The Mack Brown Years

After Dick Crum left UNC, I wanted a good "name" coach to resurrect our football program. I was disappointed when Mack Brown was named our coach. I was even more puzzled after listening to him speak. I was reassured that he was the offensive coordinator for Barry Switzer for a year, but I wasn't too impressed with his thin resume (Head Coach, App State and Tulane). I thought the Heels could have done better.

In 1988, UNC started the season playing 4 non-conference foes: South Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisville, and Auburn. The Heels lost all 4 of these games, and the Tar Heel nation was rumbling. Was it our new coach, or was it because the cupboard was dry? The Heels lost the next 2 games against Wake and NC State (an ugly 48-3 loss at Kenan). Finally, when all hope seemed lost, the Heels beat a Yellow Jacket squad by a score of 20-17. The Heels lost their remaining games, and the season ended with a 1-10 record. UNC had some close defeats (Louisville, Maryland, Virginia and Duke), but the rest were pretty much blowouts.

1989 started off with UNC spanking VMI, 49-7 (my first game I attended as an undergrad). After that, the Heels lost 10 straight games. The worse defeat in my mind was the 41-0 defeat at the hands of the Blue Devils. The Heels were competitive against Kentucky, Navy, Wake, GT, and South Carolina, but the rest were a bunch of blowouts.

1990 was a turning point for the Heels. UNC pitched its first shutout in 4 years, defeating Miami (Ohio) by a score of 34-0. A defeat at the hands of South Carolina followed, but the Heels rebounded with victories against Connecticut and Kentucky. NC State defeated the Heels 12-9 with a 50+ field goal in the last few moments of the game, but Carolina came back and defeated Wake Forest the next week. A tie with GT occurred the next game (the eventual National Champions), and a nice strong victory against Maryland left the Heels with a 5-2-1 record. However, Clemson and Virginia defeated the Heels, and Carolina now had to wait for Duke. The UNC-Duke game was not a fun game to watch, but Carolina did prevail by a score of 24-22. Mack Brown had turned the page.

1991 was supposed to be a year where the Heels would fight for the ACC Championship. The Heels were improved, but a 3-4 Conference record left us with a 7-4 overall record, missing a Bowl berth by a miniscule margin. The defeats were to NC State, Clemson, Virginia, and GT, but they weren't lopsided affairs.

The next year was my Senior year, and there was definitely higher expectations for Mack Brown to take us to a Bowl game. After defeating our first 3 opponents, we played NC State at Kenan. We were supposed to win, but we came up short by a score of 27-20. This was the fifth straight year we lost to State, and the Alumni were not too pleased. However, UNC only lost 2 more times that year (to Clemson and Florida State). Going into the Duke game, UNC sported a record of 7-3. Duke, on the other hand, hadn't defeated an ACC opponent all season. UNC should roll over the Blue Devils. Instead, Duke controlled the game, and only at the end did UNC prevail by a score of 31-28. An 8-3 season left us with a Peach Bowl berth against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs dominated the beginning part, leading us 14-0. If it wasn't for a couple of holding penalties, the score could have been 28-0. UNC regrouped and defeated Mississippi State by a score of 21-17.

UNC started the 1993 season with high expectations. We started off against Southern Cal as the underdog, but we won the game handily by the score of 31-9. We then destroyed Ohio by 44-3, and then played a high scoring affair against Maryland, prevailing 59-42. FSU was next, and UNC did score first, going ahead 7-0 on the arm of Jason Stanicek. At halftime, we were only down 10-7, but FSU "turned it on" and defeated us by a score of 33-7. UNC regrouped and won the next 4 games (including Mack's first victory against NC State!), but then lost a close game to UVA by a score of 17-10. UNC then defeated Clemson 24-0 (first victory against the Tigers since 1985!). After defeating Tulane and Duke, UNC had a 10-2 record with a Gator Bowl invitation against Alabama. Roll Tide Nation was waiting, and they defeated us 24-10.

1994 was a solid year, but the Heels only posted a 8-3 regular season record. They couldn't defeat UVA in Charlottesville, nor could they defeat FSU or Clemson. The Sun Bowl was a great affair to watch, but UNC came up short against Texas by a score of 35-31.

The next year was a very hard year for the Heels, although they did have a winning record and a victory against Arkansas in the Carquest Bowl. We lost to Syracuse, Maryland, GT, Clemson, and FSU, and most of these losses were a direct result of turnovers. The offense was stagnant, and the defense wasn't opportunistic. There were some rumblings by the alumni that Mack Brown wasn't the answer.

Mack's best year may have been in 1996. There were only 2 close defeats (UVA 20-17, FSU 13-0), but our D showed up, not allowing any team to score more than 20 points all season. UNC defeated a strong West Virginia team by a score of 20-13. Carolina defeated Clemson 45-0, Syracuse 27-10, GT 16-0, Wake 45-6, Maryland 38-7, Houston 42-14, NC State 52-20, Louisville 28-10, and Duke 27-10. All of these victories were impressive.

In Mack's last year, the Heels finished the season with a 11-1 record. Again, the most points allowed by our D was 20. However, I noticed several games where the Heels didn't start the game very impressive. We defeated Indiana 23-6, but Indiana was very weak. We defeated Stanford 28-17, but only after we scored 2 touchdowns late in the game. The Maryland game was impressive (40-14), but we looked like we weren't to interested in playing fundamentally sound football. UNC defeated UVA 48-20, but only after being behind 20-3. We barely held on to beat GT and Clemson, and NC State played a solid game against us too. We did demolish VT by a score of 42-3, but that was an emotional game after Mack had committed to coaching the Longhorns a few weeks before.

Mack Brown may have left the program at the best time. I don't think he's what I call the greatest UNC coach ever, but he did develop a strong program by the time he left. However, the Heels may have regressed a bit in 1997, although very few will say this since the Heels finished 11-1.