Brown fired by Tar Heels, to coach vs. Wolfpack

North Carolina announced Tuesday that Mack Brown will not return next season, one day after the Hall of Fame coach declared his intentions to return to the Tar Heels.

Athletic director Bubba Cunningham informed Brown of his decision on Tuesday. Brown, 73, will coach the team in the regular-season finale against NC State on Saturday, but a decision has not yet been made about whether he will coach the Tar Heels (6-5) in their bowl game.

“While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time,” Brown said in a statement. “I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and will always cherish the memories and relationships Sally and I have built while serving as head coach.

“We’ve had the chance to coach and mentor some great young men, and we’ll miss having the opportunity to do that in the future. Moving forward, my total focus is on helping these players and coaches prepare for Saturday’s game against N.C. State and give them the best chance to win. We want to send these seniors out right and I hope our fans will show up Saturday to do the same.”

In two stints at North Carolina, Brown has gone a combined 113-78-1. Brown, who won a national championship with Texas after his first UNC tenure, returned to the Tar Heels in 2019 and took them to an ACC championship game appearance in 2022.

“Mack Brown has won more games than any football coach in UNC history, and we deeply appreciate all that he has done for Carolina football and our university,” Cunningham said in a statement. “Over the last six seasons — his second campaign in Chapel Hill — he has coached our team to six bowl berths, including an Orange Bowl, while mentoring 18 NFL draft picks.

“… Coach Brown has led the Carolina football program back into the national conversation as we improved the program’s facilities, significantly increased the size of the staff, invested in salaries and bolstered our nutrition and strength and conditioning programs. He also has been a dedicated fundraiser, strengthening the football endowment while also supporting our other sports programs. We thank Coach Brown for his dedication to Carolina, and wish him, Sally and their family all the best.”

Brown ranks eighth all time among FBS coaches with 288 victories, and he’s the only coach with 100-plus wins at multiple FBS schools — 113 at North Carolina and 158 at Texas.

With Brown out, there are now just two active FBS head coaches who have won a national championship: Georgia‘s Kirby Smart and Clemson‘s Dabo Swinney.

As Brown finishes out the season, Cunningham and Chancellor Lee H. Roberts will begin the search for a new head coach.

Brown has three years left on his contract, which pays him $5 million annually. The school said the remainder of the contract will be paid by the UNC athletic department and not through state funds.

The announcement Tuesday concludes what had become months filled with speculation about Brown and his future with the school. After allowing a school-record 70 points in an embarrassing home loss to James Madison in September, Brown told the Tar Heels in the locker room that he would step down if the team felt he could no longer do the job. His comments leaked publicly, and Brown had to announce that he was not resigning.

North Carolina lost three more games from there, then had to deal with the loss of receiver Tylee Craft, who died in October 2½ years after being diagnosed with cancer.

Brown told ESPN in a recent interview that his perspective had changed after that, with him believing the team now needed him more than ever “to step up and be strong and try to help them learn to navigate through these storms and this turmoil.”

After winning three straight — including Brown’s first win over his alma mater, Florida State — North Carolina stumbled in another poor performance at Boston College last weekend, losing 41-21.

That did not stop Brown from announcing during his weekly news conference Monday that he intended to return to North Carolina. However, he also said he hadn’t yet met with Cunningham to discuss his long-term future.

“Not one player has ever come to me and asked me about my future. Not one coach has ever come to me and asked me about my future. That’s what happens this time of the year,” Brown said Monday. “It’s really funny, if you lose a game now, you’re fired. It’s 100%, it’s unbelievable. So why worry, you just got to do your job.”

In 36 seasons as a head coach, Brown has gone 288-154-1. He got his head-coaching start at Appalachian State in 1983, then led Tulane in 1985 and, after three seasons there, went to North Carolina. Following back-to-back 1-10 seasons, Brown transformed the Tar Heels program, taking them to nine or more wins four times. Texas hired him in 1998, and he won the most recent national championship for the Longhorns in 2005.

Following his departure from Texas in 2013 after 16 seasons there, Brown spent time working as a television analyst at ESPN. He returned to North Carolina following a five-year coaching hiatus to try to build back a stagnant Tar Heels program. During his most recent stint, he took North Carolina to the 2022 ACC championship game and helped Drake Maye become a first-round draft pick in 2024.

Big starts to the 2022 and 2023 seasons — including rising as high as No. 10 in 2023 — ended in disappointment as Brown didn’t get North Carolina to the 10-win mark. The 2024 season got off to a rough start when starting quarterback Max Johnson broke his leg in the opener and was lost for the season.

Still, the way Brown’s team responded to adversity, and the death of their beloved teammate, is something Brown told ESPN last week that he will always remember.

“It is one of the most satisfying years I’ve ever had because of the way people are responding to each other,” Brown said before the Boston College game.