https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/11/26/mack-brown-returning-north-carolina
My gut is saying this is a really stupid move, but what do I know?
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https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/11/26/mack-brown-returning-north-carolina
My gut is saying this is a really stupid move, but what do I know?
Comments
From a Hokie perspective, seems like a great move
Gut says unless Mack Brown hires a stud OC and keeps his hands off of the offense their
roofceiling will be about the same as a Muschamp Florida team, and that's being generous.Yeah, they're looking to hire Kliff Gosling as their OC, and bring back Chizik as their DC.. if you ask me, those will be SOLID hires.
Neither one of them ends up at UNC is my bet.
If they land Kliff that would be an ENORMOUS coup. He will have his choice of just about any college OC job and probably several NFL OC opportunities to choose from.
If they get Kilff i'll eat my hat and admit this hire has some upside. But i see the probability of that happening a rounding error away from 0%
Fedora be like
LOL.
I wonder if he took Brown's advice, because I'm sure Brown was also sharing that advice with UNC's administration.
Well, SOMEONE was going to get that job.
Guess they're going the 'proven P5' coach route this time, instead of the 'up and coming G5 coach" route they took with Fedora. Sure Brown has a BCS championship to his name, but he really let things slide at Texas toward the end. Can't see this going well for them. Maybe they're looking for a stabilizing influence for a few years.
Honestly, I don't know if this is the worst idea for them. Mack has a lot of connections and history. In an ideal world (for them), he lands some juicy coordinators and after a few years he retires and hands the team off to one of them. Way less risky than hiring an up and coming HC from some G5 school like Southern Miss...
Yeah, this is all based on who they hire to coordinate and how good their recruiters are.
College football has passed Mack Brown by, but he's certainly got the pedigree to be a CEO type.
Could be problematic if they knock it out of the park with the rest of the staff but strictly looking at the head coaching hire this isn't a great move IMO.
If they give him Dabo's assistant budget, look out.
He had Texas' budget and talent pool and nobody had to look out during has last three seasons.
I agree. I know some are all like lolz Mack Brown, joke hire. But he is no idiot. He has tons of connections in the coaching world, and my biggest concern is him assembling a great support staff that could be a huge problem for VT over the next several years. Kingsbury or not, the guy knows people, and UNC has cash.
They're slightly ahead of us but don't have Clemson or Bama cash. That means they won't get a proven all star cast.
Plus, don't they have some significant financial liabilities for the coaches they just showed the door?
Unless they got Mack at a massive discount.
UNC is giving Mack Brown a scholarship and honorary degree to be the next football coach. Pretty inexpensive deal.
A scholarship and a fake degree? Isn't that what the players get?
I'd contend that this is substantially more risky than hiring a G5 head coach (jokes about Fedora aside). That's a proven route that's led to countless success stories. Meanwhile, hiring a retired retread who is completely out of touch with modern football doesn't really have much precedent outside of ASU (and while he had a good year, i'd say the jury is still very much out on that one)
Maybe Frank takes the DC job.
Thats what we did though...
Maybe when we are done with Fuente we can hire Frank Beamer.
On the surface, it seems good for VT that UNC hires a 67 year old coach, right? Too old to relate to recruits, out of touch with the modern game, can't sell that he will be there in 5 years, etc. The things that Fedora and Dabo said about Coach Beamer, ya know. The issue for me is that, the VT "Recruiting Operation" is not such, IMHO that we can take advatage of these or even worse case scenario hold our own in NC in recruiting now. We have pulled a lot of good players from UNC's back yard recently- will that continue when Mack Brown flashes his Natty ring and slick southern drawl to recruits? Brown also recruited the 757 well too. I wanna laugh at UNC, but not ready to - yet. Let's see if Fuente's age, energy, stability can be used as an ADVANTAGE on the trail over Brown.
Mack is 67 years old not 64
Thanks- fixed it
Somewhere between 68 and 70 years old.
nice
Nice.
67 is the new 67!
New UNC staff
I'd play for 'em. I wouldn't be any good, but I'd enjoy it.
This would have been alright back when they hired Fedora...
But Mack resigned back in 2013 when he was forced out of Texas because his teams sucked. They were ineffective in all phases in a league where defense is optional. His recruiting fell off at a school where the team sells itself. Even if UNC is hiring him as a CEO it is still going to struggle to work, as he's still the face, and the face will be that of a older coach who was last relevant in this region 20 years ago (seriously, 1998 was when he had his good season at UNC... 20 years ago), who peaked 13 years ago, and hasn't been on the sidelines in 5 years.
And remember, this is the school who went all in on using Beamer's age against him on the recruiting circuits.
Who's going to be in charge when Mack shuts it down at 5PM every day like he did at Texas the last few years?
The Tar Heels just became the Oakland Raiders of the ACC Coastal.
If nothing else, this gets another terrible broadcaster out of the booth.
Maybe Mississippi, Auburn, Cincinnati or Texas Tech will hire Tuberville back?
