ACC Football: UNC informs Mack Brown that he will not be back as football coach

Mack Brown, on Monday, indicated that he planned to be back on the UNC Football sidelines in 2025.

On Tuesday, the school announced that he will not be back – the official word in a press release from UNC Athletics being, Bubba Cunningham, the AD, informed Brown that he will not be returning as head coach.

That escalated quickly.

The press release indicated that Brown will coach the team Saturday in its season finale against NC State at Kenan Stadium; a decision has not been reached on whether Brown will coach in a bowl game.

“Mack Brown has won more games than any football coach in UNC history, and we deeply appreciate all that he has done for Carolina Football and our University,’’ Cunningham said. “Over the last six seasons – his second campaign in Chapel Hill – he has coached our team to six bowl berths, including an Orange Bowl, while mentoring 18 NFL draft picks. He and his wife, Sally, have done an outstanding job supporting the Carolina community, including raising funds for UNC Children’s Hospital while hosting other popular events such as the Ladies Day Clinic. Both also have been terrific in leading our program during some incredibly tough stretches, including the tragic passing of wide receiver Tylee Craft this season.

“Coach Brown has led the Carolina Football program back into the national conversation as we improved the program’s facilities, significantly increased the size of the staff, invested in salaries and bolstered our nutrition and strength and conditioning programs. He also has been a dedicated fundraiser, strengthening the Football endowment while also supporting our other sports programs.

“We thank Coach Brown for his dedication to Carolina, and wish him, Sally and their family all the best,” Cunningham said.

This is awkward as hell, obviously, on the heels of Brown’s comments to the media about his intention to return for a seventh season.

“You never talk to your athletic director until the year’s over. Everybody always does that. My total focus is on NC State. What an awful thing to be talking about me when we just played a bad game and need to beat State,” said Brown on Monday, referencing the “bad game,” a 41-21 loss to Boston College on Saturday, that snapped a modest three-game winning streak.

Brown, who has three years left on his contract, is 44-32 in his second stint at UNC, with a 6-5 mark in 2024 heading into the regular-season finale.

The second run of Brown in Chapel Hill never did live up to what he did at the end of his first run, which had UNC posting double-digit wins three times in his last five seasons, including the 11-1 finish in 1997 that had the Tar Heels ranked in the Top 5 of the final national polls.

Brown led Carolina to an 8-4 record and Top 20 national poll finish in 2020, but that’s as good as it would get.