It has been quite a year for Mack Brown. He has lost his job and been given official legend status by an award committee all within the last 60 days.
The Davey O’Brien Award, the one that names the best quarterback in the country, per the voting committee, announced this weekend that Brown is this year’s Legends Award recipient.
UNC
Brown has a record of 288-155-1 in 36 years as a head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, Texas, and two stints at North Carolina. He won the national championship with Texas in the 2005 season.
It is the second stint at UNC where the story gets prickly. After a five-year absence from coaching, Brown took over from Larry Fedora in Chapel Hill after the 2018 season. He coached the Tar Heels from 2019 through the end of the regular season in 2024. Brown finished with a 44-33 overall record during that time. He was 27-23 in ACC play in those years.
Many thought he would retire at the end of the 2024 season. But late in the season, he made it known he wanted to come back for another season. He was instead fired with one game left before the end of the season. He was allowed to coach the last game but was replaced with an interim coach for UNC’s loss to UConn in the Fenway Bowl in December.
Legend Acclimation
In naming him the 2024 Davey O’Brien Legends Award recipient the award’s foundation touted his national reputation.
“One of the most respected coaches in the game, Brown has served on numerous national committees, including president of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). He has also served on the AFCA Ethics Committee and the AFCA Public Relations Committee. Brown has been a member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee and the NCAA Football Issues Committee. He has been chairman of the Football Coaches’ Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the College Football Association,” the statement from the award read.
They also brought out his overall accomplishments. “In his career, he coached in 26 bowl games, the fifth-most all time, and collected 12 double-digit win seasons, including nine straight at Texas from 2001-09. Prior to returning to Carolina in 2019, Brown served as both a college football studio analyst and color analyst for ESPN.”
Brown has been replaced at UNC by future NFL Hall of Famer Bill Belichick, who will be coaching in college for the first time in 2025.
Brown was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame by the National Football Foundation voters in 2018 during his hiatus from coaching, before returning to UNC.
