UNC HC Mack Brown claps back at ageist slams; takes a stand against Texas A&M's Mike Elko: "You lied"

At 72, UNC's Mack Brown, the oldest head coach in college football, silenced ageist critics with a sharp response to Texas A&M's Mike Elko. During the ACC Kickoff event in Charlotte on Thursday, Brown addressed Elko's past comments about his tenure.

Brown recounted a moment when Elko, who recently left Duke for Texas A&M, claimed he'd outlast Brown at Carolina [via Wral Sports Fan]:

"Then coach Elko said, 'I'll be at Duke longer than Mack will be at Carolina,'" Brown said. "Well. I called him when he went out to A&M and said, 'OK, you lied.' He said, 'I didn't think I was going.' I said, 'Yeah, I got it. I hear all that.'"

"Right now, every recruit that comes in, the first thing he wants to know is are you going to quit because every coach recruiting against us says I'm going to quit," Brown said. "And six of them have been fired that said that already, so they ought to be worried more about themselves."

In 2023, Duke, under Elko, started the season with a stunning 28-7 victory over Clemson and ended 7-5. Elko was later named head coach at Texas A&M. Meanwhile, Brown, coaching UNC since 2019, finished last season 8-5, including a loss to West Virginia in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. However, he led the 2022 Tar Heels to a 9-1 record and an ACC Coastal Division Championship.

Despite a 38-27 record in his coaching stint at UNC, Brown knows retirement rumors won't disappear:

"I feel such a purpose, more than any time in my life, that I can help with their lives,” Brown said. “That's pretty powerful as you start looking at it. That's why I got back into coaching. I feel even more strongly about that."

Mack Brown’s simple solutions for complex problems

North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown. - Source: IMAGN

At the ACC media day, coach Mack Brown tackled the issues and goals for UNC's upcoming season, which kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 29, against Minnesota in Minneapolis. Brown highlighted their primary challenge:

“Our whole focus since the end of last season is, why are we not finishing right? ... We're going to play more people. We have to play more people and create more depth. We've said it for five years, haven't done it."

Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins is determined to excel on both offense and defense this season, with a commitment to improving special teams. Brown believes the solutions, while simple, are achievable:

“They're simple answers for a very difficult problem, but they're things that we can do,” he said.

We will see if that's the case soon enough.