UNC Football coach Mack Brown Interview (4-8-20)

Now being joined by North Carolina head football coach Mac Brown, who is just crushing it in recruiting right now.

I mean, I don't know how he's doing it because everybody's isolated. I mean, I'm looking at 2021, for example. They have the number three recruiting class in the nation according to 24-7, a top 20 recruiting class for the one he just brought in in 2020. And Coach Brown, you gave a great answer to Paul Finebaum yesterday about football coming up this fall.

So I'll let that sit. And I just want to talk some ball because sports radio could be an escape for many. And we're planning and hoping there's football this fall.

So I'll just acknowledge that on the front end. But when you're talking about recruiting Coach Brown, when you see the guys you need to bring in to bring the program where you want it to be in Chapel Hill. You got Clemson, who is just as dominant power in your conference. It's in South Carolina, adjacent to the guys that you're trying to bring in in this state. Do you view them as the biggest competition in recruiting to get to where you want to go?

Absolutely. Because Dabo and Clemson have done such a great job. And not only are they the best program through the last number of years in the ACC, but they also have played in the playoffs. They've also won the national championship.

And that's where we all want to be. So all of us are chasing Clemson. And to do that, you can't be obsessed with Clemson. You got to be the best you can be.

But when you set your standards, you've got to set them really high. And basically, when you're talking about a program like them, you're talking about a national championship type program. So in recruiting, we always say, can he win a national championship?

It's not about another team. Does he fit our place? Where does he fit in our formula on and off the field?

And can he win all the games? And that's what we're trying to do. And we're fortunate this year, Josh, that there's so many great players in the state of North Carolina, that at a time where coaches can't really get out and travel a lot to see other people, we were way ahead with a lot of these young guys, because we've been recruiting them for over a year.

And I think that's why we're doing so well, even with the delays here because of the virus. But isn't it a little different because they're in the same conference as you and also you're going after a lot of the same local kids? I think about Simpson from Charlotte, who you guys went after very heavily last year, and he flipped last second to go to Clemson at the start of the early signing period. And also when I look at your class, or I think about Clemson, I think about guys like Dexter Lawrence, I think about guys like Tanner Muse, Eric Matclain, KJ Henry, all players who came from the state of North Carolina, who helped build Clemson into what they are today.

Isn't it a little bit different when you consider just the proximity of that program? It's really not when we were here before Tennessee was getting a lot of the players and Clemson was getting a lot of players Danny Ford was at Clemson. And I think we had 14 guys on our team from North Carolina, Danny had 44. So we at that time, we had to stop guys from going out of state Penn State was coming in and getting players Virginia was coming in and getting a lot of the players especially up in the mountains. So the biggest thing for us then was, we need to start getting in state players to stay in state, whether it was for us or Duke or state or Wake, let's quit letting all these homegrown guys go out of state. And we finally got that done. And that's what we're starting to do again. And I don't think there's any question the number one priority for us in recruiting has got to be to dominate our own state.

If you can't win at home, then it's very difficult in my mind to go get somebody else's. Dabo recognized very early on what you've done in North Carolina. He was on this show last fall and he said, that's the coach I look at. Coach Brown, what he's doing, it reminds me a lot of the way we started to build things at Clemson.

As somebody who was at Texas seeing it happen, and of course, an ESPN analyst as well. What did Dabo do specifically to take Clemson from being a respected college football program and turning it into a dominant perennial national title contender? The first thing he did, he hired a good staff and he was very unselfish in doing that. And not only hired a good staff, but he's been able to keep them because I remember when he first got the job, he turned down a huge raise after being the interim coach. So he would give his assistance more money. And now he's making a tremendous amount of money, maybe more than anybody else in college football, but he earned that and he earned it by doing it the right way.

And if you win the money and all the facilities and everything takes care of itself. And that's what he's done. And the other thing that he's done, he's stayed true to himself. He is who he is. He's not going to change.

He's a good friend of mine and I appreciate and respect the way he's done it. It's Mack Brown with us, North Carolina head football coach. I loved last week you were live tweeting the 2006 Rose Bowl game and breaking down specific plays and looking at some of the things that were happening as we were all watching it. When you watch that game, though, it's crazy to think it's almost 15 years, but what's the biggest difference between the game today, just the way that it plays the style versus 2006? I don't think there's a lot of differences. Very honestly, those were two offenses that were scoring 50 points a game.

They were very balanced. Probably if there is a big difference, it's the tempo that people are going with now. We were no huddle for that entire ball game, but people are just going a little bit faster with a no huddle than they did before. The offense that we ran that night is very, very similar to what we're seeing people run now. It was a spread offense with a little option mixed in, a little quarterback draw, but getting the ball to your faster players in space.

It seems like that's where college football is right now. I don't think I ever asked you this. How did you celebrate that night, the national championship? How little sleep did you get? Well, I got none because we had a suite down in Hollywood in Century City. It was a huge suite. We invited all of our staff and their families and our top boosters up to celebrate our administration. I do remember, I think I finally went to bed about six o'clock in the morning and then President Bush called a little bit later.

I never went to sleep. Sally was asleep and President Bush called her cell and she said, how did he get my number? I said, sweetie, they got everybody's number, so you need to understand that. Then she said, President Bush wants to talk to you. I said, I tell him I'm busy. I'm cutting up with him. She says, Mack Brown, you need to talk to the President. I love President Bush.

