UNC's Mack Brown 'disappointed in me' after locker-room comments following James Madison loss

Updated Sep. 23, 2024 2:56 p.m. ET

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's Mack Brown said Monday he was “disappointed in me” for making emotional postgame locker-room comments — including whether he should stay on as coach — after giving up 70 points in a shocking home loss to James Madison.

The Tar Heels (3-1) lost 70-50 at home Saturday to the Dukes, a Sun Belt Conference program who tied the record for the most points ever allowed by UNC in any game.

“As I was walking off the field, I thought, ‘I’m responsible for all this, it's on me, so I should ask the players about leadership, if they feel good about me moving forward,'" Brown said during his weekly news conference. “That's something I shouldn't do. I shouldn't put that pressure on those young people at that point. I'm supposed to be a leader ... So (I'm) disappointed in me.”

Inside Carolina, citing unnamed sources, reported Saturday night that Brown’s emotional postgame message included telling players he was quitting, a report that stirred at least some uncertainty about the immediate future of the program. Brown said Monday that players who thought he was quitting had misinterpreted his message and said players were eager to move forward.

“What I said is, ‘If you all don’t feel I'm the leader you need, then I'll go do something else,'” Brown said. "And they said, ‘No, we’re in, let's go.' It was overwhelming. I wish I hadn't put them in that spot, but that's all it was.

“If I was going to quit, I would've come in here (to the postgame news conference) and done it.”

Brown, 73, is a College Football Hall of Fame member who leads all active Bowl Subdivision coaches with 285 career victories along with winning a national championship at Texas (2005). He’s in the sixth year of a second stint at UNC, where he built the Tar Heels to top-10 status before his 1997 departure to take over the Longhorns program.

The game that sparked everything was an all-systems-failure moment. The offense put up its best numbers of the season but committed five turnovers, including Jacolby Criswell throwing a pick-six that pushed JMU to 53 points before halftime. The offensive line struggled to block oncoming rushers and the defense gave up gaping lanes to an offense that amassed 611 total yards and watched quarterback Alonza Barnett III account for seven touchdowns to make him The Associated Press national player of the week.

James Madison also scored a touchdown off a blocked punt in the first 5 minutes, the first of many shocks for Brown after what he felt had been a strong week of practice coming in.

Brown said he apologized to athletics director Bubba Cunningham and chancellor Lee Roberts afterward, and lamented multiple times making himself the focus of Monday's news conference with the Tar Heels preparing to visit rival Duke (4-0) in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener.

The team didn't make players available after Saturday's loss and isn't letting them to talk to reporters leading up to Saturday's game against the Blue Devils.

“I'm supposed to be a role model for these kids and you’re supposed to take negatives and turn them into positives," Brown said. "You’re supposed to learn from losses. I didn’t do that very well Saturday night. I'm supposed to be a mentor for young coaches, and I didn't do that well either. So disappointed in me. I’ll grow from it and not do it again, and can't wait to get back to work tomorrow.”

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