UNC's Mack Brown is worried about future of college football due to realignment

All of the conference realignment is worrying some coaches around the country

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

College football is changing forever due to schools such as USC, UCLA, Texas, and Oklahoma kicking off what appears to be a race to form two mega-conferences in college football between the SEC and Big Ten. 

While it will be absurdly profitable for the schools involved, not everyone is a fan of how the sport is changing. It is leaving conferences like the Pac-12, having to frantically seek mediocre options elsewhere to stay afloat.  North Carolina head coach Mack Brown addressed the notion at ACC Media Day, expressing his distain for what these realignment decisions will do to the sport and its future saying:

“My fear is if we go to a two mega-conference situation and then your playoff becomes 16 teams, maybe, you’re the NFL,” he said. “And then college football around it has dropped.

He continued saying:

“So I’m worried that we’re having some trickle-down effects that are really changing who we are in college football. That’s just not my style. I really like college football as it is, understanding it’s going to grow, understanding there’s got to be changes. But I’m afraid we’ve got too many changes that weren’t well-thought through, and therefore we’re seeing the consequences of some of those.”

The soon to be 71-year old Brown did acknowledge that times are different than during his earlier coaching years, when schools were joining conferences after being independent. However, similar to a large portion of fans and experts, he is worried about the direction of the sport. The ACC may also be in a similar boat as the Pac-12 with their teams being the target of poaching, but contrary to the Pac-12 the ACC's T.V. deal isn't expired until 2036 giving them more time and leverage. According to the USA TODAY, if an ACC school chooses to leave prior to the grants of rights being up, they could have to pay up to $120 million.

The ACC and Pac-12 are currently believed to be allies, and could possibly form a partnership of some sort if all goes well during the contract negations.