Mack Brown is not planning to resign from his job after all, and he’s “disappointed” in himself for even offering.
Brown, in the wake of North Carolina’s stunning 70-50 home loss to James Madison on Saturday, said he told his players that he would step down if they didn’t feel like he was doing a good enough job leading the program. Many players left that locker room thinking that the 73-year-old longtime coach was going to resign.
That, he said Monday, isn’t the case.
“I shouldn’t have put that pressure on them, so I’m disappointed in me,” Brown said. “I love my job, I love these kids, and I love this place. That’s why I hate losing so much.”
North Carolina entered Saturday’s game at Kenan Stadium as a huge 12.5-point favorite over the Dukes. Yet James Madison absolutely rolled over the Tar Heels. Dukes quarterback Alonza Barnett III threw for 388 yards and had five total touchdowns, two of which he ran in himself. They blocked a punt for a touchdown and recovered an onside kick in the first quarter, and had an incredible 53 points at halftime. That was the most North Carolina had ever allowed in a half.
Brown, a college football Hall of Famer who returned to North Carolina in 2019 after a 16-year run at Texas, took the loss exceptionally hard. After offering up his resignation to his team, Brown said they “overwhelmingly” supported him staying on. He said he sent them all a message within an hour after he got home on Saturday night after the game apologizing for his comments.
“I’m supposed to be a role model for these kids, supposed to take negatives and turn them into positives and supposed to learn from losses,” Brown said. “I didn’t do that very well Saturday night. I’m disappointed in me, I’ll grow from it and won’t do it again.”
North Carolina will take on Duke next on Saturday in Durham (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in what will be its first ACC game of the season.
