North Carolina fires football coach Mack Brown

North Carolina introduced Tuesday that Mack Brown won’t return subsequent season, at some point after the Corridor of Fame coach declared his intentions to return to the Tar Heels.

Athletic director Bubba Cunningham knowledgeable Brown of his determination on Tuesday. Brown, 73, will coach the group within the regular-season finale in opposition to NC State on Saturday, however a choice has not but been made about whether or not he’ll coach the Tar Heels (6-5) of their bowl recreation.

“Whereas this was not the right time and manner by which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the right time,” Brown mentioned in an announcement. “I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and can all the time cherish the reminiscences and relationships Sally and I’ve constructed whereas serving as head coach.

“We have had the prospect to educate and mentor some nice younger males, and we’ll miss having the chance to try this sooner or later. Transferring ahead, my complete focus is on serving to these gamers and coaches put together for Saturday’s recreation in opposition to N.C. State and provides them one of the best probability to win. We need to ship these seniors out proper and I hope our followers will present up Saturday to do the identical.”

In two stints at North Carolina, Brown has gone a mixed 113-78-1. Brown, who received a nationwide championship with Texas after his first UNC tenure, returned to the Tar Heels in 2019 and took them to an ACC championship recreation look in 2022.

“Mack Brown has received extra video games than any soccer coach in UNC historical past, and we deeply recognize all that he has finished for Carolina soccer and our college,” Cunningham mentioned in an announcement. “During the last six seasons — his second marketing campaign in Chapel Hill — he has coached our group to 6 bowl berths, together with an Orange Bowl, whereas mentoring 18 NFL draft picks.

“… Coach Brown has led the Carolina soccer program again into the nationwide dialog as we improved this system’s amenities, considerably elevated the scale of the employees, invested in salaries and bolstered our vitamin and energy and conditioning applications. He additionally has been a devoted fundraiser, strengthening the soccer endowment whereas additionally supporting our different sports activities applications. We thank Coach Brown for his dedication to Carolina, and want him, Sally and their household all one of the best.”

Brown ranks eighth all time amongst FBS coaches with 288 victories, and he is the one coach with 100-plus wins at a number of FBS colleges — 113 at North Carolina and 158 at Texas.

With Brown out, there at the moment are two energetic FBS head coaches who’ve received a nationwide championship: Georgia’s Kirby Good and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.

As Brown finishes out the season, Cunningham and Chancellor Lee H. Roberts will start the seek for a brand new head coach.

Brown has three years left on his contract, which pays him $5 million yearly. The college mentioned the rest of the contract will likely be paid by the UNC athletic division and never by means of state funds.

The announcement Tuesday concludes what had grow to be months full of hypothesis about Brown and his future with the varsity. After permitting a school-record 70 factors in an embarrassing dwelling loss to James Madison in September, Brown instructed the Tar Heels within the locker room that he would step down if the group felt he might not do the job. His feedback leaked publicly, and Brown needed to announce that he was not resigning.

North Carolina misplaced three extra video games from there, then needed to take care of the lack of receiver Tylee Craft, who died in October 2½ years after being identified with most cancers.

Brown instructed ESPN in a latest interview that his perspective had modified after that, with him believing the group now wanted him greater than ever “to step up and be sturdy and attempt to assist them study to navigate by means of these storms and this turmoil.”

After profitable three straight — together with Brown’s first win over his alma mater, Florida State — North Carolina stumbled in one other poor efficiency at Boston Faculty final weekend, shedding 41-21.

That didn’t cease Brown from asserting throughout his weekly information convention Monday that he supposed to return to North Carolina. Nevertheless, he additionally mentioned he hadn’t but met with Cunningham to debate his long-term future.

“Not one participant has ever come to me and requested me about my future. Not one coach has ever come to me and requested me about my future. That is what occurs this time of the yr,” Brown mentioned Monday. “It is actually humorous, if you happen to lose a recreation now, you are fired. It is 100%, it is unbelievable. So why fear, you simply obtained to do your job.”

In 36 seasons as a head coach, Brown has gone 288-154-1. He obtained his head-coaching begin at Appalachian State in 1983, then led Tulane in 1985 and, after three seasons there, went to North Carolina. Following back-to-back 1-10 seasons, Brown remodeled the Tar Heels program, taking them to 9 or extra wins 4 instances. Texas employed him in 1998, and he received the newest nationwide championship for the Longhorns in 2005.

Following his departure from Texas in 2013 after 16 seasons there, Brown hung out working as a tv analyst at ESPN. He returned to North Carolina following a five-year teaching hiatus to attempt to construct again a stagnant Tar Heels program. Throughout his most up-to-date stint, he took North Carolina to the 2022 ACC championship recreation and helped Drake Maye grow to be a first-round draft choose in 2024.

Large begins to the 2022 and 2023 seasons — together with rising as excessive as No. 10 in 2023 — resulted in disappointment as Brown did not get North Carolina to the 10-win mark. The 2024 season obtained off to a tough begin when beginning quarterback Max Johnson broke his leg within the opener and was misplaced for the season.

Nonetheless, the best way Brown’s group responded to adversity, and the dying of their beloved teammate, is one thing Brown instructed ESPN final week that he’ll all the time bear in mind.

“It is among the most satisfying years I’ve ever had due to the best way persons are responding to one another,” Brown mentioned earlier than the Boston Faculty recreation.