CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Football Coach Mack Brown addressed the media following his team’s 35-30 loss to NC State on Saturday to close out the regular season. It was also Brown’s final game as UNC’s coach.
Brown spent about a minute on the game and the rest on what took place this past week with him being fired, how it took place, his thoughts on it, and much more.
The full video of his press conference can be seen HERE. Below is the full transcript of what he had to say. Brown took no questions from the media.
BROWN: “I want to congratulate NC State. What a game. Two even teams who absolutely competed until the end. I don’t know what happened in the end. Somebody said they tried to plant the flag on our field. I had said two years ago that was disrespectful. I said all week that you need to compete, but you need to do it with composure. Learning experiences that you can’t fight, but you gotta win the game.
“Kids have pride. It’s been a hard week for these kids. They lose their coach on Tuesday. In the modern day landscape, that means that you’ve got an agent, you’ve got [the] transfer portal, you’ve got people calling you. I’m absolutely amazed that they were able to compete like they did tonight and play as hard as they did with all the pressure on them, and with the uncertainty of the future. So I’m really proud of them. Wish we’d won the game. Their freshman quarterback made some really good plays down the stretch. Our guys made plays down the stretch. The one turnover hurt us obviously [with] the 10-yard touchdown, but again, it’s a great game from two rivals like it should be. That’s the way you like to see this game played, with both competing like they do.
“I’ll comment a little bit on the transition this week. I agree with the administration that we need a change in leadership at the top. I just wanted it to happen after the season was over. These poor kids have had so much turmoil in their lives. I think the administration’s into finding a football coach and I’m into saving lives, making sure that they’re healthy, making sure that they’re mentally healthy, and when you have a four-game losing streak that’s hard for the kids. We’re not used to that, especially here. We hadn’t had that happen, especially with a sick young guy.
“The four-game losing streak and then you lose one of your best friends that you’ve watched die at 23 years old. I wasn’t thinking about me, I wasn’t thinking about my future. I was thinking about what’s best for these young people. That was what our whole staff did. I was so proud that they came back and gathered themselves and were able to beat Virginia on the road, which is hard to do here. They were able to beat Florida State on the and then they were able to beat Wake Forest.
“So again, there shouldn’t be any talk about me because it was all about them. They finally had something positive happen during their season so I didn’t want to sit around and talk about leaving when they’re finally getting some things happening and moving in a positive direction. That’s really, really important that you move forward and you sure didn’t want to be a distraction.
“When you’re 73, everybody asks you everyday if you’re gonna quit. You all were so respectful not to ask if I was going to get fired, wasn’t gonna quit everyday because the answer is what I said for six years is that I’ll wait until the end of the year. You don’t want to talk about not coaching while I’m coaching and at the end of the year we can make a decision. As far as the he said, she said, what you’d call the source close to the university for a few of you, I don’t need any of that. There were three people that talked about this, it was me, John Pryor, the chairman of the board of trustees, and Athletic Director Cunningham.
“I never talked with the Chancellor, didn’t have one conversation with him and all I wanted to do was wait until the end of the year, and they wanted me to retire on Monday before the State game. We hadn’t beaten State. It was really important for these kids to play well tonight and have a chance to win. I didn’t want to break their hearts on Monday so I said ‘No, I won’t do that.’ And then they wanted me to do it on Friday and I sure wasn’t going to do it on Friday before the game.
“Twenty-four hours before a game and you’re disrupting their lives and coaches because 71 people in this building have a different situation that they had last week. The thing I said is, ‘I’ll talk to you tonight after the game about it or I’ll talk to you Sunday morning.’ I don’t know what the difference in Monday and Saturday night would’ve been, but I don’t want to get into the he said, she said, sources. I don’t have to have sources close, I got Pryor that knows exactly what I said. I’m good with it. Really it doesn’t matter.
“After James Madison, we played awful and then they started looking for coaches and they should’ve. I felt like we probably couldn’t overcome that but my job is to take care of those kids. That’s my job. Those seniors don’t have another year. I’m not going to quit on those seniors and not give them an opportunity and chance to move forward. I’ve spent 16 years at this place out of my 36 as a head coach. I love the state of North Carolina. We love the mountains, we love the beach, we love Chapel Hill. The university has been a huge part of my life and we have unbelievable friends here. We’ve got lifetime friends here and that will never change. Most people never get to be a head coach, but when you get to spend 16 years here, that’s most of your life when you think about it.
“I’ve loved my time, I want to thank the players, and the staff, and the coaches. I want to thank the fans and thanks to my friends cause there’s just so many here that have done so much for us and that I love seeing. I want to thank Athletics Director Cunningham for bringing me here. In your late 60’s, a lot of people wouldn’t have done that. I didn’t realize that it would get to be a hassle. I thought we’d probably stay three to five years and then we’re having fun, helping kids and start winning some games and it was all good, but as I said, Sally and I both agreed that it was time for leadership change at the top.
“I was just disappointed in the way that it was done. We could’ve had a joint press conference. I could’ve stayed and we could’ve worked all this out, but that didn’t happen. I think the other thing I want to do is I want to thank the Board of Trustees. They were so involved, especially Mr. Pryor, Jen Evans in Tez Walker being eligible. That changed his life. He’s playing pro football right now. If he had stayed here and gotten hurt, he might not have graduated because he was going through some depression issues. He sure wouldn’t have played pro football. I thank the Trustees for that.
