CHARLOTTE – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown took part in the annual ACC Kickoff on Thursday at The Westin, which included a formal press conference in the main ballroom, but also a more casual Q&A session in a breakout room.

Brown fielded a variety of questions about conference realignment, his team’s improved accountability this offseason as opposed to last offseason, playing two quarterbacks, what he likes and is concerned about from his various position groups, and much more.

As he always does, the UNC coach had plenty of interesting things to say, so below is video of his session as well as some notes and pulled quotes.

**************************************************************************************

Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!

***************************************************************************************

*Brown expressed his concern about the future of the ACC, saying he would rather college football stay more like it is. The idea of two super conferences with a 16-team playoff wouldn’t be good for the game, he said.

“My fear is if we go to a two-mega conference, NFL-type situation, and then your playoff becomes 16 teams, you’re the NFL,” he said. “And then college football around it has dropped.”

Brown also elaborated on the residual effect of this happening.

“I don’t think it’s best for college football to have two mega conferences, because there are so many great programs that will not be able to compete at the same level they are now,” Brown said. “And when that happens, their fans are going to be really disappointed and they’re going to lose revenue. And it will hurt football all the way to the FCS and Division II and Division III. And to me, that’s not what we need.”

*In addition, Brown continued discussing the climate around college football.

“I really like college football as it is, understanding it’s got to grow, understanding there’s got to be changes,” he said. “But I’m afraid we’ve got too many changes that weren’t well thought through, and therefore we’re seeing the consequences of some of those.”

*Accountability was one of the hot topics initiated by Brown and followed up by the three Tar Heels (Josh Downs, Cedric Gray, and British Brooks) that were here today. Brown says the hype last summer caused some players to believe they had arrived and didn’t have to invest as much as was necessary.

The Tar Heels finished the season 6-7 and changed defensive coordinators after opening the campaign ranked No. 10 in the nation.

“Our team had won five games over two years when we came in, four years ago now, we jumped out and had a seven-win season and won a bowl game. We jumped out and went to the Orange Bowl. So, all of a sudden, the narrative changed. We were one of the top teams in the country and we were a top-10 team.

“And even though the previous year’s team was good enough to be considered with that hype, last year’s team was not.”

Brown said they were good enough to beat Wake Forest when it was in the top 10, was at the 2-yeard-line at Pitt with a chance to win, had NC State by nine points with two minutes left, but they couldn’t finish. The Hall of Famer says that was on him.

But this offseason is different. The accountability is there, and Brown, who admits he didn’t have fun last season, is enjoying it again.

*Another major difference this season is the defense, particularly its leadership and how Gene Chizik will have the Tar Heels refined and schemed. And for Brown, his trust and belief in Chizik is literally off the charts. Brown knew what he was getting when he hired Chizik last January, even though Brown didn’t give him a directive regarding scheme or approach. That’s all Chizik.

“When I hired Gene, I really asked him to start winning on defense,” Brown said. “You gotta play great defense. I knew him, I knew what he was, I know what he stands for. So, he and I didn’t have a conversation about anything except, ‘Go do what I know you can do for this place.’”

*Naturally, Brown was asked about possibly having a two-quarterback system, which could be the case this season with Jacolby Criswell and Drake Maye battling for the QB1 job. He pretty much says the same thing each time he’s been asked this going back to March, but it’s always good to note his latest comments on this topic.

“I think you’d always like to have an established guy in that position that’s played for three years,” Brown said. “I’d like to have Sam Howell back (laughter). But we don’t. But since we do not, what you do is take what’s practical. And right now, we’ve told both of them – I love both of them, I’d recruit them again, they’re very talented, ‘One of you’ve got to separate if you want to play. If you want to be the starter, take it over.’”

They chart every throw by Criswell and Maye in workouts and drills every day, and they chart who wins in competitive situations.

“And if they all come out even, like they have right now, then we’ll play two,” Brown said.