AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — When word started getting out last December that Mack Brown was considering coming back and coaching at North Carolina, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney sent him a quick text.
“Is it true,” Swinney’s asked.
“Yes,” Brown replied. “As long as I can appeal to the NCAA not to have to play you guys next year.”
Brown must have lost that appeal because North Carolina will host the defending national champions in Chapel Hill on Sept. 28.
The last time Brown coached at UNC was in 1997, just before he left for Texas.