OVERVIEW
Mack Brown is the head football coach for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. He formerly coached at North Carolina in the 1990s before heading to the University of Texas, where he won a national championship in 2005. He later became a college football commentator on ESPN before returning to North Carolina. Brown, with a 251-128-1 overall record, was a 2018 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame. He has coached for 42 years, 31 of which he was a head coach.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- 251-128-1 overall record coaching
- 2005 national championship at Texas after 13-0 season
- Received Paul “Bear” Bryant Award in 2006 for “Coach of the Year”
- 2008 Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year
- Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018
- Won 15 of the 23 bowl games he has been to
- 20 of his players (16 Texas/four UNC) were drafted in the first round in his past 17 NFL Drafts
- Three players he has coached have received ACC Rookie of the Year awards (Leon Johnson, Dre’ Bly and Sam Howell)
EARLY LIFE
William Mack Brown was born on Aug. 27, 1951, in Cookeville, Tennessee. He attended Putnam County High School where he played football, basketball and baseball. After his senior season, he won All-State as well as Prep All-America honors and was selected as the state player of the year by The Tennessean.
He went on to attend Vanderbilt (1969-70) and graduated from Florida State in 1974. While at Florida, he lettered twice as a running back (1972-73). After an injury sidelined him for much of the 1973 season, he became a student coach. He completed his bachelor’s degree in education in 1974.
COACHING CAREER
Brown began his coaching career in 1975 at Southern Mississippi where he worked with wide receivers for three seasons while obtaining his master’s degree in administration. He continued as a position coach at Memphis State (1978), Iowa State (1979-1981), LSU (1982) and Oklahoma (1984). He held the head coach position at Appalachian State (1983), Tulane (1985-1987), Texas (1998-2013) and North Carolina (1988-1997, 2019-present).
