Former College Football Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown will return to Chapel Hill on Feb. 23 to attend North Carolina’s basketball game against Louisville, marking his first visit back to campus since his departure in 2024.
Brown’s return brings one of North Carolina’s most important football figures back to a program he helped elevate and also shows that he has moved on from his tumultuous ending in Chapel Hill. His final season in 2024 collapsed from a 3-0 start into a 6-6 finish, with a 70-50 loss to James Madison, a defeat to Duke and an emotional locker room moment where he appeared to resign before reversing course. Before the NC State finale he vowed to return in 2025, but athletic director Bubba Cunningham dismissed him amid mutual separation talks. That ending contrasts sharply with Brown’s broader legacy at UNC.
Across two tenures (1988-97 and 2019-24), he became the Tar Heels’ all-time winningest coach and guided them to their first New Year’s Six bowl since 1948 with an Orange Bowl berth after the 2020 season.
A pair of very special guests return to Chapel Hill on Monday 👏
— UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) February 19, 2026
Looking forward to welcoming back @UNCFootball's Hall of Fame Coach Mack Brown and his wife Sally at @UNC_Basketball's game against Louisville! pic.twitter.com/S7se6VF011
Nationally, he’s best known for his time at Texas, where from 1998 to 2013 he won two Big 12 titles and the 2005 national championship, sealed by the 2006 Rose Bowl win over USC. He also spent time as the head coach at Appalachian State (1983) and Tulane (1985-87).
North Carolina will take on No. 21 Louisville on Monday, Feb. 23, at the Dean Smith Center at 7 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Football: Mack Brown returns to Chapel Hill for first time since tumultuous exit