WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Mack Brown made no grand promises when he returned to North Carolina four years ago, and instead spent much of his introductory press conference sharing a broad vision of hope. The Tar Heels football program had deteriorated into a mess, one with five victories over two miserable seasons, and of the task ahead Brown cheerfully said, “We love to fix things.”
The challenge had brought him back. That, and he missed a lot of things about coaching — the relationships, especially. Even so, he said then, after years of living the cozy life of an analyst at ESPN, and after leaving the grind of the sideline when he left Texas under less-than-amicable circumstances, “You start asking yourself, why coach again. Maybe you’ve done enough.”
Four years later, Brown at last has a definitive answer to the question he posed then. Why coach again? For this. For the kind of moment and place at which North Carolina arrived here Saturday night, with a 36-34 victory against Wake Forest. Afterward, inside a jubilant locker room, Brown found himself surrounded by reminders of why he wanted to come back to UNC for a second time.
