Mack Brown's conference this morning about UNC football and next season.

Mac Brown, head football coach at North Carolina. I listened to your press conference today. That probably lasted longer than you anticipated, but I appreciate you carving out time for us this afternoon. How are you?

I'm doing great, Adam. Thank you. And we had not been able to speak publicly about our program to the media since spring game, so this was just a great opportunity to kind of catch people up and really talk about our newcomers because now our football team is full and everybody's here, basically, except a few walk-ons that are going to be involved in fall practice and the game. So it was just a quick moment to catch everybody up to date. Well, I appreciate you doing that.

I appreciate you doing this. So, you know, give us a thumbnail sketch for how different your roster is going to look this year. We know Josh Downs is gone, so Drake May has got to throw to people. So give us an idea of what we're going to see offensively from your group. Adam, you'll see the same running backs. We've got to do a better job of, hopefully, we'll stay healthier, but we've got to do a better job of getting two go-to guys and another guy that can help. We really had to use about five last year, and we're fortunate that we're really deep at that position. Our tight end position will still have the same three guys that have played for us the last couple of years. Plus, we added Julian Randolph, a very talented freshman today, to that group. And then the offensive line will be very similar. We lost Austin Richards, but just about everybody else is back.

So we feel like that there should be improvement and a lot more continuity. And we've got a new line coach in Randy Clements that seems to be meshing with those guys very well. And the biggest change will be our wide receiver core. We've got the guys that were playing when Josh was out or heard and Antoine Green was out, and those are all really good players. But we also added Nate McCollum from Georgia Tech and Tez Walker from Kemp State. So we feel like those two are really good players to add to the already group of good players that we had.

Mac Brown is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. This might almost seem like too much of a broad philosophical question, but what is the responsibility for the program when you have a player like Drake May, and I guess in a way you sort of had one in Sam Howell a couple of years back. What is the responsibility of the program to making sure that he is presented in the right light, featured in the right offense, and everything that goes with it?

Adam, it's a great question. You've got to try to promote your best players and hope that they get the deserved recognition. And you don't want to overdo it.

You don't want to overhike before a season because you've got to earn it. And Drake and Sam, both were the best because they know that you get the most recognition when you win the games. And that's very, very important. We're fortunate here that we've got Jeremy Sharp as our director of communications, and he was at Texas when we had a lot of top players that were in the Heisman race. Sometimes we'd have two guys in the Heisman race. So Jeremy knows how to promote people and do it within a class way and do it the way that the University of North Carolina wants to, and moving forward with the guys, but at the same time, not putting too much pressure on them before we get started.

Mack Brown is with us here on the Adam Gold Show. Where do the areas that you feel like he can take the biggest steps forward? And talking to Drake after the season, he really talked about, he wants to work so much on his footwork and his throwing motion.

I think those were the two things he's six, five, he's 225 pounds. So he's big, he can move. But in the pocket, he wants to have his footwork better. He wants to be able to step up better and stay away from the rush and not try to scramble too quickly. And we forget Adam, he's only played one year of college football. I mean, we're sitting here talking about a guy like he's a five-year guy that it's going to be drafted. He has got so much he can learn and he's such a great person and he competes at a high level.

So he wants to do every little thing right. And he and Chip Lindsay really got off to a good start in the spring. And then you bring in Freddy kitchens, who's coached two number one draft choices in the NFL. And you bring in Clyde Christianson who's who's coached Tom Brady and Jamis Winston and Peyton Manning and Oliver luck.

I mean, I mean the Andrew luck. So you've got a lot of great people around him that can help him with a few minor things that he really wants to do to get him more ready for the season to start. Do you, is there a concern that he might run too much? I mean, he's, he's quick. He can, he's elusive.

He can get away. But, and, you know, you featured Sam Howell on the running game his second year. Do you want to shy away from that with Drake?

Yes. Drake's going to run enough by scrambling. So the only time we would have a quarterback run in for Drake might be a quarterback run in for Drake might be a quarterback draw or something, but it would definitely be to win the game.

And he's done a better job of getting down after he makes his yards than before. So he's, he understands how valuable he is to us and he needs to protect himself. Is there any part of Drake that where it matters to him to be drafted first or be in the Heisman race or does he not care? No, he wants to win every game and he wants to be the best player and leader he can be for this team to win every game.

And he knows then that's going to take care of itself. These are such great kids that when Sam didn't get drafted, where any of us wanted him to, I called him on draft day and he says, coach, this is perfect for me. I ended up with Washington and they're a little unsure at quarterback and here he is a year later starting. So these guys are positive, but they want to earn whatever they get and they definitely want to be in a position where they can help their team with. Mac Brown is joining us here on the Adam Gold show.

You've been around a minute. I'm going to ask you about the, how you see the future, not pertaining to name image and likeness or transfer portal or even conference alignment. Although I guess that probably plays in more than anything else, but where do you see the future of the sport going as the playoff expands? Adam, I feel like that the playoff was put into place primarily for money because the more money that football programs can make, the better it is for their universities and for their leagues. And as we get 12 teams to play, that's going to have these young guys playing more than normal and they're going to have to pay them for that too.

