North Carolina head coach Mack Brown finished out his career with the Tar Heels losing to North Carolina State 35-30. On Tuesday, the school chose to fire the 73-year-old coach.
Brown was in his second stint with UNC. He went 113-79-1 with the Tar Heels in his 16 years as the head coach of the program.
Per a Nov. 20 report, Brown told recruits in November he was planning to return to North Carolina for the 2025 season. Brown reportedly was considereding retirement after the team’s loss to James Madison on Sept. 21.
Per On3 Sports, Brown expressed his frustration with North Carolina’s administration following the Tar Heel’s loss to NC State on Saturday.
The school wanted Brown to announce his retirement before the NC State game. Brown didn’t want to cause a distraction before the contest, so the program fired him.
© Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
“All I wanted to do was wait until the end of the year, and they wanted me to retire on Monday, before the (NC) State game,” Brown said. “We haven’t beaten State, it was really important for these kids to play well and have a chance to win. I didn’t want to break their hearts on Monday. So I said, ‘No, I won’t do that.’ And then they wanted me to do it on Friday. Well I sure wasn’t going to do it Friday before the game.”