With a storied coaching career behind him, Mack Brown has been soaking up the media landscape, sharing his insights on the sport through various podcasts and shows. The former head coach of the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas has used his time away from the sidelines wisely, reflecting on the whirlwind leading up to his transition from Austin’s football field to the broadcast studio.
During a recent chat on the “See Ball Get Ball” podcast with David Pollack, Brown reminisced about his time in television. “I was with you, with TV, and I really liked it,” he admitted. “I enjoyed having a team again. I loved, I was probably crazy, I would go Friday night and do a game or Thursday night, and then get up at 4 in the morning, fly to Bristol, do ABC ‘Countdown to Kickoff’ all day, then do ‘SportsCenter’ on Sunday morning before we’d come home. But I loved that.”
Brown’s passion for the game, the coaches, and the players themselves has never wavered. “I loved the game. I loved the coaches. I loved the kids that played the game. And that’s really, really important to me, and it’s what I want to continue to do, stay involved,” he continued.
Reflecting on his tenure at Texas, Brown acknowledged the inevitable fatigue that set in after 16 years in Austin. “We got tired at Texas,” he confessed. His wife, Sally, aptly likened his time there to four presidential terms, a testament to the marathon-like nature of high-level coaching. “So that’s a long time to be at the University of Texas, so it was probably time for me to leave there and for them to get somebody else new, because you get worn down.”
But if his analyst stint revealed anything to Brown, it was that his passion for coaching burned as brightly as ever. The only role that could tempt him back onto the field was a return to the familiar territory of Chapel Hill—his former school, the University of North Carolina. With that decision, Brown proved that his heart truly belongs on the gridiron, guiding and inspiring the next generation of athletes.