He's a dear friend and a person I really enjoy and admire. He said, Coach, you never know if you're the best father, you never know if you're the best husband, you never know if you're the best president, but you have, by a measurement, the best football team in college football, so congratulations and we need to get you guys to the White House as soon as we can. I know President Bush goes to bed early. I knew the game was really late on the East Coast when it finished. I said, OK, Mr. President, I know you go to bed early.

You be honest with me now. Did you stay up and watch the end of the game? He said, when you went down by 12 with 642 left, I went to bed and I couldn't sleep and I got anxious and I got back up and with three minutes left, I watched the Texas Longhorns win the national championship. And then we had a great trip to the White House. That's incredible. Mack Brown with us here.

You also told the story on social media last week. In order to get the players loose, you watched three straight episodes of Jerry Springer and brought that to the locker room. That I'd be thinking, though, what other bad television, guilty pleasure television does Mack Brown watch?

Oh, my gosh, I'm right now. I'm watching more than I'd like to admit what it does. It's all it's all over the place. But I think the biggest thing is if they're uptight, you got to get them loose. If they're loose, you better get them a little more focused. And that's the job of the head coach. When you walk in that meeting or you're watching them at pregame meal, you've got to get a feel of your team. And that's pregame and at halftime. And then you've got to be able to say the appropriate things after the game.

But pregame and halftime are so important that you have the feel of your team and that you put them in the right mindset if you think they're not in that moment where they need to be. I think the 2020 version of Jerry Springer, even though I think that show's still in the air, might be The Bachelor. So if you need when North Carolina goes to a national championship game, either this year or the year after that, maybe you go to the locker room and tell them, hey, I'm not sure if we can trust Hannah Brown if she gives you a call.

But Josh, Sally watches The Bachelor, so I have to admit that I have seen it as well. I also want you to put, I know you're just a big college football fan in addition to being the coach of the Tar Heels. Where do you stand on Tua Tagovailoa and Joe Burrow as prospects as somebody who coached both, I mean, Vince Young, Colt McCoy, and now you've brought in Sam Howe, who's one of the leading quarterbacks coming back in terms of touchdown passes.

When you watch those two at the national level, what do you think about it? Josh, number one, the quarterback is the only person other than the center that touches the ball every time in college football. And the center gets rid of it. The quarterback usually keeps it for a while.

So he is the most valuable player, period. And you're not going to win all the games at any level unless you've got a great quarterback. I was talking to an NFL coach who had been out of the business for a while a couple of years ago, and I said, will you ever go back and coach? He said, if I can be in charge of my team and I have a great quarterback, I'll do it.

I'm not going back without a great quarterback. And I think all of us understand that that position is so key. And the truth is, it just depends on what you're going to do offensively.

Joe Burrow was a third team quarterback at Ohio State, and he hit lightning in a bottle at LSU, and it worked for him. Tua comes in and really has Coach Saban change his offense for him because they're both accurate, they can both run, they're both good leaders, they both won at the highest level. So I think it would just be, in recruiting over the years, I've learned that you better take the one you like personally. Because if they're both really, really good, who fits your system the best and who do you like?

Because if you really like him, he's going to like you. And that's very, very important in the recruiting process. How much do you think Saban learned as a coach by having a quarterback of Tua's stature? Because he never had that before. You said he changed things up. Well, anytime you are in coaching as long as I've been or Nick's been or a lot of different guys that have been through this thing for many, many years, 30-something years, what you have to do is you have to adapt to your personnel in the times. And we went from a pass-happy offense to where we were more balanced with Vince Young in 04, and it changed who we were at Texas. And we were an I-formation, power, NFL-type offense.

And we went to a spread, and I mean overnight, to get Vince Young in space and Cedric Benson and some of the other great players that we had at that time. So I think the most important thing for a coach as far as his schemes are that he's able to adapt. And you don't get into this as my scheme. There's not a my scheme. There has to be a scheme that fits your talent.

Last thing for you. Matt Rule, coming from the college ranks to the NFL, what do you think is going to be the biggest adjustment for somebody who's trying to make that leap? I know you never made it, but you've seen many coaches who have tried and had success in doing so. So what do you think about the Carolina Panthers bringing in a college coach?

Well, Josh, number one, I love Matt Rule. I watched him at Temple. I called some of his games. I've stayed close to him at Baylor.

In fact, if we were able to have our high school clinic this spring, he was going to be our lead speaker. So I am all in on Matt Rule as a person, as a coach. Secondly, he's coached in the NFL. So he has been a position coach in the NFL. So he knows the structure. He knows free agency. He knows the draft. He knows a lot of the different things that someone like me going into that position would not know and would have to learn.

So I do think that Matt will do a great job in Charlotte, and we're lucky to have him in the state. Thank you so much for spending time in the Triad today, Coach Brown. It's appreciated. It's good to hear your voice. Be well. Well, thank you, Josh.

You, too. And thanks to all those people that are working so hard out there that are right in the face of this virus. And we're all running from it because we're told to. And our first responders or health care people are the heroes.

They're working really, really hard. And I was told yesterday by a doctor that we have to be careful that we're grieving some. And I said, what does that mean?

And he says that we're not able to do things right now that we'd like to do and we love. And it's been taken away from us. So make sure you take care of yourself. And one of the best ways to feel better about yourself, try to do something nice for somebody else.

So that's what Americans do when we get in trouble. So let's all step up. Think about who we can help today that's really struggling.

And that will help us in the long run. You're the best coach. Thank you. Thank you, Josh.