With the retirement of Nick Saban from Alabama, UNC football head coach Mack Brown became the oldest head coach in Division I football. The tenured head coach of the Tar Heels will turn 73 before the Minnesota game later this week.
Brown’s first head coaching gig came in 1978 with Appalachian State. With a brief offensive coordinator job with Oklahoma, Brown became the head coach of Tulane. His first stint with North Carolina came from 1988-1997.
He left UNC to be the head coach of Texas for 15 years before coming back to the ACC and the Tar Heels in 2019. He has been with the program ever since. This will be his 35th season as a head coach and his 14th in Chapel Hill.
He is also now the most winningest coach in college football with 282 wins as a head coach. With that type of age and tenure, the natural question that will start being asked is the timeline of retirement.
In an interview with Scott Fowler, Mack Brown had this to say about when he will retire.
Well, Roy retired at 70. Coach Saban retired at 72. Villanova’s coach, Jay Wright, retired at 60. So a lot of people are saying, “I’m not going to put up with this. I’m just not going to do it anymore.” And to me, it’s been more of I’m needed more right now than ever before. The game needs older people with experience that can help make some sense out of this stuff.
The kids need a balance. They need a soothing, confident influence. And I’m a better coach now than I’ve ever been because I’ve still got my energy, but I’ve got more experience and more confidence than I’ve ever had.
From the sounds of it, Brown is in this for the long haul, and despite getting the question asked more and sooner than ever, Brown is committed to the North Carolina Tar Heels and their football program.
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