CHAPEL HILL – To many people, North Carolina’s sinking football season is an indictment on the Mack Brown Part 2 era.
And in some respects, they have ground on which to stand. Things are not going well on the field for the Tar Heels, and the program is in a slide that cannot be ignored.
But if Saturday’s somber reality showed anyone with an ounce of objectivity anything, it’s that Brown is the real deal, especially when it comes to his players and serving as the perfect program head with all it’s experienced the last few months.
Forget for a few minutes that the Tar Heels are 1-7 in their last eight ACC games and 3-9 in their last 12 contests against FBS teams. The wins, for the sake of clarity, are an overtime escape against Duke and its third-string QB last season, a gifted missed field goal as time expired at Minnesota, and a poorly played win over a Charlotte team that simply isn’t any good.
Add the eye-poppingly bad defensive numbers, special teams blunders, and propensity for game-altering penalties, and the Mack dissenters certainly have a case. His supporters still do, too, though less of one as each week passes.
But another side of the story played out for all eyes to see Saturday. The hug September Craft gave Brown was his finest moment. That was Mack Brown.
He wouldn’t let go because she wouldn’t let go. And The CW TV crew may never have intervened had the embrace gone past its four minutes and into five, six, seven and more.
It was the most real moment of a day many who covered it will never forget. Some of us sports media veterans experienced a first. It was hard to ask questions in the postgame presser, ALL of which was about the passing of September's son, Tylee Craft.
THI’s content, once we learned of Craft’s passing, was only about the courageous young man who battled a rare form of lung cancer since March 14, 2022. He taught so many lessons, some in the early days, some every day, and some of us in more recent days.
And he connected with a head coach who doesn’t need this job for the money, he’s got more than plenty. He doesn’t need it for his legacy; he’s already in the Hall of Fame and has attained legendary status that isn’t going away. Not for his ego, as anyone pushing that notion does so proving ignorance about Brown. And he didn’t have to attempt to rescue a UNC program from the ashes stemming from two decades of incompetence or cheating, or both. But he did.
And he had to hold on tight to Tylee's mom Saturday. He had to because that’s who he is. Hard on his assistants and those in the Kenan Football Center, but Brown is also a man who knows the moment, especially ones that are uniquely human, like on Saturday.
Listen to his postgame presser if you haven’t. That was real. That was genuine. That was Mack.
Go back and watch the hug. Watch he and September shake as she wept about her son, who bravely showed us how to face life-threatening adversity without ever complaining and never wasting a day.
Brown showed us, as he walked away from that moment in the far end zone between the first and second quarter, that it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to cry in public. It’s okay to show sorrow and deep pain. And it’s okay to honor someone completely separating with the game that took place on that very same field.
Mack Brown may not be UNC’s football coach past this season, which is a full topic for another time, and if so and this was his last shining moment, he goes out on top.
Forget the other stuff for a few moments, everyone. What you saw was real, and it was Brown’s finest moment.
