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Former head football coach says UNC now committed to football
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- Former head football coach says UNC now committed to football
When Mack Brown returned as UNC's head football coach , the initial hope was he could bring a National Championship to Chapel Hill, just like he did with the Texas Longhorns.
Brown's first season back leading the Tar Heels ended in promise, with a 2019 Military Bowl victory against Temple their first in six years. Outside of a 2022 appearance in the ACC Championship game, Brown's second stint at North Carolina ended in disappointment, leading to his firing late last season.
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Now with 8-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick in charge, Brown says UNC now finally cares about building a winning program.
"Chancellor Lee Roberts is committed to football big-time, for the first time in North Carolina history," Brown said in an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd . "They are really wanting football to be good, so they're all in and that gives them a chance to be successful. Bill is arguably the best coach of any sport. When you win that many Super Bowls, whatever level, the man can coach."
Belichick won two Super Bowls as the New York Giants ' defensive coordinator, then six more with the New England Patriots . The hope in Chapel Hill is that Belichick can turn the Tar Heels, who haven't won an ACC Championship since 1980, into a conference threat and National Championship contender.
Previously, Belichick said he wants to run UNC like an NFL-style program . With college football turning increasingly professional, thanks to NIL money and the transfer portal, Brown says this will help Belichick in his first year as a college coach.
"And now, administrators don't like to say it, but we have pro football at some level in college," Brown continued. "We no longer have amateurism. We have payment scales, we've got NIL, kids are asking for money, they have agents, there's negotiations. So I do think the fact that we are much more like the NFL than ever before will really help Bill with this transition."
The entire sports world will get to watch Belichick's collegiate coaching debut on Monday, September 1 at 8 p.m. ET against TCU – under the Kenan Stadium lights. How will the Belichick era start at North Carolina?
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Mack Brown says UNC "finally" cares about football with Bill Belichick
