UNC Football: Mack Brown named among top recruiters of all-time

With the retirement of legendary head coach Nick Saban, 247Sports decided to take a look at the best recruiting head coaches of all-time in the college football world.

As there has been plenty of elite head coaches in terms of recruiting, the expert panel believes that current UNC football coach Mack Brown deserves a spot among the top five.

Brown just made the cut, tying Bear Bryant for fifth place on the list. The current Tar Heels head coach only trails Bobby Bowden, Pete Carrol, Urban Meyer and the aforementioned Saban on the list.

Here's the reasoning behind Brown's placement on this rather elite list of coaches:

"It's obviously easy to recruit top talent to Texas, as Brown did from 1998 through 2013 — and with a national championship to show for it. But Brown's recent results at North Carolina, not necessarily a historic powerhouse, further contextualize his ability on the trail.

From 2015 through 2019 — the five years preceding Brown's first full class at UNC — the Tar Heels posted an average finish of 29.2 in the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. From 2020 through 2024 under Brown, North Carolina has posted an average finish of 19.4. In short, Brown immediately juiced the Tar Heels' recruiting operation and has the program's only New Year's Six bowl win of the last 20 years to show for it."

Of course, Brown's work at Texas was obviously mentioned, but it was what he's been able to accomplish at North Carolina that has stood out the most. As 247Sports noted, North Carolina isn't your typical historical powerhouse in college football, so to be able to have success on the recruiting trail is a testament to what he's been able to do as the leader of the program.

Recruiting has gotten a lot more difficult, especially in the new world of NIL, but Brown and his staff continues to do well in bringing in some notable talent. The Tar Heels haven't reached the levels of success that they've hoped for just yet, but you still have to give Brown credit for the talent he's been able to convince to come to Chapel Hill.