Mack Brown again confirms he will return to North Carolina next season

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown isn’t going anywhere. After UNC’s loss to NC State on Saturday, the 72-year-old confirmed he will lead the Tar Heels again next season.

“I’m planning on being back,” Brown said. “I hadn’t even thought about it until y’all brought it up. Gets brought up every year. When you’re 72, that’s a regular — you can just mark it down.

“It’s the Thursday before the last game, before recruiting starts, because everybody that’s competing against you — and you all had a dead day, you needed something to write, so it all fits in there.”

Brown wasn’t only disinterested in discussing his future due to the team’s disappointing loss, but also because last week North Carolina assistant AD Jeremy Sharpe said Brown will be back for at least the 2024 season.

“It’s that time of year, so someone is going to start this rumor in hopes of affecting our team and/or recruiting like they’ve done past 2 years,” Sharpe said in a statement. “Mack (Brown) is full steam ahead. In fact, he already has spring practice planned & is currently setting up recruiting visits for December, so no, he’s not retiring.”

Conflicting reports surrounding Mack Brown

A report regarding Brown potentially retiring came out earlier this month, claiming the talks of a move being made by the North Carolina head coach being “much louder.” Brandon Marcello of 247Sports pointed toward Brown being emotional following the team’s win against Duke.

“Industry sources the last two weeks have been telling 247Sports to watch out for a potential retirement from Mack Brown,” Marcello said. “It feels like we go through this every year, but the chatter is much louder this time around. He was very emotional after the double-overtime win over Duke. Industry sources believe he might step away after his second stint at North Carolina.”

Brown is one of just four active college football head coaches with a national championship to his name. He originally left UNC to take the Texas job, where he won the title in 2005. His time in Austin went through the 2013 season before he took a break from coaching for five seasons.

North Carolina opened back up, giving him an opportunity to return. Brown has a record of 38-25 since getting back into coaching and has made an appearance in one ACC Championship game. After closing the season with back-to-back losses, UNC will again miss the conference championship this season.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh also contributed to this article.