By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
ESPN has lost one of its college football analysts. Mack Brown was officially hired by the North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday.
We reported over the weekend that Brown was being whispered as a candidate. Then we confirmed he was hired on Monday.
The 67-year-old will return to college football for the first-time since the 2013 season. He had been working for ESPN since the 2014 season.
With a national championship pedigree and hall of fame coaching career, Mack was great for our college football coverage,” Lee Fitting, ESPN’s Vice President of Production, said. “His deep knowledge of the sport, combined with his signature warm demeanor, made our team better for the past five years. We wish Mack all the best as he resumes his title as ‘coach’ at UNC.”
He has agreed to terms to become the North Carolina Tar Heels head coach on Monday.
He replaces Larry Fedora, who was fired on Sunday. After Fedora was fired, there were whispers that Brown would return despite other candidates being mentioned.
Fedora was fired after a 2-9 season.
Brown has been out of the game since the 2014 season. He has been serving as an ESPN Studio Analyst following his resignation as the Texas Longhorns head coach.
As a college football head coach, he is 244-122. He is also 13-8 in Bowl games.
He went 158-48 in 16 seasons at Texas. He also went 98-33 within the Big 12 Conference.
Prior to accepting the Texas job in 1998, he spent a decade as the Tar Heels head coach. He went 69-46-1. He also went 40-35-1 within the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Brown also coached the Appalachian State Mountaineers for one season in 1983. He also coached the Tulane Green Wave for three seasons from 1985 through 1987.
As a head coach, he coached 22 Consensus All-Americans. He also received four Coach of the Year Award — 1996 ACC Coach of the Year, 2005 Big 12 Coach of the Year, 2005 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year, and the 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year.
His went a combined 30-21 in his last four seasons as a college football coach with the Longhorns. The worst season was a 5-7 mark in 2010 during these four seasons.
Brown went 2-1 in Bowl games, winning in the Holiday Bowl and the Alamo Bowl in 2011 and 2012. He also lost the Alamo Bowl in 2013 against the Oregon Ducks.
