Why Mack Brown’s Firing Means College Football Needs Fixing
WHY MACK BROWN’S FIRING MEANS COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEEDS FIXING – I’m going to make two things clear about this piece right away. First, this is not a new subject for me. I’ve been on this subject for a little while now. Second, this is not a full-throated defense of now-fired North Carolina coach Mack Brown. Even Brown agrees that he had gone stale in Chapel Hill and this wasn’t working out.
Plus, Brown is 73 years old. It’s time for him to either step aside and enjoy retirement, or go coach a small school if he needs a new challenge. And again, I don’t think he would disagree.
But he deserved better than this.
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Mack Brown did not deserve to be pushed out as the UNC coach with a firing announced the week of the game with North Carolina State. He also didn’t deserve to be immediately ousted as the Tar Heels’ coach.
What he deserved was to make North Carolina’s bowl game a farewell tour and a celebration of all he’s done for that program. He’s the winningest coach in UNC history, as well as the winningest active coach in FBS. He deserved to, as he put it, call a joint press conference, announce his retirement as the Tar Heels’ coach and then go coach the bowl game to go out a winner.
The Problems of the Portal
Instead, that won’t happen. Brown is out, and Freddie Kitchens takes over as interim coach. And the reason North Carolina has done this is simple: the transfer portal opens on Dec. 9. The Tar Heels will need to have a new coach in place by then, and they can’t do that if Brown is still the coach.
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And quite frankly, that is just stupid.
Obviously, it’s part of the sport now. But it does not have to be. The fix is so simple: keep the portal closed until the end of the season. Not the end of the regular season, the end of the bowl season. There should be no decisions made and no contact until after each team has played one postseason game. The same should apply for coaches: no school can announce a hire until after all bowl games have been completed.
That’s the reason that Brown doesn’t get to go out on his terms: Carolina has to be sure it can go after guys in the portal and keep its own players from entering. But all this does is create incentives for players and coaches to leave early, especially among smaller schools. These days, when a small school goes 11-1, the coach doesn’t stick around for the bowl. He’s off to his new school, recruiting. And that leaves kids in the lurch after working hard all year.
Changing Signing Day
Signing Day is even earlier, happening on Dec. 4. And again, this is ridiculous. You never see this happen in college basketball, because signing day in basketball happens a month after the season. There’s no need for any coach to leave early because they have a full two weeks after the title game to start recruiting.
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But in football, you have an early signing day in December along with the regular one in February. That’s a little excessive. The way to fix that is simple: move signing day up and make it an automatic release if the coach leaves. Or you can move the signing up even further so kids in high school can play their senior year without worrying about where they’re going to school. Either will work.
Showing Some Patience
I’ve never been a fan of the mid-season firing. It just makes things look unstable, and it’s really not a good thing to do for anybody involved. I’m also not a fan of coaches leaving before the bowl game. It’s before the season is over, and it’s disrespectful to the work the team put in to get the coach to that moment.
Both sides need to show a little patience and wait on firings, especially in a case like this. Brown built North Carolina on two different stints. It would not have taken much for him and athletic director Bubba Cunningham to hold a joint press conference, talk about Brown’s long career and then start the search for his replacement.
Instead, the winningest coach in Carolina history goes out on bad terms. And with Brown being 73, there’s no guarantee the school will have time to mend this relationship and honor him properly. It’s a sad ending, and it didn’t need to happen.
