Back to the NCAA Newsfeed

Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown worried realignment is 'changing who we are in college football'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina football coach Mack Brown got an almost inconceivable text message from his agent three weeks ago while playing golf with one of his grandchildren in Linville, a North Carolina mountain community.

UCLA and USC were making moves to leave the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten, a shocking departure that will occur in 2024 and break up their century-old affiliation with the West Coast league.

“I would’ve bet my life that would never happen,” Brown said Thursday at the ACC Kickoff preseason event, recalling the jarring moment the news hit him on the golf course.