Mack Brown expresses desire to return to UNC in 2025

Field Level Media|published: 11/25/2024, 4:02pm EST

Nov 2, 2024; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; North Carolina Tarheels head coach Mack Brown during warmups before a game against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Myers-Imagn Images

Mack Brown intends to return to North Carolina next year for his 36th season as an FBS head coach.

Asked about his future at his weekly press conference Monday, the 73-year-old Brown said, "You never talk to your athletic director until the year's over. Everybody always does that. My total focus is on NC State. What an awful thing to be talking about me when we just played a bad game and need to beat State."

A reporter followed up with the direct question of whether he planned to return in 2025, and Brown replied, "Yes."

The Tar Heels had a four-game losing streak early in the season and are coming off a 41-21 loss at Boston College. Following a 70-50 loss to James Madison in September, Brown said he would step down if he felt he could no longer do the job of coaching the program to success.

Brown led the Texas team that won the 2005 national championship with a 13-0 record and a classic Rose Bowl win over Southern California.

He spent 10 seasons at North Carolina before taking over at Texas and he returned to the Tar Heels in 2019. In a combined 16 seasons in Chapel Hill, Brown's teams have gone 113-78-1, including 6-5 this year.

A College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2018, Brown has gone 282-149-1 as the head coach of Tulane (1985-87), North Carolina (1988-97, 2019-24) and Texas (1998-2013).

--Field Level Media