UNC Head Coach Mack Brown Discusses FSU Ahead Of Return To Tallahassee

Brown is 0-11 as a head coach against the Seminoles but still has fond memories of Florida State.

Oct 26, 2024; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown looks on from the sidelines against the Virginia Cavaliers during the first half at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Florida State Seminoles return to Tallahassee this weekend for their last conference matchup of 2024 against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Despite the historically bad 1-7 start for the Seminoles, UNC has had its own lack of success this season, which was highlighted by a 70-50 loss to James Madison University.

Although UNC sits near the bottom of the ACC with a 4-4 record, they have one of the most experienced coaches in college football at the helm of the program in Mack Brown, who is in his second stint with UNC, first coaching there from 1988-1997, and re-joining the program in 2019. Brown has also served as head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, and Texas, where he led the Longhorns to an undefeated season in 2005 capped off with a National Title.

In his weekly press conference, Brown commented on the upcoming game against Florida State, discussing what he sees in the program, some fond memories of FSU, and the unpredicability of the preseason polls.

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"Florida State, they've had struggles like we've had with injuries and tough breaks, and Mike's got them playing hard and they continue to play hard. Their defensive front is the best we'll play so far this year, they're really talented and they're great. they're playing good defense, they've been inconsistent on offense because they've got young quarterbacks. They've got inexperianced quarterbacks like we do, and that makes it tough in modern day football. But they're very very talented, they're going to play well against us, we know that, it's going to be hot, it's going to be in the 80's which is different for this time of the year, but it'll be another exciting challenge for us," Brown said.

Prior to his days as a national championship-winning head coach, Brown was a running back, and although he started his career playing for Vanderbilt, he transferred to Florida State after the 1970 season. He was ultimately forced to retire due to multiple injuries, leading Brown to take a position as a graduate assistant, starting his coaching career with the Seminoles. Brown commented on the joys of returning to Tallahassee, noting that every time he goes back he always has old friends calling him asking to visit.

"You know, the only thing that happens when you go back to places like this, when you have so many teammates and friends that want to see you, it's kind of hard because it's a business trip. You don't have time to hang out and the guys are saying 'Can I run by the hotel?' and I say 'I'm kind of busy.' That part's fun."

Brown also looked back on one of the more notable times he coached against Florida State, citing a blowout loss to a Bobby Bowden led squad that left him with some memorable advice from the FSU great.

"I do remember when I was at Tulane we were playing and Coach Bowden was the coach, and we went up 7-0, I think they beat us 70-14, and I said we made them mad because it was 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and we stirred them up. I can remember Coach Bowden had Anthony Carter I think was the runningback/receiver at the end, and he ran a reverse late in the game and got the 77th point. So after the game, I said 'Why do you do that? Why do you run it up like that?' and he (Bowden) said 'I was coaching at West Virginia and I was ahead of Pittsburgh 34-0 in the fourth quarter, I took them all out and got beat 35-34.' and he said 'I will never, never take my foot off the gas again in coaching. The other thing is I want to beat you so bad that next year when I play you, you're just trying to keep from getting embarrassed and you don't think you've got any chance to win a game.'"

When asked if he would have backed FSU as a top 10 team in the preseason, Brown didn't shy away from not only admitting he would have, but also why the collapse of the program plays into the unpredictability and inaccuracy of preseason polls.

" Oh yeah, absolutely, that's why college football has changed so much, you can't tell. I mean you just absolutely can't tell. Who would've picked Vanderbilt to beat Alabama, who would have picked Texas and Vanderbilt to be onside kicking at the end of the game on Saturday? I mean, you better go ready to play, it's every week, and when people say are they ready to play, I thought we were ready to play James Madison, I mean practice was good, pregame was good, they looked focused, I watched them in pregame. I mean, I just don't think you can tell anymore, you just gotta coach the heck out of them when you get them on the field."

"The transfer portal has also made it where we have no idea who's at each place now. Some of these guys aren't even there at spring practice. And I said, when I worked for ESPN they were telling me before the national championship game to pick the four finalists for next year, I said 'I don't even know who's coming back,' they said 'It doesn't matter, just pick them!' I really think that the first time we should even think about polls is for the college football playoff polls, by then you've earned something."

Brown will take on the Florida State Seminoles for the 12th time as he hopes to get his first win over the program on Saturday. He's 0-8 against FSU as the head coach at North Carolina and went 0-3 in an earlier stint while leading Tulane. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 EST and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network. This is the 22nd matchup between the two teams, the Seminoles lead 17-3-1 all-time and currently have a two-game win streak against the Tar Heels.

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