Mack Brown explains how North Carolina can go from good to great

North Carolina has been bowl eligible in all four of Mack Brown’s seasons back in Chapel Hill. That run was highlighted by last year’s record when they went 9-5, their best finish since 2015.

Even so, Brown sees the Tar Heels as good but not yet great. In a summer press conference last month, he described how UNC feels about their current position in the college football landscape. Brown said that they can sense how close they are to greatness as a program while also giving due respect to what they’ve done within the context of expectations.

“I think that we’re so close,” Brown stated. “We didn’t finish and we’re not happy with the way we finished. But we know what we could have done better to finish and that’s what we’ve got to do.

“The whole thing has been we’re good. We’ve got a good program, we’ve won nine games twice since I left. So for somebody to be mad at winning nine games? I mean they’re probably not very realistic,” Brown continued. “We’ve won the Coastal twice since they’ve had a Coastal. So I’m not going to say last year’s team didn’t have a great year,” said Brown. “They had a good year. And we want to have a great year. A great year is winning all the games. Very few people do that but that’s what we came back to do.”

North Carolina has gone 30-22 since Brown’s return to Kenan Stadium. 2022 was the best of those years as they opened at 9-1 and made a care for a Top-10 ranking in the country.

However, everything came crashing down with four straight losses to end the season, including one to Clemson in the ACC Championship and another to Oregon for their third consecutive bowl loss.

With what the program has at their disposal as far as personnel, Brown believes that North Carolina has enough left in the tank to break into that upper echelon. He realizes that they’re by no means a poor man’s program but also knows that, heading into the fall, they also have a lot left to do before they officially become a rich man’s either.

“Are we happy with good? Eh. It’s better than two. It’s better to win nine than two. So we’re happier,” said Brown. “But we also can really see the standard that’s out there that we want to get to. And we can get there. When you have a great quarterback? You’ve got a chance to get there.”