Advertisement
football Edit

Brown On Prepration, Handling Success & Friday Games

Mack Brown is monitoring how his team is handling their success and at the same time is pleased with their prepration.
Mack Brown is monitoring how his team is handling their success and at the same time is pleased with their prepration. (Jacob Turner, THI)

Note: Mack Brown's full post-practice interview is posted below


CHAPEL HILL – Typically, Mack Brown meets with the media in North Carolina’s indoor facility Wednesday mornings following his team’s practice. But with the short week and time tight for the Tar Heels’ staff, he did so in the Kenan Football Center an hour later than his usual midweek time.

As much as the staff is trying to make this a normal week for the team, as it prepares to take on Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Friday night, six days as opposed to seven in between games has forced some reshuffling.

“The biggest thing is Wake Forest played Friday night (at Rice), so they had all Saturday to rest and watch us and start their more normal week on Saturday to get the same number of days,” Brown said. “We had the late-night game with a lot of energy on Saturday night and then our Sunday becomes more like Monday because you don’t have a Sunday and Monday’s off.

“We let them have more free time on Sunday but then you practice hard on Monday and Tuesday and a little bit lighter today, so it just gives them less time to recoup. Normally, for a Thursday game, you get the week off before because in college they don’t want you playing Saturday and the next Thursday. So, it’s been a short week for us but the guys have responded really well.”

Preparation is among the many changes in culture that have naturally occurred since Brown took over but having a quirky week so early the new staff’s tenure could muddy the process. The head coach isn’t worried, though. There's noting tangible Brown and the staff have done to improve how Heels get ready for games, he says the results through two contests have enhanced their approach.

The Tar Heels were heavy underdogs versus South Carolina in the opener and won and were also weren;t favored versus Miami this past weekend at home and won that game. The general consensus, and the Las Vegas lines for those who pay attention to that sort of thing, also suggest Carolina will lose to the Demon Deacons.

Two-pronged sources of motivation for better preparation isn't such a bad thing.

“It really helps you after two games you’ve won that they feel like the process has worked, so they’re more vested now in what we’ve asked them because they’re understanding it’s working,” Brown said.

“I talked to them today that a lot of people think they won’t play hard again because they haven’t won two games like this in a while, so can they handle success now? And that’s just the next step of being a good team.”

The Tar Heels don’t know yet if they’re a good team, though they should get a better idea of that Friday. The game prep, however, doesn’t appear to be an issue.


Advertisement

Friday Night Games?

There was a time not too long ago when colleges in the state of North Carolina didn't play football games on Friday nights, especially at home. But television contracts have given networks like ESPN increasing power of when and where schools will play leaving coaches and athletic directors essentially powerless when it comes to these matters.

That’s the case with the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons playing Friday night in Winston-Salem, a game that will kickoff at 6 pm. The schools had no say in the matter, and for the record, Brown isn’t too fond of it.

“I would rather not play Friday night games because of high school football,” he said. “We had one I think at Texas at that was Iowa State and if we were going to play one I wanted it to be on the road, I didn’t want it to be at our place. So, we played at Iowa State on a Friday night and it gave us an extra day to prepare for Oklahoma the next week so that was a positive. In this situation, I’d rather never do it, I’m sure Dave (Clawson) would feel the same way.

“When I was calling games for ABC and ESPN, they wanted me in the studio on Saturday so they only would let me call Friday night games and I felt bad about it but, again, that was my job and I had to do it. But, I wish college and pro would take Thursday night, college takes Saturday, pros take Sunday and we leave high school football for Friday night.”


*Jacob Turner contrinuted to this report.

Mack Brown Wednesday Post-Practice Interview

Advertisement