“David Bowling was also very, very involved. Josh Stein, our Governor. I’m not sure we even could’ve gotten it down without him because he stood up and it changed when he got involved. He didn’t even know the young man. For our state, it was the right thing to do. And also, I’m a little worried about us going forward, the administrators across the country. We’re getting more like pro football. We had the best academics in the conference. We had the third best academics in the country, and nobody even mentioned it except Mr. Pryor.
“He brought the academic staff, who is wonderful, over to the trustees meeting and sat them down. When I worked for ESPN, Lee Fitting? was one of my bosses and I love Lee and he always said, ‘Don’t call them student athletes. They’re not.’ They’re not and I’m afraid that’s getting to be true. And I told the players and I said we do care that you go to school and you do everything right but it doesn’t seem to be as important moving forward as it once was. As far as the new coach is concerned, I will get out of the way for sure, that’s why I’m not going to coach in the bowl game.
“When I took the job at Texas, and I’m not mad, you can see I’m disappointed in the game tonight. I’m not mad, I’m not angry. I think it’s time to go. I always said for God to tell me when it’s time to go and oh my gosh, this year I’ve gotten a bunch of answers. Tonight just piled on so I said I got it God. I’ve had enough man, I hear you with what we’re doing moving forward. What a wonderful life, what a wonderful career I’ve had and I’m leaving it better than I found it. Then when I got the job at Texas, I walked in the office with the athletic director in the football office, and John Makovich was sitting there, who was the coach he just let go, and he was cleaning out his desk and that was really awkward. So, my desk is cleaned out. My phone’s turned in, my keys are turned in.
“I’ve got one more official duty and that’ll be for the senior dinner tomorrow night and I’ll hug up these seniors who have been through a lot and Sally and I will host them tomorrow night at 6:00, and then move forward with it. I told the kids I’m sure they’ll get a great coach. He’ll have a better situation than we did with NIL because of revenue sharing. We had about $4 million, he’s going to have at least $12 million. That'll be three-to-four times as much money for the kids so that should really help them.
“People have asked about transfers. We signed 26 kids two years ago and not one of them got a penny so all of them came out of high school here because they wanted to be here so I don’t see them transferring. Now, the money is different. We lost three to four recruits this year just in the last two or three weeks because they got paid. We asked them and they said, ‘I got paid.’ I got it. That’s the other reason that I think it’s a great time for me to get out. This isn’t the game I signed up for, it has changed so much.
“If you think, I’ve been here six years, we went through Covid which was very difficult for all of us and I mean trying to coach a football team when you don’t even know if you’re going to have one and then you couldn’t touch a football and then you couldn’t sit in a room together and you couldn’t meet together, and we go to the Orange Bowl. So I’m really, really proud of that and proud of the way the kids handled it because you take negatives and turn them into positives and then we were recruiting really, really well until NIL came in and we really dropped off with our recruiting.
“Transfer portal is not something that most of the academic schools are excited about because it’s hard to get in. Right now, I think it’s a wonderful time for somebody else to come in and take over and like I said, we’re leaving it better than we found it. We’ve got wonderful kids, it’s a good roster. There’s some things they’ll need to do in the portal, and I’m sure as the administrators were looking for a coach, they’re worried that Signing Day’s moved up and the portal’s coming pretty soon so I get all that. I understand that they had to start looking and it’s funny I know so many agents and coaches, they’d all call me and said you know they’re looking for coaches. I said, ‘Yeah, I got that. I know that.’ I’m not foolish. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be there at the end.
“My next chapter, Sally and I don’t know what we’re going to do. We’ve already had some opportunities this week to do different things so we’re not sure where we’ll live and we’re now sure what we’ll do. I remember at Texas when I got through, I looked up that day and I said, ‘You know, I don’t have anything to do the rest of my life and I’ve been having stuff to do all day, every day.’ It really, really is different but I think as I said again, I agree with the administration that we should have new leadership. I’ve had enough. I’m excited about my next step.
“I want to truly get out of the way so they can hire a great coach and keep moving forward for these kids and these fans. I can’t have all these friends here and can’t love these kids and not want North Carolina to be really, really good as we move forward. I think the biggest thing is that I want to appreciate you all too and say thank you. Like I said, I’ve got friends in this room. I was in your business for five years. I think the biggest thing is that you all are so respectful, so professional. When I’ve met with you, you’ve asked me questions and allowed me to answer them. Chip’s grown up a lot, he’s a lot better than he was when I was here before, when he was a young guy. I was probably worse too, Chip, as a young guy.
“We need to start talking about when you’re retiring cause you’re getting older and a lot of people are asking. You got to be careful with what you say too, by the way because they’ll take that and make it bigger than life as you go through. Again, I understand the change, I agree with the change in leadership. Little disappointed in the way it was handled and that was the only thing, nothing else from that standpoint. What I’m going to do in respect of the administration at the University of North Carolina because like I said, there’s only three people that know what were said and I know John Pryor and I are on the same page.
“I don’t know about anybody else, I don’t know what anybody else is saying, but this should be through. They made a decision they wanted a change, I agree with it. I didn’t agree with the way it was done, that’s simple. It’s minor. But, you all should start talking about who the new coach is and not whether this was good or not in the last. But I’m respect for the University of North Carolina, I’m not going to answer questions tonight for the first time in my life because we would have, it wouldn’t be fair to the administration for me to answer questions without them sitting here to answer them as well.
“So, love you, appreciate you. Don’t call me, you won’t be able to find me. I’ll be somewhere playing golf or fishing, but I really appreciate all you’ve done and appreciate the kids and sorry that we lost the game.”
