With the Season Now Over, Fixing the Defense is Brown's Priority
CHARLOTTE – If any staff changes are made at North Carolina, it was always going to happen after the Tar Heels’ bowl game. And now that it’s in the rearview mirror, head coach Mack Brown has begun the process of working through whatever decisions are eventually made.
Whether any coaches are pushed out or not, Brown will follow the same protocol leading to his decisions.
At issue, he acknowledged Tuesday during the Duke’s Mayo Bowl media day, is the defensive side of the ball. Although improved from 2022, the Tar Heels are still ranked No. 95 in total defense, and post similarly poor rankings in many statistical areas.
Perhaps most concerning to Brown is how Gene Chizik’s unit performed so well over the first half of the season, but not in the second half of the campaign.
“I’ll do the same thing I do every year,” Brown said. “I’ll look at what we did well, why did we play great defense for six weeks and then we were inconsistent the last six. We weren’t as bad as everybody thinks, but we were that bad at times.
“We were horrible in the fourth quarter at Georgia Tech. Why? Lost us the game. If you score 42 points, you should win. We were horrible in the fourth quarter against Duke, (and) it nearly lost us the game.”
Breaking it down reveals alarming numbers.
The Tar Heels entered the Miami game ranked 35th in total defense, and through the third quarter that night, Chizik’s unit had surrendered only 13 total points in the second halves to Power 5 opponents South Carolina, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse, plus the third period versus the Hurricanes. That is an average of 1.4 points per second-half quarter. Then everything changed.
Miami scored two fourth-quarters touchdowns, and offenses for Virginia, Georgia Tech, Duke, Clemson, and NC State totaled 105 points in 11 second-half quarters, an average of 9.5 points per period.
In the end, Carolina (8-5 overall, 4-4 ACC) didn’t come close to reaching its stated missions of the season mainly because the defense too-often let it down.
“So, you sit and look at a third year with the same staff is going to get a whole lot better,” Brown asked. “Or, do you look at, ah we need to change? Because right now in college sports and pro spots, everybody wants blood firings. That’s gets rid of everything. Let’s fire them. We don’t know who we’re bringing in, we don’t even care, but if we can get rid of what we’ve got…
“Now, people want blood. It makes them feel better. I’ve got to make a decision of what’s best for our program.”
He started conversations with some assistants in early December, but the most important ones have yet occurred. And, part of that is getting input from everyone on the staff. He wants their opinions about the problematic areas individually and collectively.
Make no mistake, the focus is the defense in year two under Chizik as it was under his predecessor Jay Bateman.
“We’ve been good enough on offense for five years, we’ve been inconsistent on defense,” Brown said.
There are areas in which the defense improved, however.
UNC went from No. 129 in TFLs in 2022 to No. 55 this year. It went from No. 104 in turnovers gained to No. 22. It went from No. 127 in sacks to No. 45. And it went from No. 114 in pass efficiency defense to No. 64.
And each of the other numbers ticked up some. So, does Brown look at that and say, progress was made, now the other stuff can come with it?
“And that’s the decision you have to make,” he said. “That’s why I’ll sit down with the coaches, and I want to have them; why aren’t we better in the fourth quarters? Tell me. I’ve got my opinions of why we didn’t do this, but why didn’t we?
“We’d be a 12-win team, a 10-win team if we’d played better on defense. So, that’s what we’ve got to get fixed.”
And that effort will happen with or without any new coaches on the defensive side of the ball, as per what Brown ultimately determines is best for UNC.