Mack Brown explains why he stopped talking about being great

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown has changed his messaging after the first few weeks of the season. In the offseason, he talked about taking the step from good to great.

He doesn’t say that anymore, and he explained why during Monday’s press conference.

“I quit saying good to great because we didn’t play great against App State and I said we should’ve,” Brown said. “There wasn’t any reason not to. So I’m going to quit talking about great ’til you start showing me you want to be great. It’s a conversation. I want to see it. I don’t want to hear it. So we’ve quit talking about it. I don’t use that anymore. What you gotta do is you gotta go do it every week.”

The Tar Heels are 3-0 with two non-conference victories over Power Five opponents in Minnesota and South Carolina.

However, they were taken to double overtime by Appalachian State — one year after the Mountaineers upset North Carolina in a high-scoring barnburner.

This is the first time since 2020 the Tar Heels have started the season with a 3-0 record.

“Playing college football is really hard. I admire those kids so much that play. Regardless of whether you’re playing in the game or not, being out there is really hard. I mean they have to work so hard year round, and some of them don’t get in a game. Some of them have 12 games that they play for the 300-plus days that they work, so it’s really, really hard. Winning’s even harder. I’ve told them, why work so hard and lose? If you’re gonna do that, get ready to play each week. It amazes me that people cannot be ready to play. How can you have 12 out of 300 and something and not be ready to play and it happens. It happens every week.”

There is still a chance for North Carolina to be great. The team has Pitt this week before going on a bye.

When they return from their off week, the Tar Heels will Syracuse, Miami and Virginia all at home. It is within reason that the team could be 7-0 with College Football Playoff hopes come Halloweekend.

“It may be that they’re okay, but they’re not at their peak and you’ve got to play your best to win because everybody’s pretty good,” Brown said. “Transfer portal has made a lot more parody in college football than ever before. I have this thing on YouTube at home where I watch highlights of a lot of the games across the country. It’s amazing to me how many people have good players, and I watch them all. I try to figure out where did he come from. Good lord, he’s good. That’s just what we’re looking at. Let’s really press ourselves, make ourselves very uncomfortable and try to get to someplace we haven’t been before, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”