The University of North Carolina and Head Football Coach Mack Brown have agreed to a one-year contract extension, Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham announced Wednesday. The length of the contract remains five years, now through January, 2027.
“Since his return to Carolina, Mack has done an outstanding job building a positive culture and energizing our fan base,’’ Cunningham said. “Under his leadership, we will continue to win both on the field and in the classroom, and we are all excited about the future of our football program. Sincere thanks to Mack and Sally for all of their contributions to the Chapel Hill community.”
Brown, the nation’s only active Hall of Fame coach, ranks second among active coaches in all-time wins and his 265 career victories rank eighth on the FBS all-time list. The 2005 Paul W. “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year and the 2008 Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year, Brown is one of a handful of coaches in college football history to lead two separate programs to Top-Five national finishes. He is also one of just five active head coaches who has won a National Championship.
“I want to thank the Board of Trustees, Chancellor Guskiewicz, Bubba Cunningham and the athletics department for their continued investment in our football program,” Brown said. “We’ve been able to accomplish a lot over the last three years on the field, in recruiting, and in the classroom. The program was able to navigate a difficult period during the pandemic and it is in a healthy place currently. We’re excited about where we’re headed, and as we continue to receive strong support from the University, the future is bright for Carolina football.”
In three seasons back at North Carolina, Brown has revitalized a program that had won five games in the two seasons prior to his arrival. In his first season in 2019, the Tar Heels went 7-6, sold out every home game, and won the Military Bowl. They followed that with an 8-4 season in 2020 and a trip to the Orange Bowl, the school’s first major bowl in 70 years.
In year three, Brown led the Tar Heels to their third consecutive bowl game, which hadn’t happened since 2016 and occurred only one other time since his departure in 1997. Carolina snapped a four-game losing streak to Virginia, defeated Miami for the third consecutive season, and defeated a Top-10 opponent at home for the first time since 2004. In addition, UNC saw five of its Tar Heels selected in the 2021 NFL Draft with three of players going in the first three rounds.
Brown and the program have also made great strides off the field. They recently signed the nation’s eighth-ranked recruiting class, the school’s highest-ranked recruiting class in the internet era, to go along with two Top-15 classes in the previous two recruiting cycles. Academically, Carolina produced the program’s highest single-year APR score, a 997, which was 23 points higher than the previous best. The team also earned the program’s two highest semester GPAs over the last three semesters.
Per Release