North Carolina coach Mack Brown arrived at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte Thursday ready to speak bluntly about the current state of college football.
“There’s been more changes in the last three years than my first 47,” the former Texas coach said during an interview with the ACC Network.
“Somebody said today, why don’t you write a book about your first day at Appalachian (State) and now, the way things have changed?” Brown continued as he looked at former Georgia and Miami coach Mark Richt seated beside him on set. “And I said that some people have to die first. We couldn’t say all the things that you and I know.”
Brown is entering the sixth season of his second stint as North Carolina’s coach, following his 16-season run at Texas and five years spent working as an analyst for ABC and ESPN.
His return to coaching in 2019 coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and, over the past few years, the introduction of name, image and likeness benefits for players. Brown isn’t a fan of this new era, even as he tries to embrace winning with a roster that’s now paid for with more than just an athletic scholarship.
“We’re dealing with things we’ve never dealt with before, so the people that can adjust and make it work are going to be the ones with the best programs,” Brown said. “And it’s not ideal for any of us. None of us voted for it. But it’s here. Amateurism is gone. We’re the mini-NFL. So now we’ve got to figure out how to handle it.”
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Brown wasn’t done there, though.
He also took aim at a more traditional storyline for veteran coaches – negative recruiting and criticism related to his age.
Brown will turn 73 ahead of UNC’s 2023 season opener against Minnesota on Aug. 29. He was already college football’s oldest head coach last year and retains that designation heading into this campaign.
“Every coach recruiting against us says I’m going to quit, and six of them have been fired that said that already” Brown said, according to Travon Miles of ABC-11 in North Carolina. “So they ought to be worried about themselves.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UNC’s Mack Brown, former Texas coach, blasts state of college football
Austin American-Statesman
