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Mack Brown: UNC’s commitment to Bill Belichick included lowering academic standards
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Mack Brown has no hard feelings about his ultimate departure from North Carolina. However, he did share some interesting comments about the future of the program under new head coach Bill Belichick.
In a recent interview, the legendary head coach admitted that “it was time” for a change in Chapel Hill when his retirement was announced following a tumultuous 2024 season. Brown said the last few years were particularly rocky, including a struggle in recruiting as the Tar Heels fought to build their recruiting classes on fit.
That led North Carolina to focus on players from families with well-established finances and good grades:
“It was best for me to get out,” conceded Brown. “We always built our programs on fit, and our last couple of years there, we were having to get parents with money and we were trying to get kids over a 3.0 (GPA). Because that’s who we could get.”
Things were so bad, that Brown claimed UNC’s 2nd-to-last recruiting class under his watch received no NIL money. He said the Tar Heels “didn’t pay them a penny,” and Brown also revealed that star running back Omarion Hampton stuck with the program on a $300,000 NIL deal, despite receiving an offer north of $1 million to transfer.
“I told him he should leave because it was just crazy, as you are looking at those things,” Brown said.
So, what’s in store for the future of UNC football? Brown went on to indicate that the Tar Heels have committed to Belichick financially while also lowering some of the academic requirements.
Brown believes that it opens the door for some big-time success for the program moving forward:
“As far as UNC and Bill Belichick… they’ve committed money to it, they’ve helped him with academics. They’ve lowered those standards some,” Brown revealed. “There’s absolutely no reason that they shouldn’t be successful… You’ve got a chance to succeed at the highest level, and I expect them to do that.”
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
