CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media for about 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon to discuss various different topics surrounding his football program.

Among the things he discussed were his new contract extension, Harvard transfer Spencer Rolland, his thoughts on his team’s 2022 schedule, recruiting, staff changes and much more.

Below are some pulled notes and quotes from what the Hall of Famer had to say.

*UNC announced Wednesday morning that Brown’s contract had been extended an extra year. This takes the length of his contract to five years, with it now running through Jan. 2027.

After returning to Chapel Hill in Nov. 2018, UNC finished 7-6 in his first season back in 2019, capping off the season with a win in the Military Bowl.

The Tar Heels’ record improved in 2020, with Brown’s team finishing 8-4 before earning an Orange Bowl berth, the program’s first major bowl berth since the 1950 Cotton Bowl.

In 2021, however, Carolina finished with a 6-7 record, Brown’s first losing record as a head coach since finishing 5-7 at Texas in 2010.

Despite the slight drop off in wins last season, Carolina continues to recruit at an elite level, with UNC’s 2022 class ranking No. 10 nationally and No. 1 in the ACC.

Overall, Brown is thrilled about his extension and hopes to repay the trust shown in him by the university by continuing to build the program back to national prominence.

“I’m very thankful to the university, to Bubba (Cunningham), to Kevin (Guskiewicz), to the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors, that they would show that faith in me,” Brown said. “I take a tremendous amount of pride in making sure that we continue to have this program grow and get it where it needs to be.

“And I know that's something that people always talk about at my age, but I'm healthy, I'm energized. I didn't like the way we finished this year, and I’m all over it and can't wait to get started.”

*With Wednesday being national signing day, UNC announced Harvard transfer offensive lineman Spencer Rolland will be joining the program this summer.

The 6-6, 245-pounder is set to graduate from Harvard this spring with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in astrophysics.

Rolland started in all 10 games for the Crimson last season, helping them produce the Ivy League’s second-highest scoring offense. He was also named first-team All-Ivy League by the league and Phil Steele.

So, what are Brown’s thoughts on Rolland?

“I really, really liked this young man and his family…” Brown said. “He's got great feet. We had a tremendous official visit with him a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, he's smart enough to pick up football, so missing spring practice won't affect him as much.

“But he wants to get a degree in our Kenan Flagler masters program, so that would add to his Harvard background, which is pretty powerful when you get out of here. He’s also a young guy that wants to continue to grow and play in the NFL. And Stacy Searels helped us with (Miami transfer) Cory Gainer and now he's helped us with Spencer Rolland.”

*Carolina’s 2022 football schedule was released earlier this week on Monday night, with the Tar Heels set to open the season with FCS opponent Florida A&M University on August 27.

In recent years, Carolina has often played FCS opponents towards the end of their schedule, something former head coach Larry Fedora preferred, but Brown wanted to change.

“When Coach Fedora was here, he liked having the FCS game right before NC State,” Brown said. “And to me, I would rather open the season with it. I do feel like there's a lot more energy and there's a lot more interest from our fan base late in the year for a conference game than there would be for an FCS game.

“So, I told Bubba and Rick Steinbacher I would rather open the season with an FCS game than finish the season right before NC State. I know that's what the SEC does, I understand it’s worked for us and I thought it was a great idea by Coach Fedora. But again, I'd rather open the season.”

Brown also added that social justice issues over recent years made the decision to open with FAMU that much easier.

“I felt like, with all the social justice things that have been talked about the last few years, what a great welcome for us to get Florida A&M in here on national TV before the actual season starts so we could emphasize the importance of all of these games, but especially one with them to start the season," he said.

Brown also hit on Carolina’s two open dates during the 2022 season, which fall on Sept. 17 and Oct. 22.

“I always like to have two open dates during the season, just for injuries and rest,” Brown said. “Just to make sure that you don't get so worn down by the end.”

*It was announced in January that UNC Assistant Athletic Director and General Manager Billy High was leaving Carolina to take a job at his alma mater, Tennessee.

High joined the Carolina program in Jan. 2019 and oversaw recruiting evaluations and operations, on-campus recruiting and all other recruiting activities.

Brown spoke on High leaving the program and how much he enjoyed working with him.

“Billy was great for me for three years,” Brown said. “He became my right-hand man and he's high energy and he worked really hard and I liked him. I'm not sure he would have gone anywhere but Tennessee, but his granddad was on the athletic board at Tennessee, and he and his wife, Becker, are graduates and their whole family lives there.

“So, it's like Robert Gillespie going back to Alabama near his mother, I got that. There's a place everybody should go. I don't want people leaving here to go where it's a lateral move where they don't have family or something. So, I totally understood what Billy did and I'm really happy for him.”

Brown also touched on the interview process that is currently going on to find High's replacement.

“We are already in the process of interviewing for that job and we'll find a great replacement because that is a valuable position for us, especially with NIL compliance, recruiting, roster management, all of those things," he said. "I’m all over the place, so you need somebody that works in those areas every day and that's what Billy did for us. So, I'm excited about the people who have shown interest. There's a lot of great candidates.”

*Lastly, Brown announced that Kevin Donnalley, UNC’s Director of High School Relations, has taken up a new role as the program’s Director of the Koman Game Plan For Success.

So, what exactly will Donnalley be doing in this new role?

“It's a leadership role that Jim Koman and his family, when they gave us the money for the indoor practice area, also wanted to have a leadership role,” Brown said. “And Kevin's perfect for that, being a graduate, being an NFL player. What he will be doing is he's gonna be working on different types of leadership for our team because you've got to teach leadership, we've got to continue to do that.

“He will be working on internships for the kids while they're here, hoping that they can work for somebody here that they can continue to work for when they get out of college or get through playing pro football. He's going to work to get our current players jobs when they get out. He will work with Coach (Darrell) Moody to go through the NFL process for our guys when they're trying to determine if they're going out or stay, if they're leaving early, trying to determine which agent to take, trying to look for a financial advisor. Kevin will be very valuable in that position because he's done all that and he's been there and he's very successful in the pros and still has a relationship with the Panthers. And he'll also continue to build a relationship with our lettermen and try to connect our players with lettermen as they get ready to leave school as well.”

And who will be taking over Donnalley’s old position?

“We also took a North Carolina graduate, Alex Marrs, and he will become the Director of High School relations," Brown said. "Alex played here in 2010 through 2014 under both Butch Davis and Larry Fedora. Obviously, he's a UNC grad. He was a two-year letterman as a deep snapper and after graduation, he joined our staff as a quality control coach for the offense. His father, Doug, has been a high school coach in Virginia and North Carolina for 42 years. So, with his love for this place, his love for high school coaches through his dad, he knows all of them anyway with his dad's relationship, so we're very, very excited that Alex is taking over that role.”

Brandon Peay contributed to the report.