CHAPEL HILL – While North Carolina Coach Mack Brown’s most important mission this week is to get a full gauge where each player on his roster stands: leaving for the NFL, another school, or returning to UNC; he also must begin the process of working toward decisions regarding his coaching staff.

With the transfer portal opening December 4, now is the time to have honest, healthy conversations with each player to let them know where they stand, but for them to also give their thoughts to the coaches.

Part of those discussions will surely include who might coach them at their positions next seaosn. Not so much Brown, who said following the Tar Heels’ loss at NC State on Saturday night that he will be back for a sixth season in 2024. But they will want to know about their position coaches.

Yet, definitive answers may not be available just yet, as Brown’s plan to sit down with each coach will stretch out for a longer period of time. Friday is when the recruiting dead period ends, so coaches will get on the road, including Brown.

“I’ll sit down with the coaches over the next three weeks, because I’ll be out recruiting with every one of them,” Brown said. “And when you’re in a car all day with a guy, everything comes up. And they don’t get me very often by myself.”

That doesn’t mean there won’t be any movement on the staff. The silly season in college football is here. Many coaches are getting fired this week, or have been recently, and the new head men at those respective schools must quickly fill staffs.

Phil Longo left for Wisconsin last year just days after the Tar Heels lost to Clemson in the ACC Championship game. It caught Brown off guard because he didn’t know Longo was having conversations with Luke Fickel, who had just been hired to run the Badgers.

Brown prefers coaches tell him when they are discussing other opportunities out of fairness to all involved.

“I know that our coaches are talking to other people about jobs,” he said. “And I’ve told them, ‘I don’t mind you talking to other people about jobs, I just want to know it. If you surprise me, then I feel like you’re a liar. Because I don’t care, if you want to leave, I’m good. But I need to start looking at who I’m going to replace you with.

“And I’ve always said, it’s like recruiting, ‘If you’re going to date, then I’m going to date. So, if you’re talking to people, then I’m going to talk with people, too.’”

The other element to this is the importance of attracting players in the portal beginning next week. They will want to know who their position coaches will be. They’ll basically be recruited by whoever sits in those chairs at that specific time.

So, it’s better to have concrete answers about staffing for available transfers than not. If a coach is more inclined to move on, Brown wants to know so he doesn’t work to keep him around. Brown learned early in his career to never beg an assistant coach to stay.

“Because if he doesn’t want to stay, and you beg him to stay and it doesn’t work out, you’re gonna be mad that he wanted to leave, and he’s going to be mad that he didn’t leave,” he said. “And there’s a lot of great assistant coaches out there.”

Brown has been in college football for more than four decades, so he knows a ton of people and has connections in every nook and cranny of the sport. So, he has a list of 10 assistant coaches out there for each position, and if someone leaves his staff, he quickly dials into finding a replacement.

“I work fast,” he said.

As of near-midnight in Raleigh, following a 39-20 drubbing to the Wolfpack, Brown didn’t offer any hints on possible staff shakeups. But that doesn’t mean nothing will happen.

Even if every current assistant coach and staff member is content with being in Chapel Hill and prefers being a part of the program moving forward, doesn’t mean they will.

An 8-4 season that fell apart over the last six games with some constant issues flaring up each week suggests a change or more are possible. But Brown’s stated timetable indicates nothing on his end will be initiated overnight.

“I’ve got a lot of evaluating to do and will look at everything we’ve got,” he said. “And that happens over the next month.”