Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
This weekend marks the transition to another UNC football era.
It is sort of sad how the Mack Brown eras pass on Saturday night with the start of Bill Belichick’s attempt to finally awaken the so-called sleeping giant that hides among the pines of Kenan Stadium.
Brown’s two tenures leading the Tar Heels ended like they should not have as the Belichick spectra begins in Boston where he was the two-decade banner headline of the New England Patriots’ reign over the National Football League.
The Tar Heels, Brown’s sixth and 16th UNC team over a 36-year span, complete their 2024 season at 11 a.m. in the baseball stadium of the Red Sox. Freddie Kitchens is the one-off interim coach after Brown’s unceremonious firing on December 1, while Belichick observes from the press box which players will be part of his debut to college football in 2025.
Meanwhile, two hours later, Drake Maye continues his rookie indoctrination into the NFL as the 3-12 Patriots play host to the LA Chargers in famous Foxboro, the sleepy suburban town south of the city that became their home decades ago. If that game was on its usual Sunday, Belichick might be there watching Maye, who would definitely have been at Fenway Park to cheer on his former Tar Heels trying to turn their 6-6 record into 7-6.
The coincidental juxtaposition underscores what a seismic shift has occurred from one college Hall of Fame coach to another future inductee into the NFL Hall. Much of the area won’t even tune into the college game that represents a gross mismanagement of Brown’s forced retirement that could have been handled so much better.
That won’t be the case next fall, when Belichick tries his hand in the amateur ranks quickly morphing into what the pros looked like when he took over the Pats in 2000 and will be cheered and jeered by football fans all over America. Some skeptics believe he won’t last long in the college game before returning to the pros now that his son Steve is in place as the heir apparent to his 72-year-old dad who has a guaranteed three-year deal at UNC.
Brown did not coach the bowl at the end of his first stay at Carolina. In 1997, after he accepted the Texas job, defensive coordinator Carl Torbush led the Heels to a blowout of Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl before being named the new head coach.
So in many ways this bowl seems far less important with about 50 holdovers who will be on Belichick’s new roster, joined by what could be dozens from the transfer portal. Brown has reportedly packed up and moved back to Austin where he will raise money for the Longhorns when he should have been invited to do that at more-needy UNC.
Instead of an appreciative farewell, the school sent him away mad when he could have been celebrated for twice making Carolina football relevant, even if it’s not revered.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
