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UNC Football: Where Mack Brown ranks among ACC coaches

By Zack Pearson

ANNAPOLIS, MD - DECEMBER 27: Head Coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates a touchdown during the game against the Temple Owls in the Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on December 27, 2019 in Annapolis, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
ANNAPOLIS, MD - DECEMBER 27: Head Coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates a touchdown during the game against the Temple Owls in the Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on December 27, 2019 in Annapolis, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /
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UNC Football head coach Mack Brown received some praise from 247 Sports ahead of the 2020 college football season

The news keeps getting better and better in terms of the chances for a 2020 college football season. Last week, the University of North Carolina announced their Fall schedule for students and now athletes will be permitted to return to campus in early June.

That’s great news for a program like the Tar Heels that have high expectations for the upcoming season.

The Tar Heels went 7-6 and won heir first bowl game in the first season of Mack Brown’s second stint as head coach in 2019 and there are a lot of reasons for optimism about 2020. Brown showed that he still has it coaching and recruiting-wise in his first year back with the Tar Heels and now going into next season, he aims to take the program to the next step.

As we continue to count down the days until next season, 247 Sports took a look at every coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference and ranked them going into the Summer. You didn’t have to look far for Brown’s name, either.

The Tar Heels head coach was ranked No. 2 overall in the conference behind only Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. Brown also came in at No. 20 overall in the entire country. Here is what 247 Sports wrote about Brown’s job from the 2019 season:

"Mack Brown debuted at 7-6 overall (4-4 ACC), coming a two-point conversion away from knocking off Clemson (21-20 loss, Sept. 28). All six of North Carolina’s losses were one score or less, including two overtime defeats. Riding off the high of the Tar Heels’ early progress and recruiting success, Brown’s ranking could soar after the 2020 season.“He can go up, he can go up further,” Simmons said last Wednesday on the Cover 3 College Football Podcast. “But Mack Brown, this is still — his national championship came so long ago in such sort of a different era that I still he’s, in a lot of ways, was like a first-year coach last year. So he was 46 before the season last year.“He’s up to 25 now (in Simmons’ rankings). So he’s headed in the right direction. He’s doing things that I think give you confidence that … a 68-year-old with the arrow pointed up. Like, I think he’s headed up. But I want to see him continue that in Year 2 at North Carolina.”"

In last year’s rankings, Brown made his debut at No. 33 and has now jumped 13 spots. That’s an impressive leap for the head coach but very well deserved. What Brown did with UNC’s program and is currently building in Chapel Hill is impressive.

Another good season in which his team wins the Coastal and gives Clemson a run for their money really could put UNC back on the national map. His No. 4 ranked recruiting class for 2021 will help with the future of the program as well.

Next. UNC Football target to release new list of finalists. dark

For more on Brown and the UNC Football program, please check back with Keeping It Heel.

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