UNC Football: Mack Brown interested in returning to coach Tar Heels?

UNC made the move to fire Larry Fedora on Sunday and now a familiar name is being tied to the program in the coaching search

After a season of speculation in Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina made the decision to fire head football coach Larry Fedora on Sunday morning. The move came after Fedora’s second-straight nine-loss season with the program.

Fedora did lead the Tar Heels to four-straight bowl games during his time at UNC but after losing a lot of talent following the 2016 season, things went downhill quickly.

The Tar Heels won just two Atlantic Coast Conference games in the previous two seasons, both coming against Pitt and they failed to make a bowl game. Things were getting rough and eventually it led to the end of the Fedora era.

Now as Sunday marks the start of a new coaching search, a familiar name is starting to pop up in the conversation.

Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that former UNC and Texas head coach, Mack Brown, is interested in the new opening with the Tar Heels. Bohls also mentions some names on Brown’s staff if he is hired.

While Mack wouldn’t be the longtime fix, the Tar Heels could bring him in to stop the bleeding a groom a future head coach on his new staff. As you see above, former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury is a name mentioned on the staff, which is pretty intriguing.

Other options could be bringing in Appalachian State’s Scott Satterfield as either the head coach or offensive coordinator.

ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill also echoed the same thought that Mack is the guy that will eventually get the job when he appeared on ESPNU Radio on Sunday morning.

Mack coached the Tar Heels for 10 years after leaving following the 1997 season. He went 69-46-1 during his time with the Tar Heels and had them as a Top 10 team in the two seasons before he left.

Whatever happens, we fully expect the Tar Heels to make a move soon as the early signing day is just over a week away.