RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on during the first half of the Duke's Mayo Bowl against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Bank of America Stadium on December 30, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Look, in this world where you have to say something in order to be noticed, there are going to be some absurd things said. I completely understand the pressure to say anything when one dominating story overwhelms you to the point that what comes out may not among be the best sentences uttered.
Happens to all of us. I’ve been on this Earth a long time and all you have to do is look in this archive to bring up things I’ve written to point and laugh.
Excuses aside, though, something said about UNC football in the wake of the Michael Lombardi mess has to be one of the most short-sighted things I’ve heard from a supposed expert in college football.
UNC should've never let Mack Brown go. If they stuck with Mack Brown and gave him the resources they gave to Bill Belichick the Tar Heels would be top third of the ACC worst case. Instead they are at the bottom and probably looking for a coach in a year or two.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) July 27, 2026
Tell me that you didn’t watch Carolina football under Mack without telling me you didn’t watch it.
There is one part of the statement I will agree with, and that’s if UNC football as a whole had the investment they had made in Belichick they wouldn’t have needed Belichick. They also, arguably, wouldn’t have needed Mack Brown.
Mack Brown was hired because Carolina wanted a cheaper solution following Larry Fedora. The school still had to pay some of Fedora’s contract, and instead of getting the next up-and-coming coach, UNC took on a reclamation project that could smooth out issues with donors. He succeeded early on enough to at least warrant some confidence thanks to his nabbing of Sam Howell, and a fun 7-6 opening year. He then continued by maximizing the schedule during the 2020 pandemic year and earned an Orange Bowl berth.
It was the year of that berth, though, that should have been our warning signs. There was an inexplicable loss to Florida State that likely cost them any chance at an ACC Championship or a CFP nod. They played well without some key players against Texas A&M, but with hype set for the next season they fell completely on their face against Virginia Tech in the opener. The regular season ended with a ridiculous loss to NC State in Raleigh, and that game would be the first of four straight that Brown would lose to the Wolfpack.
The next year, he gave us Drake Maye and again Carolina was cruising, perhaps getting Maye a Heisman and the Tar Heels in the CFP — until choking against Georgia Tech and losing to NC State in double OT that led to the Wolfpack trying to plant their flag on an turf field. The next year played the same in a lot of ways — strong start, until an utter collapse against Virginia midway through the year that saw the team falter to a 8-5 finish, another embarrassment at State where the team looked like they had no clue how to put on the right shoes for a cold and slick field, and having to watch as Maye slipped to third because of this inconsistency.
The lack of finish was just a hallmark with all the Brown teams. Between the the mediocre record that was celebrated in 2019, the chance to get into the playoff that was dropped because of a weird performance in Tallahassee in 2021, the Virginia Tech faceplant, the Georgia Tech stumble, the Virginia stumble, right up to the last season, in which James Madison put up 70 points and Georgia Tech won a game with a 68-yard touchdown run in the last minute — Brown had shown through a combination of mismanagement and bad staffing hires that while he still had an eye for recruiting, he couldn’t actually coach the team to the level we had hoped for.
It was a consistent pattern for these Mack Brown teams that aimed to be in the spotlight. It wasn’t about resources or money; ultimately, it’s about the coaching. With his choices Brown at that point in his career, he showed he could get Carolina to a certain level, but to take that next step just wasn’t something he was capable of anymore.
Again, his team gave up 70 points to James Madison. That’s not a lack of resources, that’s bad coaching.
It’s clear that UNC still wants to be in Mack’s good graces. Just a year after his ouster, he was back in Chapel Hill, on the court with the coach that replaced him and the new Athletic Director accepting a peace offering — and it was deserved because frankly, he’s still the best coach UNC has had over the past 30 years. It’s not even close. Had he realized that maybe — just maybe — it was time to be done being on the sideline, it could have ended better for him. His time at Texas showed, though, that he wasn’t going to go quietly.
So please, don’t conflate this absolute train wreck that UNC has caused now with the idea that firing Mack was a bad idea. Moving on from Mack Brown was absolutely the right call, needed to be done, and actually gave the fan base a spark at the end of a season that had just gone all sorts of wrong. Having the head of the Board of Trustees stomp on that spark and fall for the spell of another coach who hasn’t realized he needs to just stay off the sidelines doesn’t make the first move the wrong one. It just means the people in charge didn’t learn the right lesson.
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