So I think what we've done is we've gotten away from amateurism. We're getting closer to being many NFL programs, programs across the country in college football. And I see people starting to probably have the players be employees of the university, probably have salary caps. I think we'll just, the NFL does it right for them. And when we took the leap to get away from amateurism, those guys have done this for many years. It's working for them. So I think you'll see college football head in the same light.

Really? Like, so I don't know. I don't even know how a salary cap would work in, in college. I mean, I think at some point the, we're, we're asking too much of our, of our great boosters and our fans, we're asking them to buy season tickets. We're asking them to pay for coach you salaries. We're asking them to join our Rams club. We're asking them to pay for facilities.

And now we've got 28 sports column, asking them for money to give to the collective for NIL. So, uh, it's not sustainable the way it's working. And, and at some point, I think everything that has gotten out of control now will be brought back into the universities. Well, I do think that eventually we'll, I think we'll just settle in and figure out a way where everything works well.

I don't think the federal government is going to be much help at all in figuring any of this out because they have a lot of other issues to deal with that. This is very, very far down the list, but I am, uh, I am curious about, uh, just, uh, a number of things about the way you see the future of this. Um, do you think that the playoff is, is not good for college football because it's not good because you're asking more and more of the players that you have to scale back the regular season in order to fit this all in?

I do think that we need to be smart. We've got to look at conference championship games or like the NFL playoffs or people going to hold people out of conference championship games. So they'll have a better chance to play in the playoffs because you make more money in the playoffs than you do the conference championship game. Will we keep playing FCS games or will people start playing a lot more interconference games and you'll have a 10 game schedule or a nine game schedule against other people in your league to have better TV games, to produce more revenue. Um, and, and when you start the playoffs as quick as you do, do you have to cut your season back or do you take out the, uh, do you go back and play 10 games or you take out the, uh, the open date?

So there are a lot of things that people have to think about because you got to think about the health of your players. You've got to think about their finals being at the end of, uh, uh, December or end of November, early December. Then you've got to think about being head to head with the NFL NFL when they're in their playoffs.

So there there's a lot of things that, uh, have to be talked about here before we get into the playoff system. The college game, Matt Brown is joining us here. The college game is so attractive to television. Um, but in a way was college football better 25 years ago, maybe not the sport as it's played, but just the, the way it was structured better 25 years ago when making a bowl game was the be all and end all, uh, than it is today, Adam, I don't think so. I think it's, uh, it's the best it's ever been.

We still got great young people that are playing and coaches competing and the game has never been more popular. I'm a fan of NIL. I get it.

I understand it. Um, I'm a fan of a transfer portal for, for those one time that, that aren't playing and they'd like to be happy and as hard as they work, have a chance in another spot. Uh, I'm okay with a 12 team playoff. As long as we keep the bowls for those that can't get to the playoff, there's probably 20 teams that can get to a playoff, uh, get to a 12 team playoff.

Most of the teams in college football camp. So those young people need to have a goal. They need to have a, a reward at the end of having a winning season and, uh, and seven wins for some teams are huge and, uh, six wins and they get to go to a bowl and that's a great reward. So I don't want, uh, the, the playoffs to take away the opportunities for the large majority of kids that will never be able to get to the playoffs.

I want the bowls to stay strong. It sounds, it's almost like wanting the best of both worlds. I think that's very difficult because I think the playoff overshadows everything. And if you're in a major conference and you, and you don't make the playoffs, it's, it's hard for it not to be viewed by a lot of people as a failure, but I understand your point of view. Let me ask you one final thing before I let you, before we let Mack Brown go. And this is not necessarily about your schedule, which I know is challenging. And I know that listening today, you still don't, you still don't like the last two games or the last three games of it.

They have not changed it for you. Um, but what is the mechanism really for that rewards teams for scheduling up? You play, uh, app, which is a very difficult game, even though it's here, you play Minnesota, you play South Carolina from the big 10 and the SEC, but for schools that play just one power five game outside of their league, and they have a better record because of it. Don't those teams generally get rewarded better than the teams that challenge themselves outside the league?

Adam, I think, I think so. Absolutely. And it's a great point. And as long as that's way, as long as it is that way and people can fill the stands playing lesser teams, then people are going to play lesser teams because everybody's into wins. And if you beat bad teams and you have a great season at the end of the year, nobody goes back and says, well, we, we, we really won 12, but we only won six because the other six teams weren't very good. Right. If you're six and six, they really gripe about the six you lost. So, uh, there's no doubt. This is a game and it's all about winning.

And if you don't win and went at a high level, uh, you're not going to keep people happy. We are in the entertainment business on Saturday. Yep.

Yeah. And go out and entertain us coach. I appreciate your time. Uh, and the people, the coaches that are coaching negatively, recruiting negatively against you clearly don't know you. So I, I appreciate the way you started your press conference out today where the coaches who were coaching negatively, recruiting negatively against you, uh, should have concentrated more on their own teams.

Maybe they would still be coaching. I appreciated the shade right out of the gate. Uh, we'll see you down in Charlotte in about five weeks. Thank you. See you there. You got it. Mac Brown, the head coach at the university of North Carolina.