‘I think it’s time to go’: How Mack Brown’s disappointing sendoff epitomized second UNC tenure
In a different, more just world, Mack Brown would’ve had the ideal and storybook sendoff on Saturday at Kenan Stadium. He would’ve left the field riding atop his players’ shoulders, victorious. The crowd would’ve been chanting his name. He and his wife, Sally, would’ve disappeared into the tunnel hand-in-hand, leaving in their trail a scene of jubilation after one more happy memory.
Reality, though, has always had a pesky habit of interfering ever since Brown returned to North Carolina in late 2018. He arrived talking the big talk — of winning “now,” and of competing with Clemson for supremacy in the ACC. He wanted to lead the Tar Heels back to where they were toward the end of his first tenure, in the mid-1990s, and that was always the best-case scenario.
The most realistic case? Well, how everything actually played out was probably pretty close.
There were some dizzying highs, especially early in Brown’s comeback, and some confounding lows. And it ended Saturday in a 35-30 defeat against N.C. State that, fair or not, somehow epitomized a lot of Mack 2.0 — the good, the bad and, especially, the disappointing, unfulfilling ending.
The Tar Heels were close, as they’ve often been the past several years. They had their chances. They benefited from a brilliant performance from a gifted skill player, only to waste it, ultimately. They couldn’t hold a lead when it counted. They couldn’t come up with a stop. Just one, in the final minute. They couldn’t fulfill their promise and they couldn’t deliver Brown his perfect ending.
It almost happened, at least. Almost.
Wolfpack spoils Mack Brown’s ending
When Omarion Hampton turned a short reception into a 47-yard touchdown with a little less than two minutes remaining, the home fans at Kenan Stadium erupted. UNC held a tenuous 30-29 lead. Brown stood on the sideline, headset on, an ideal ending within sight. And then all he could do was watch while the Wolfpack made its way down the field with ease.
A 10-yard gain. Consecutive seven-yard plays. A 10-yard UNC penalty. A 44-yard pass from CJ Bailey to Noah Rogers, who made the catch between two defenders. Another UNC penalty, for five yards. A 10-yard run, to the Tar Heels’ 2-yard line.
On the sideline, after a timeout, Brown put his hands on his knees and leaned forward, attempting to impart some kind of will in his defense to make a stop. A few steps behind him his wife, Sally, watched with a sense of helplessness. The Wolfpack scored moments later and when time expired there was no picking up Brown and carrying him off. There was no celebration, at all.
Assuming this was, in fact, Brown’s final game as a head coach — a reasonable thought, given he’s 73 and was the oldest FBS head coach in the country — then it was a particularly unceremonious ending. It might not have been the ending he deserved after a career that spanned more than 50 years but it was always the one that appeared most likely when he came back six years ago.
‘Disappointed in the way it was done’
College football is a young(er) man’s game, after all. Outside of Nick Saban, few aging coaches ever exit gracefully, or seem to know when it’s time. Bobby Bowden didn’t. Joe Paterno didn’t, even amid the emergence of a reprehensible sexual assault scandal that tarnished his reputation. And at UNC, Brown gave no indication that he was ready, either, before the school fired him on Tuesday.
Saturday night, speaking publicly for the first time since that announcement, he said he had, in fact, agreed that it was time for a change. It was in complete contradiction to what he’d said just five days earlier, during his weekly press conference, when he said he planned to be back and that he had no intention to retire.
“I agree with the administration that we needed a change in leadership at the top,” Brown said after the defeat against N.C. State. “I just wanted it to happen after the season.”
During a winding, 15-minute statement, Brown reiterated that several times:
“I was just disappointed in the way it was done,” he said of his firing, which came in a statement UNC released Tuesday morning.
“We could’ve had a joint press conference,” Brown said. “ ... We could’ve worked all this out where I worked here for a while. But that didn’t happen.”
If anything, his team’s performance Saturday underscored that Bubba Cunningham, the UNC athletics director, made the right decision. That may be harsh but it’s true. The Tar Heels sleepwalked through the first quarter, failing to generate even a single first down, despite having everything to play for — the chance to give Brown a nice sendoff, yes, but also to keep N.C. State from becoming bowl eligible.
And then, by the time UNC awoke in the second half, it never put the Wolfpack away. This defeat was a microcosm of Brown’s entire second tenure in Chapel Hill, and was representative of so many Tar Heels’ losses over the past several seasons — the past four of which, by the way, came with a regular season-ending loss against the Wolfpack.
A lot of good, but ...
When Brown got things going at Carolina during his first go-round, he made a habit of never losing to State or Duke. The mythical state championship is a thing because Brown emphasized winning it so much back then. Duke was not especially formidable back in the 1990s, but when it came to State Brown did not just want to win — he wanted to dominate and demoralize.
How unfitting, then, that he ends his time at UNC with four straight losses against the Wolfpack.
This one ended not with a ride on the shoulders of his players, but with Brown ordering his guys off the field, and back to the locker room, after a fracas broke out near midfield — State players trying to plant their flag on UNC’s logo; UNC players responding as anyone would expect, in attempt to defend its home turf. It wasn’t especially ugly.
Just sloppy and a little embarrassing, like a lot of moments UNC’s football program has endured the past several seasons. Afterward, Brown said all the right things. Most of them, anyway. He thanked Cunningham for bringing him back. He spoke of how much it had meant to him to have had the opportunity.
“I thought we’d probably stay three to five years,” Brown said, “and we’re having fun and helping the kids and start winning some games, and it was all good.”
And so he stayed. And stayed. And tried to stay some more, if his comments earlier this week were any indication. Brown did a lot of good, especially during his first tenure at UNC. He led the Tar Heels to heights they still haven’t replicated. He came closer than anyone ever has to turning UNC into something almost like a routine national contender.
‘I think it’s time to go’
The grandson and son of a coach, from Cookeville, Tennessee, Brown made people believe in the football possibilities at Carolina. And then in 1997 he left for Texas, where he won the 2005 national championship and became one of the most successful coaches in the sport. The decision at UNC to bring him back in late 2018 was always questionable, at best.
But Brown brought energy and enthusiasm. People began to hope, again.
And there were flashes, here and there, of the good old days. The victory against Miami his first year back. The near-miss against Clemson. The Orange Bowl appearance during the pandemic weirdness of 2020. An ACC championship game appearance in 2022. The thrills of Sam Howell and Drake Maye and the potential, always, of more. If only UNC could ever get over the hump.
If only.
Ultimately, though, Brown’s final Saturday night as head coach at Kenan Stadium played out like a lot of Saturday nights, and days, over the past six seasons. He never came all that close to fulfilling the vision he brought back in November 2018. The trend had become clear, especially this season and after the late collapses of the past two.
There wasn’t any happy ending. No victory ride or Gatorade bath. There was, instead, just the familiar angst. The video boards at Kenan Stadium displayed a farewell Thank You note to Mack and Sally Brown after the Wolfpack’s victory. Down below, State players were busy trying to plant their flag at midfield. A fight was breaking out.
A weary Mack Brown tried to restore some order. He slowly made his way off the field.
“I’m not mad,” he said. “I’m not angry. I think it’s time to go.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
