Brushing Off Age, North Carolina's Mack Brown Issues Dramatic Warning to ACC Rivals

Patrick Andres | Jul 25, 2024

Jul 25, 2024; Charlotte, NC, USA; UNC Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown speaks to the media during the ACC Kickoff at Hilton Charlotte Uptown. / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

North Carolina coach Mack Brown has been in the coaching game for a long time.

Brown has coached under virtually every championship-deciding mechanism college football has come up with: the poll system, the Bowl Coalition, the Bowl Alliance, the BCS (both with and without a standalone championship game), the four-team College Football Playoff, and now the 12-team CFP. The man has tied a game, for crying out loud (against No. 11 Georgia Tech on Oct. 20, 1990).

Can he go on forever? Of course not. However, Brown bluntly stated his willingness to outwit Father Time on Thursday at the ACC's media days in Charlotte—and took a shot at his foes in the process.

“Every coach recruiting against us says I’m going to quit. And six of them have been fired that said that already," the 72-year-old Tar Heels boss told reporters via Travon Miles of WTVD-TV in Durham, N.C. "So they ought to be worried about themselves.”

Mack Brown absolutely cooking:

“Every coach recruiting against us says I’m going to quit. And six of them have been fired that said that already. So they ought to be worried about themselves.”

Mack turns 73 two days before UNC’s opener. pic.twitter.com/OGWBbynXZc

— Travon Miles (@TrayABC11) July 25, 2024

Whether his fanciful anecdote is true or not, betting against the longevity of Brown—who has taken teams to the top 10 in five presidential administrations—is an unwise proposition.