'Member when Mack left a game he was calling in the middle of the second half? I 'member...
What courage by the Tar Heels to turn to some new blood /s
Maybe he just finished a dialysis treatment?
that's not how dialysis works
I know but "transfusion" sounded clunky.
"Clunky Transfusion and the Factual Inaccuracies" sounds like a great name for a terrible band
I'm laughing hysterically at this. They had a damn good shot of injecting some life into their program. Instead, they turn back the clock. Now, if he's successful, I'll eat crow, but I don't see it happening.
He's already pretty successful, going to make millions!
North Carolina was in position to make the best hire of the offseason. They were the prime landing spot for some of the best coaching talent available. I was afraid of that potential, but also a little excited to have an opportunity for some great big time football games over the years against a hated rival. But now? My gut reaction is that this is the worst football hire in recent memory, and it's not even close.
I said repeatedly that Herm Edwards would be a total and abject failure, but ASU isn't the dumpster fire that I expected.
I felt the same way, but for as respectable as they've been, they still only went 7-5 in a year when the Pac-12 was as bad as it's ever been. So while the bottom hasn't fallen out, I wouldn't exactly say they've made a ton of progress either. Also, Arizona State didn't have the options for top-quality coaches that UNC would have had in a cycle where they very well may be the best program available.
All fair points, and ASU still could end up in shambles, but UNC can still be a major thorn in VT's side even recruiting-wise.
VT needs to step up its recruiting staff, UNC has the budget to make some splashes.
Why not? They do better money-wise than UNC.
The concern would be he takes a small salary compared to other HCs since he doesn't really need the $$. That opens a big pool to go buy a big time OC (Kingsbury) and a big time DC.
I don't think it's a bad hire. His last 3 Texas teams were all 8-9 wins in a great conference. He knows coaching and can use that national title to his advantage on the recruiting trail. UNC was already trending up next year, if he can get a solid staff and a quarterback they'll definitely challenge for the coastal over the next couple years.
And you can't really compare the politics and pressures of Texas football to UNC football as apples to apples. Way less pressure/expectations, and Carolina kids grow up indoctrinated to that Carolina brand. All it will take is some great assistants to sell and recruiting could quickly be impacted. Add in the potential angle of a veteran, NC winning coach, and I don't think it's as much of a joke as some think.
Trending up? They had the 63rd ranked class for 2019.
Yeah but your team isn't your last class. Their team next year would be from the 2016-18 classes which were actually really good
'16 and '17 were ok classes but honestly '18 was best class and top recruit chose baseball over enrolling. So while UNC is doing well they weren't on some Clemson like path.
Well look at our team to see the void a bad recruiting class can leave (ie 2016 and probably 2015 classes)
Oh, man, did they drop the ball on this coaching hire. I'm like...
Or is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low.
I'm curious to see what sort of staff Mack assembles and if he stays the hell out of their way. I also think this is likely a "right the ship" hire, not a compete with Clemson hire. Bring a veteran coach to lay the ground work for a coach in waiting or whoever the next hot name is in 4 years. During that time Mack could very well turn them into a thorn in your side sort of program, kind of like GT. I don't particularly like this hire, but I also don't think it is as dumb as many think it is.
Mack Brown isn't the coach UNC needs, but he is the coach UNC deserves.
But will he make them go to actual classes?
This one could be interesting..agree with many above that the Staff surrounding Mack will largely determine the success here.
UNC certainly has the money to shell out for top Assistants if they can get some interest.
I certainly don't think that Mack at this point is going to bring much of anything from a scheme standpoint and likely the more he stays out of the way the better. It will be interesting to see if a guy with lots of experience and a Natty to his name can keep his ego from making him want to run the show.
From a recruiting standpoint, he has a folksy sort of charm that could definitely play well, esp. In the mid-South. You can write him off as being too old to relate to recruits, but Bobby Bowden was a damn good recruiting closer even down to his last days at FSU.
FSU>UNC everyday of the week and twice on Sunday,
Why didn't they hire Scott Satterfield?
UNC is a pretty weak team, I don't see Mack Brown at 68 coming in a landing a ton of recruits this class, so he will be 70-71 before he has a couple classes of his players.
Now will someone tell me what Coordinators he could legit hire that have you worried?
Btw he will NOT get Kliff Kingsbury.
Well, at least UNC was nice enough to confirm that they don't plan to clean up their athletic department any time soon. All the stories I have heard about Mack Brown involve shady recruiting that makes Butch Davis look like Hector Alonzo's character as the head coach in Necessary Roughness.
Which is bad news for us in the recruiting game...
Not if he gets cau...oh, wait...NCAA.
How long has it been since the NCAA punished a team for recruiting violations?
Let's just leave it at "nobody fears their penalties, as they're mostly self-imposed and arbitrary". Remember when UNC suspended their team members, only to later claim "we need them in this game"?
