CHAPEL HILL – Contrary to his predecessor, Mack Brown’s wide-ranging mission during his second stint as North Carolina’s football includes generating a large turnout for the team’s annual spring football game.

Brown recognizes this won’t happen overnight, but he’s a man who knows what he wants and is determined to make it happen, a process that will commence this Saturday at 5 pm at Kenan Stadium when the new-look Tar Heels will show themselves to the public for the first time.

“We ended up with 50,000 fans at Texas and that’s what I’d like to see here,” Brown said, referring to 2013, his final spring game at the helm of the Longhorns. “I’d like to see (Kenan) full. I’d like to see it (as) a fun day, a huge recruiting day for us, something that people start marking their calendars for.”

Brown’s view of the spring game contrasts with former UNC coach Larry Fedora, who was fired last November and replaced by Brown.

UNC didn’t have a spring game last year, as Fedora opted not to have one saying the team was better served practicing instead. A year earlier, the Tar Heels’ held their spring game at Fetzer Field, where UNC’s soccer teams play, because Kenan Stadium’s playing surface was being worked on.

UNC did hold a spring game at Kenan in 2016 with an estimated turnout of around 8,000 fans. In 2015, the Heels held a spring scrimmage at Rocky River High School outside of Charlotte, so over Fedora’s last four years, UNC hosted just one spring game at Kenan.

There really isn’t a spring game culture in Chapel Hill, but Brown wants to change that, and he has his reasons. That’s why he’s happy to discuss it any time someone in the media asks about it. Brown is getting out the word using whatever vehicle necessary to inspire UNC fans to start making this a priority.

“Promoting the spring game is important to send the players a message that our fans are really into this and they are excited about next fall,” Brown said. “We had some great crowds last year, but we had a lot of noon games and the crowds weren’t very good.

“We need a big crowd at the spring game simply to send a message to recruits and our players that it’s going to be really important to play well in the fall. And I want our fans to get excited about coming back out for football. We need Kenan Stadium full.”

The 5 pm start time is designed for fans to make a day of it in Chapel Hill culminating with some football. The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams are at home versus Syracuse earlier in the day, the softball team hosts Florida State at 1, there’s tailgating at the Kenan amphitheater and a fan fest begins at 2:30.

The football, however, must be the primary draw and Brown is looking to build that passion over time. UNC drew 30,000 for its spring game in 2010, a turnout fueled by heightened excitement about the Tar Heels and a national television audience on ESPN. Otherwise, crowds have typically ranged from 10,000-14,000 during the 2000s.

So, reaching Texas’ level won’t be easy, but that doesn’t affect Brown’s goal.

“I understand it and I don’t care,” he said. “It’s what I want, it’s something that we’re asking fans to do. We may have to win a few more games to get them out, but we’re going to constantly talk to our fans.

“When I was at Tulane, I talked to a sports psychologist who said that ‘Your team is only as committed as your coaches, your administration and your fans.’ So our fans want us to be really good in football again so you need to show that by buying season tickets and showing up every time we have a football event. And that’s the message, but it takes us all.”

And it begins Saturday.