More than 20 years and 11 months since Mack Brown attended a press conference to announce his resignation as the head coach of the North Carolina football team, he held another press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Only this time around the director of athletics seated next to him was Bubba Cunningham, and on this day, Brown was announcing his return to Chapel Hill to take over the post he last held in 1997.
Brown and Cunningham were surrounded by a room full of former players, men’s basketball head coach Roy Williams, women’s basketball head coach Sylvia Hatchell, Chancellor Carol Folt and hundreds of media members, UNC graduates and booster members on the third floor of the Loudermilk Center for Excellence overlooking Kenan Memorial Stadium. The University held an introductory press conference to welcome Brown back to the place he once called home. The new head coach of UNC will make $3.5 million each year, including bonuses, for the next five seasons.
Cunningham got things started, introducing Brown and stating his excitement in having him back with the football program.
"Today is a great day to be a Tar Heel," Cunningham said, "and I really want to first of all welcome Mack and Sally Brown back to Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina. Absolutely outstanding that you've accepted the invitation to return — we cannot thank you enough."
Brown discussed many things. He mentioned he does not know any of the players yet by name — he only knows them by number — something he said he would correct later Tuesday afternoon when he met with the team. He stated his goal in returning UNC to relevance and perhaps most notably, he commended the man whose job he is now inheriting.
"I like Larry Fedora," Brown said. "I have a lot of respect for Larry Fedora and he did a tremendous job here, in times under very difficult circumstances. I will promise Larry and his wonderful family that Sally and I know well, that we will take care of his players and we will help them grow and move forward like he was working to do for many years here. We will also make sure there will not be one negative word said about Larry Fedora or his staff in front of any of these players, and if Dillon, his son, wants to stay on the staff, I would love to have him."
Brown also mentioned the subject of turnovers and penalties as easy ways to win or lose games, a relevant subject to bring up considering the team he’s inheriting was hurt in both areas this season. UNC turned the ball over 23 times in 2018 (14 interceptions, nine fumbles lost) and averaged 55.64 penalty yards per game, good for 71st in the nation out of 129 qualified Division 1 programs.
“If you’re protecting it better than the other team, you’re going to win the large majority of the time…” Brown said. “If you can have a team that’s pretty much penalty-free, they’re the ones that win, so our team knows those things. What we’ve got to do is make sure that we pull together, we all are heading in the same direction.”
