CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Mack Brown met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center in his first press conference since the Tar Heels lost to Clemson in the ACC championship game December 3.
Brown discussed new hires Chip Lindsey as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and Randy Clements as offensive line coach. He also noted some news around the team with respect to players leaving and some saying they will return, and he also discussed a little about the Holiday Bowl matchup versus Oregon on December 28.
Due to AJ’s inability to fuse the two folders containing Brown’s 57-minute press conference, we are running it in two parts below. In addition, underneath are some notes and pulled quotes from what Carolina’s coach had to say:
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*Brown was highly critical of how the search for replacing Phil Longo and Jack Bicknell was covered by the media. He said some in the media flat out lied about who he had spoken with making up aspects of discussions that never took place.
He says searches are kept confidential because “you’re protecting people that have jobs at other places. I don’t want to have a guy’s name out there and then I don’t take him” because of the negativity that coach may encounter at his school.
“The other thing is I don’t want a public debate on who we should hire that our players have to look at, their parents have to look at. I want to make that decision.”
As for the media misreporting on this search, Brown was quite clear.
“There are some people that act like they know what they’re doing that are absolutely wrong. They’re just lying,” Brown said. “It’s false, and it hurts the narrative for your readers, it hurts the narrative for people that are out there that I didn’t even talk to.
“One of them said I was going to have a coach-in-waiting. I’ve been there, I’ve done that, it didn’t work. I would never do that again. Another one brought up names of people I didn’t talk to and said, ‘I know they’re in negotiations and they’re talking.
“I don’t know how people can just sit there and lie. It’s amazing to me, and it’s sad, because it’s not fair to readers. And they get all excited about this or that when they’re not even in the narrative for sure.”
Since we generally don’t know what other media outlets that cover UNC report, we don’t know who Brown was referencing. But we can say we didn’t report any conversations or even candidates, noting on the premium boards multiple times we had nothing, that our sources had “gone dark.” The one thing we ran was on current WR Coach Lonnie Galloway, not as a candidate for this job, but as someone who aspires for that role, and if Brown stayed in-house, Galloway would be a candidate.
Otherwise, we offered zero hints about who Brown was looking at.
*What was Brown looking for in the OC search?
“What I was looking for is somebody to tweak the offense, I didn’t need somebody to come in with a new offense,” he said. “We need to have fewer tackles for loss; fewer sacks, which we had fewer this year than we had last year. I thought we did a great job with our offense through ten games, but the last three we didn’t.
“We even had better red zone touchdowns until the last three games, when we went back to some old problems. And they were against better defenses. I thought we got soft and we didn’t finish like we needed to.”
Brown named TE Coach John Lilly the run game coordinator, noting his history in run-oriented offenses in the NFL and at Georgia. In hiring Lindsey, he brought in someone who spent a year with Gus Malzahn at UCF, and Malzahn is a run-oriented coach. And, Brown hired Clements, who has long been known as an excellent run-blocking coach.
*Brown said he spoke with two candidates about the OC job and one about the OL job.
*About new OC/QB coach Chip Lindsey, Brown said: “I needed a guy fit with the offensive line coach I was hiring that was going to be more physical and redo our running game. And at the same time, he could get along with the passing game. And I kept hearing Chip’s name come up. I’d been around Chip, met him some.
“Chip really believes in the Air Raid system, we want to keep it, we want to keep doing the things that we’re doing well. I had long and good talks with Drake, and he said, ‘Coach, let’s get somebody who can teach me, and let’s get somebody who will keep the great things we’re doing on offense and add some things.
“And as I looked at it, Chip was the perfect one for it.”
*About new o-line coach Randy Clements, Brown said: “Randy is very physical. He’s old school and they run north and south. And there’s no sideways stuff.”
*Lindsey has been in Chapel Hill since Thursday and has seen the team practice some, and Clements came in Sunday night (after UNT’s bowl game Saturday), and watched practice Monday morning.
*Junior linebacker Cedric Gray looked into getting feedback from the NFL, and while it’s uncertain if he has received that information, Brown said Gray recently informed him he will be back for his senior season.
This is a huge bit of news for the 2023 Tar Heels. Gray is a future NFL player, but should one of the top LBs in the nation next season.
“Cedric Gray has told me he is 100 percent coming back, which is great news for us and North Carolina, because he’s one of the best players in the country,” Brown said. “He wants to come back to make sure he has a chance to finish this thing right.”
*Graduates playing their last game as Tar Heels: Antoine Green; Brian Anderson; Ed Montilus; Obi Egbuna; and Jahlil Taylor.
Brown noted that this will be the last football game Montilus ever plays. He has decided to move on from the sport after the bowl game. A source close to the situation confirmed to THI on Monday that Montilus would get a look at the NFL, but he doesn’t want to go through the process when his chances are slim he will make a roster. It’s time to move on from football.
*Four Tar Heels that are in the transfer portal but still playing in the bowl game are Dontae Balfour, Kendall Karr, Dontavius Nash, and Keeshawn Silver are playing in the game but are in the portal and will transfer.
“We allowed the guys to play in the game that have done everything right to help us get to the game,” Brown said. “And if they want to transfer to get more playing time, I totally understand that, and they have been great. They’ve worked really hard and prepared to try to help us win the game.”
Cam Kelly noted when tweeting he had entered the portal that he would play in the game, but he has decided not to. A source close to the situation told THI that Kelly is more likely to try the NFL instead of playing for a new school. So, since there is plenty on tape, he didn’t want to risk injury in the bowl game.
Brown noted that they asked Silver to move to the offensive line, but he wants to play defense, which is why he’s in the portal.
*Offensive tackle Asim Richards and center Corey Gaynor are looking at their NFL status so they can make a decision about returning. Gaynor has requested a waiver from the NCAA for a seventh year, and the expectations are he will get it. Richards is considered a mid-round selection, so it’s uncertain whether or not he stays or heads to the league.
Players don’t have to declare for the NFL Draft until January 14.
*The Tar Heels will play Oregon in the Holiday Bowl on December 28 in San Diego. The game will air on FOX at 8 PM, which is a 5 PM kick at Petco Park, which is home of the San Diego Padres.
“The Holiday Bowl is a tier-one bowl, it’s the highest rated bowl in the ACC other than the Orange Bowl,” Brown said. “I’m very proud that they chose us. I’ve been there five or six times with Texas; it’s a great place to be for our players. They’ll love it.”
Brown says he wanted to face Oregon in the bowl game because he wants his team tested as much as possible.
“I wanted a tough opponent. We’ve got to keep playing,” Brown said. “I know very few people are going to give us a chance. People don’t think we’re going to win. We’ve got to keep playing better people. We’ve got to upgrade who we are. We want this program to be a prominent program, and you can’t do it by picking easy teams in bowl games and beating them. You’ve got to play the best to be the best.
“It’ll be a load, and we’ve got it. And I still feel like that’s the best thing for us to do.”
*The players will go home following practice Tuesday the 20th, but return for the team to fly to San Diego on December 23. They will practice three times there before and also celebrate Christmas together.
