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Mack Brown: UNC coach talks conference realignment, future in ACC

Sean Labarby:Sean Labar•08/09/21•

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(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Mack Brown has been around long enough to see just about every scenario in college football play out, even when it seemed impossible.

The UNC coach recently held a press conference where he was asked about conference realignment. Brown provided keen insight to discussions while he served as the head coach at Texas, and also spoke about a potential move for North Carolina football out of the ACC.

Mack Brown discusses conference realignment

On hearing Texas and Oklahoma were moving to the SEC

“I really don’t know that much about it. I’ve talked to Bubba [Cunningham] about this global thing, about the national thing and how much do we feel like this changes? Any changes that could be made, because that’s what effects us more than anything else. I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the Texas/OU decision. That’s not my place, I don’t work there anymore. My thought is North Carolina.”

Mack Brown on UNC potentially moving from the ACC

“I feel like from what I’m hearing, we are moving forward with the ACC and things are great. Could something happen happen 4-5 years down the road? Sure. None of us thought this would happen before. I was right in the middle of the realignment in, I think it was 2008. I thought we were an hour away from going to the Pac-12 when we were at Texas and then all of it changed. Then there were talks between Texas and the ACC at that time, I knew that.

“Am I surprised? I don’t think really anything surprises us anymore, but did it catch me off guard? Yes, but I don’t talk to my friends about Texas football as much as I used to anymore, obviously. Will it effect us?”

On the appeal of North Carolina for conference re-alignment in the future

“We are so lucky. We are one of the best academic universities in the country and that will hold weight if people start moving around to different mega conferences. We have one of the best brands in the world. Our basketball is great, our football is on a surge. If something changes, North Carolina will be one of the more popular schools that people will want to have in their process.”