Ole Miss- pretty heavily- 2017
Their infractions were non-trivial:
They only punish kids for improving their academics and doing well on standardized tests.
So UNC football players also attempt to play basketball at VT?
Yep...imagine our last 3 classes WITHOUT some top North Carolina talent.. yikes.
Shudder. How about let's NOT do that, shall we?
Think they'll do better with Mack for a couple years then they would've with two more years of Fedora, but they could've gotten a way better hire.
Laughable and typical UNC booster logic. Unc will always be a basketball school. This is an example of basketball is priority and football is something we want to be comfortable with, so let's go with what's familiar.
Mack was always shady and got out of UNC before it caught up to him. Is he really going to be current in today's world and be able to invest the energy needed? They are way behind on talent and any assistant is going to see this as well. They have a long ways to go in order to be competitive again.
I thought they were going to hire Frank Shirley! /s
So there are only a few I can think of that left and came back:
- Chris Ault, he retired but was still the AD and couldn't hire anyone better than himself
- Bill Snyder, had to save the legacy he built because some one thought it was smart to hire out of UVA
- Bobby Petrino, the only one on this list that went to another school and came back only to be fired by a new AD because the AD was fired due to an FBI investigation, also Bobby might not be the best of character
So now we add Mack to this list. Will be interesting.
Looked it up, not including interim coaching for lame duck coaches, WW1 or WW2, and in the AP poll era:
Johnny Majors - Pitt
Dennis Erickson - Idaho (I did know that)
Mike Riley - Oregon State (knew that too)
Bill Walsh - Stanford
So this might not be a bad move for unc. Hear me out. You bring in Mack brown to serve as HC for a couple seasons and during that time he sets up a coaching clinic for his coordinators so that by the time he's ready to retire the young coach in waiting will have all the wisdom that comes from Mack and the bonus of being a part of a smooth transition and keeping all the players they recruited.
OR unc has no idea what the are fucking doing.
Time will tell.
Mack tried to do exactly that at Texas with Muschamp and it failed miserably.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it wasn't a short stint at Texas for Mack. He was there for over a decade. And wasn't Muschamp only there for 2 years? This isn't the same situation like it was at Texas. This is bringing an old coach out of retirement to bring some legacy back to a desperate program. Mack Brown will not be at UNC beyond this 5 year contract.
I know it's been like this for a while, but the fact they have the Air Jordan logo on a post about football....I can't.
The fact they're using a pic of Mack from the mid 90s to show how great a hire this was just shows how completely transparent this hire is on appeasing high dollar donors who want nothing more than to reminisce about the glory days of UNC where they were Top 10 before getting pantsed in their biggest game ever against FSU in Kenan.
The whole #MackisBack. Yikes, they really are trying to recapture those glory days. Its hard not to feel like they just punted on being relevant for the sake of appeasing old money.
In before Mack does really well and we look back on these posts from the future and laugh about it.
They are giving him a 5 year deal.
If he stays longer than 3 I'll be shocked.
The way Mack Brown would bring up his tenure at Texas every time he was in the booth I'm surprised he isn't paying them to coach.
3.5 million per year plus 3 million for Fedora per year. I don't think UNC has a million plus to drop on these top names for OC and DC.
Their athletic budget is $96M, they're a huge brand with plenty of deep pocketed donors.
While basketball will always be #1 I'd bet they can find a few million lying around for the right coordinators.
They have the money, but will never let football be successful enough to outshine dribbledy-hoops.
I don't see them paying more than market for coordinators. The first story was Mack would come cheap to attract coordinators - not happening. He will attract someone he has a relationship with, but that doesn't mean success. We did this with Frank and the head coach and the long-term viability still weighs in heavily to a program's perception and recruiting
UNC hiring Mack Brown was directed by the old money, their wallets will be open for Mack.
Two words:
Jordan Brand
We shall see but I have serious doubts.
Isnt that how everyone got suspended?
In his press conference he said he had to promise to take his 8 year old grandson to the Virginia Tech game next year.
Karma, or silly Wolfpackers?
Brown was found at UNC's Old Well, but it wasn't Mack...
So yea doesn't look like he is getting top of the pile coordinators:
Wow his defenses at Michigan were terrible.
Greg Robinson OUT as Co-DC. No word on who the boosters are going to hire to replace him. What a disaster for UNC
Yea everyone talking about how great Mack is going to have them I just don't get it.
Is he out after being hired already or did he just not get the job?
Looks like they were in the process of hiring him and the public backlash was terrible so they backtracked a la Greg Schiano.
He was in the Football building yesterday being introduced as the new Co-DC. Not sure if any papers were signed. Mack and Thigpen are out "recruiting" basically trying to flip any NC State recruit they can find. This was Mack's decision and also not Mack's decision
Get the sense that the AD hired Brown with the sense they were going to drop bags on Coordinators. When he tried to bring in Robinson the AD probably said absolutely not.
If you think it was Bubba Cunningham's choice to hire Mack Brown you're wrong.