Extra Points: Rewired

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

August 4, 2019 | Football, Featured Writers, Extra Points

Day Four Photo Gallery

By: Lee Pace

By Lee Pace

Bubba Cunningham was an associate athletic director at Notre Dame in November 1996 when Fighting Irish Coach Lou Holtz unexpectedly resigned. Cunningham was tasked by his bosses with compiling dossiers via internet research on the four coaches on the short-list to replace Holtz: Bob Davie (the Irish's defensive coordinator), Frank Beamer (head coach at Virginia Tech), Dave Wannstedt (Chicago Bears head coach) and Gary Barnett (head coach at Northwestern).

"I did what they asked but I also gave them a fifth name," Cunningham says. "I put Mack Brown on the list. They said, 'Why's he on there?' I said because he can recruit and North Carolina is awfully good."

Indeed, the Tar Heels were 10-2 that year and 11-1 the following season, their only slip-ups against ACC juggernaut Florida State twice and Virginia once. They finished in the Top 10 both seasons. The Irish paid Brown no mind (they hired Davie for a middling five-year run), but one year later, the University of Texas saw what Notre Dame didn't and snatched him away from Carolina for a 16-year run that included the 2005 national title.

But Brown was never off Cunningham's radar. The coach was a year or so departed for Texas when Cunningham was part of a scout party of Notre Dame administrators who came to Chapel Hill to inspect the new Kenan Football Center, conceived and designed under Brown's watch and opened in totality in early 1998 (the players' locker room was used for the 1997 season).

"Mack had put in all the details," Cunningham says. "At the time, that building was ahead of anything else out there. I remember thinking, 'They did this for football at what is supposedly a basketball school?' Mack's drive got them that building. There were so many nuances that were incredible. I filed that away."

Two decades later, Cunningham finally got his chance to hire Brown. Only now Brown was a Hall of Fame coach and had been out of the business for five years. When Cunningham, the Carolina athletic director since 2011, decided to dismiss Larry Fedora after the Tar Heels lost to N.C. State to end a 2-9 season (coming off a 3-9 campaign in 2017), Brown was his first choice. A deal was quickly put together and Brown was introduced three days after the season finale as the Tar Heels' new coach.

It's been warp speed for the Tar Heels' new coach for nine months. Hiring a staff. Signing a quality 2019 class and laying the framework what it setting up to be a highly regarded 2020 class. Setting standards for accountability and discipline. Donor and fan outreach. Facility overhauls.

"When you think about hiring someone who's been out of the business and out of coaching for five years and someone who's in his mid-60s, you ask, 'Do they have the energy and passion?'" Cunningham says. "Mack far exceeds any expectations I had. He's one of those guys who lights up when he has an audience. When he talks about what was missing in his life, not having a team to mentor or coaches to mentor—that's the bounce in his step. Some people recruit because they have to. Others recruit because they want to and they enjoy it. Mack is like Roy Williams in that regard. They love recruiting."

All of these preliminaries are now over. The "honeymoon," as those in the coaching business call that warm-and-fuzzy period between hiring and game one, is nearing its end.

"Now it's time to win some ball games," Brown says. "We've told our guys that we want to win and win now. We have the talent. Now it's about building confidence, building depth and winning the fourth quarter."

Over the next month, Brown and his staff have a myriad of questions to answer.

There's the challenge of deciding on a quarterback between redshirt freshmen Cade Fortin and Jace Ruder and first-year player Sam Howell.

"It usually works itself out," Brown says of quarterback competitions. "Someone gets a sore elbow, someone gets a sore ankle, someone has to step back a little bit. We're going into it wide open with no expectations of a timetable. All three quarterbacks will have equal reps, and right now we have no clue which one is going to step up."

There's the issue of building an offensive line around returning starter Charlie Heck at left tackle and finding out where senior Nick Polino, who's played center and left guard, fits in. A potential lineup as hinted by the first two days of practice might be Heck, Ed Montilus, Brian Anderson, Polino and Jordan Tucker from left to right.

"Center's a big question," Brown says. "He's so key because he has to snap the ball well, and we had a lot of poor snaps this spring. Heck is solid. He's an NFL guy. Nick's a veteran and a consistent guy and can play several places."

There is much to evaluate on defense. Interior linemen Aaron Crawford and Jason Strowbridge are a formidable pair and both are healthy, Crawford having missed all of the 2018 season and Strowbridge sidelined in the spring. Who are their backups?

"They are both really good players," Brown says. "They're NFL players. When they get tired, and they will against South Carolina in the heat, when do they come out and who can go in play fresh and for how many plays? We have to do a great job of evaluating and managing playing time. That is so key."

Brown got his first look at Strowbridge on Friday beyond having seen him on film and during conditioning drills.

"He's really quick," Brown said. "He's big and has the long arms for pass rush. Our guys had trouble blocking him. I'm really impressed."

Where does defensive back Trey Morrison fit after an excellent freshman year at nickel? He's played cornerback, safety and nickel in two days in camp. Can Tomon Fox channel his considerable athletic skills into a breakout season as an edge pass rusher? Has Jeremiah Gimmel gotten stronger over the summer as he was charged to do by linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen? Can freshman Khadry Jackson, a January 2019 enrollee, build on a good spring practice and contribute? Is Eugene Asante, one of the plums of the February signing class, equipped to contribute this fall?

And the Tar Heels must find a new placekicker, punter, deep snapper and holder. So special teams will be a major reconstruction project this August.

It sounds daunting but it's all been quite a rush for Brown, who says he's "reenergized" getting back into coaching after five years of work as a studio and booth analyst for ESPN. He says he hated being thought of as "retired." He says he was wrong at Texas when the Longhorns were winning 10-plus games a year to think his job was to "maintain." Now, he likes the concept of "rewired."

"I'm having a lot of fun," he says. "If there was ever a second of doubt, 'Did you do the right thing?' that's long gone. Sally and I absolutely made the right decision."

Former associates see the old drive and vitality.

"Coach Brown has an energy for recruiting and personnel that being away five years has not changed," says defensive line coach Tim Cross, who worked under Brown at Texas from 2001-04. "He's been able to take five years and study all the different schemes and leaders and methods guys use, collect them and take what he wants and implement it here."

And new ones are getting an education into what helped Brown build a career that landed him last year in the College Football Hall of Fame.

"Coach Brown doesn't miss a thing," says defensive coordinator Jay Bateman. "He sees everything. I'm writing stuff down all the time. He'll mention something or talk about something he saw and you're thinking, 'Holy moly, that's smart.'"

We shall see soon enough if the quarterbacks can nail the vertical route and if the defense can get off the field on third-and-medium. But for the moment, as Aaron Crawford said after the first day of practice, "It's great to be at UNC right now."

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (UNC '79) is entering his 30th year writing "Extra Points" and 16th reporting from the sidelines for the Tar Heel Sports Network. Follow him @LeePaceTweet and email him at leepace7@gmail.com.