 3-4) ACC are fresh off yet another embarrassing loss, falling 41-21 to Boston College on Saturday in Massachusetts. North Carolina was trailing 41-7 – yes, a 34-point deficit – until freshman running back Davion Gause scored two garbage-time touchdowns.

On Saturday, Nov. 16, the air surrounding Brown was positive once again. He led UNC to its third-straight win, holding off Wake Forest at home by a 31-24 margin, to help UNC clinch bowl eligibility for the sixth-consecutive season.

The Tar Heels started 2024 with three straight wins, then endured four straight losses, including an alarming, 70-50 home defeat against James Madison.

North Carolina started 2022 with a 9-1 record, then 2023 with a 6-0 mark, putting itself in fringe College Football Playoff contention. In each of UNC’s past two seasons, however, late-season collapses had fans questions Mack again.

I really like Mack as a coach, but I can see why fans are frustrated. Mack won a National Championship at Texas, so Tar Heel Nation is expecting a championship-caliber program.

If North Carolina can beat NC State on Saturday, the air surrounding Brown will be positive once again – and that result might influence Cunningham’s decision.

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Analyst calls Mack Brown ‘wrong’ for believing he should return next season

Dan Wolken believes it would be the ‘wrong’ decision for Mack Brown to return.

The future of the North Carolina Tar Heel’s football program likely rests on one big decision this offseason. Will Mack Brown return for another season or will he retire?

Brown got emotional after North Carolina’s blowout loss to James Madison back in September but regrouped and decided to stay head coach. The Tar Heels went on a three-game win streak to get bowl eligible and days later, a report stated that Brown was expecting to return.

But that would be the wrong move for a number of reasons per Dan Wolken of the USA TODAY Sports.

In his misery index for Week 13, Wolken led with Brown and the Tar Heels after another embarrassing loss, this time at the hands of Boston College.

Wolken believes if Brown returns, it will be the wrong decision for the program.

At 73 years old, long past the point where his contemporaries have either quit or been pushed out of their last coaching jobs, Brown still thinks he’s the best person on Planet Earth to be the head football coach at North Carolina.

He’s wrong, of course. Incredibly wrong. Embarrassingly wrong, as Saturday’s 41-21 loss to Boston College showed.

And yet, Brown is apparently going to run the same play he did 11 years ago when it was obvious to everyone but him that it was over at Texas. Instead of bowing out gracefully and handing off to the next generation, Brown is going to force North Carolina to fire him.

It’s been a common thing to think that Brown would step down on his own terms when he’s ready to retire. But as Wolken said, UNC may have to step in and fire Brown if they want to get this program on track.

Watching some of these embarrassing losses this season, it’s pretty clear that this program needs a change. Will UNC make that change? That’s the big question.

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Mack Brown’s plans with UNC football revealed per report

Mack Brown’s future is being decided and he plans to stay.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have had a rocky 2024 season, leaving questions about the future of the program under Mack Brown. After an embarrassing 70-50 loss to James Madison in September, rumors swirled that Brown was ready to retire and move on.

But since then, there has been water thrown onto that fire and the Tar Heels have a three-game win streak and are bowl eligible again.

Matt Zentiz of 247Sports and CBS Sports is reporting that Brown is telling players, staff and recruits that he plans on staying at North Carolina for at least another season:

Brown is telling people at North Carolina, including staff and players along with recruits, that he plans to remain the Tar Heels’ head coach beyond this season, sources tell CBS Sports and 247Sports.

The UNC administration has not commented in recent months on Brown’s status past the 2024 season. Brown is under contract through the 2027 season.

Despite that four-game losing streak earlier in the season, the head coach has found a way to turn things around behind a stellar defense and good quarterback play fro Jacolby Criswell.

They have a chance to finish the season strong with wins over Boston College and NC State heading into their bowl game.

The 73-year-old Brown has won 288 games in his career with 158 coming at Texas where he won a national championship. He has 113 wins at North Carolina in two stints and then 11 wins at Tulane.

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Mack Brown ends losing streak to Florida State

UNC football head coach Mack Brown beat Florida State for the first time in his career on Saturday.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have another win streak going this season, winning two straight on the road. On Saturday, the Tar Heels followed up a dominating performance against Virginia with a big win at Florida State this week.

And not only did they get a win, but Mack Brown accomplished something he has never done — beat Florida State.

Saturday marked the first time in Brown’s career that he has beaten his alma mater. Going into the game, Brown was 0-11 all-time against Florida State dating back to his coaching stops at Tulane and North Carolina.  Brown played at Florida State in his college career and then spent two seasons as an assistant on the football team.

The legendary coach has accomplished a lot in his career and adding beating Florida State is important for him. Throughout Brown’s coaching career, he’s had some bad losses to the Seminoles including in 1993 with No. 13 UNC losing to No. 1 Florida State, then a top-five matchup in 1997.

Most recently, UNC has lost to Florida State as the No. 5 team in 2020 and then again in 2021. So getting a win is huge not only for Brown but for the program in general.

With Florida State having arguably the most disappointing season in all of college football this year, taking advantage of that was key. Now, let’s see if UNC can get another win and be bowl bound.

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