Mack Brown not Worried About Postgame Fracas; Proposes Victory Bell Relocated

The coach says neither team should have to deal with retrieving the bell

Much ado about nothing.

That was Mack Brown's general feeling during his Monday morning press conference when the postgame incident between North Carolina right tackle Jordan Tucker and Duke players and coaches on Saturday night.

"I’m used to Texas and (Oklahoma) fighting before the game and having to separate them and throw flags on everybody," Brown said. "At the end of an emotional game, if somebody says something to somebody, I figure yeah, probably going to happen that way."

Due to his postgame interview responsibilities, Brown said he didn't see the fracas that began as Carolina players were retrieving the Victory Bell from the Duke sideline, just in front of the tunnel to the visitor's locker room.

His staff reviewed the video and didn't have any concerns.

"I have people that do that for me and look at it," he said. "Somebody got his helmet, they said, they went back down to get his helmet and after that, I think he might have waved at the crowd or something."

Rather than holding any hard feelings for Duke's players or staff, he said there's some blame on everyone for creating the situation at the end of the game that causes opposing players to come together in retrieving the bell.

Moving forward, he suggested, that the Victory Bell be placed in the back of the end zone during the fourth quarter.

"We should not put emotional kids, one team who had just been devastated by a loss and one team that was so excited about the win, we shouldn’t put them in a corner together with a bell," he said. "That’s not smart in my estimation.

"If it’s a rivalry and you’ve got a bell, you can’t get mad at them for being excited when they get it."

Ultimately, Brown shrugged it off, instead pointing to another famous rivalry moment from 1993 when Carolina assistant Donnie Thompson tackled N.C. State assistant Ted Cain after a 35-14 victory.

"People mouth all the time," Brown said. "I was involved in a rivalry with N.C. State where two coaches tackled each other in the middle of the field after the game. That one was kind of nasty, I thought."

Making reference to another infamous moment in the Battle for the Victory Bell, Brown said that he ensured his team waited until Sunday to repaint the bell.

After the 2014 game at Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke sent Carolina a bill for $27,170.44 for damage done to the visitor's locker room.

I didn’t want them painting it after the game because I heard we had some problems with that one time, so I waited until Sunday to paint it," Brown said. "I tried my best."