Atlantic Coast Conference Football Kickoff Wednesday, July 21, 2021 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA North Carolina Tar Heels Coach Mack Brown played in a lot of big games. Press Conference Q. We always use the terms 'chemistry' and 'continuity' about players on the field. Can you talk THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Coach about entering your third season with Phil and Sam, Brown. that kind of comfortability and how that translates on the field. Q. Some of your better teams in the '90s had players named Holliday. There was Corey Holliday and then MACK BROWN: Yes, we use the word 'culture' all the Vonnie Holliday. Looking at the roster, you have time. I'm not really sure what that means. We hear another player of that name this year, just a freshman. 'alignment,' I hear 'chemistry.' All of it means we're all on Maybe it's an omen. My question, you led the league the same page. in total offense in spite of the fact that you allowed more sacks than everybody except for Duke and Sam knows our offense as well as Phil Longo does. In Syracuse. What goes into keeping Sam Howell more fact, Phil interviewed for a job earlier, and I thought I'll upright this year? make Sam the offensive coordinator and just move on. We'll save some money. Now with name, image and MACK BROWN: Thank you. And Bob is not kin to any of likeness, I could have played Sam as the offensive those Hollidays, by the way. Glad we get to see everybody coordinator and the quarterback, I don't know, as we look back in person. We're blessed to do this. Fun to have at that. everybody back. Continuity is really, really important if it's good. You have The biggest thing we're looking at with our sacks is we've to continue to work to bring in great ideas. At Texas we got the same offensive linemen for the third straight year had the same stuff most of our 16 years. The good thing with the exception of Charlie Heck. He went to the Texans. was we had continuity. The bad thing is we didn't get We've got more experience than probably anybody in the many new ideas. country in the offensive line and at tight end because Garrett Walston is coming back. When we brought in Larry Porter this year after Robert Gillespie left, it was good, got some new thoughts to a We have also established more depth over the last two really good offense. When we brought in John Lilly after years, so we can actually play two offensive lines and we Tim Brewster the first year, we had pro thoughts with our haven't been able to do that. We've been playing six and tight end in the tight end game. So our tight end game is seven players. better than it was two years ago.

A third thing is we've looked at every sack for the two years We like continuity, but we don't mind a change every now we've been here, we've looked at why Sam is committed to and then just to create new ideas. getting the ball out of his hands faster some because he's so competitive he wants to make every play. We also Q. What have been the pillars of orchestrating such a know we have to do a better job up front in all those cases positive turnaround in North Carolina football, in your and use our backs. opinion?

One of the reasons we took Ty Chandler from Tennessee MACK BROWN: Number one is we had to have the buy-in as the only grad transfer is we didn't want to go to Virginia from the administration. Bubba Cunningham sitting in Tech with young backs that had not played, big guys, here, and I don't want to embarrass him, but the university fumble the ball and not know how to protect. And Ty has has done everything that we've asked them to do. And

110511-2-1001 2021-07-22 21:56:00 GMT Page 1 of 4 we've promised never to ask for anything that's not going to help, help the experience of our student-athletes or help But we think he is kind of the guy that fits between Javonte us win. Williams and Michael Carter. A 210-pound back, he can run it up inside, tremendous hands, he knows what to do, So one of the reasons we've had continuity with our but he also has the speed that when he gets it in space he coaches is we're paying 'em, we're paying 'em at a high has a chance to score. We got to find some other guys level. That way we're not going to lose 'em for money. with him, but we think he has a chance to step up and be a They may have to go to a different place, like Robert special player for us. Gillespie wants to look at pros closer to home, so I got that. We're not having a lot of coaches leave, and that's a Q. You mentioned wanting Ty for that opening game at positive. Virginia Tech. What is your level of concern, a challenge there in starting the season on a Friday Secondly, I challenged our fans to buy in. People said fans night in Blacksburg? How do you want to handle that aren't coming to the games. I said, C'mon, fans, you want and prepare your team for that? to be a good football program, you have to be a good fan base. We sold out every game, one of seven teams to sell MACK BROWN: After 32 years as a head coach, I've out every game in 2019. We've already sold all of our looked at it both ways. Would you like to have an easier season tickets, which is amazing after the very difficult year team? It's kind of a scrimmage, you get to work through most people have had financially over the last year. things, you don't have to show anything. Yes. But do your players get more excited in the summer off-season When you recruit a staff that's a high-quality staff that program if they're opening up against a Coastal rival that's knows the area and fits the school, understands who we really good? We went to six overtimes and got beat the are academically, understands who fits at our school, it last time they were there. really helps you in recruiting. I really think it's great for us. We've gotten a tremendous So we have a great product, a great academic school, amount of publicity. We've been kind of a media darling. small campus. It's one of the nicest in the country. We Let's keep our mouth shut now and see if we're any good. have a tremendous staff, a real commitment from our administration, and our fan base is all in. When you put We got to play. Virginia Tech, it's an unbelievable place to those things together, it makes it for a really special play. It's a fun place to play. They've got a really good opportunity moving forward. football team. So it will be a great challenge. It will be a fun way for us to start the season. Q. You lost two running backs to the NFL Draft this year, but you replaced them with Ty Chandler, who you Q. You cited Ricky Williams as an example that teams spoke on. Can you elaborate a little bit more on his win a Heisman, not school promotions. On the other role in this offense. side of that, talk about as he becomes your -- your player becomes a leading candidate, the pressure MACK BROWN: You lose Javonte Williams and Michael mounts later in the season, how you handle that? Carter, you lose a lot of your offense. They were tough, smart, they could catch, they could block. But they MACK BROWN: When we went to Texas, the previous protected the ball. That might be the most important thing team was 4-7. Ricky said, The Heisman is not important. they did over two years. I think we lost six fumbles in two Well, HeismanRickyWilliams was his email, so it was kind years. That kind of goes unnoticed unless you're fumbling. of important I think (smiling). I kind of noticed that as he But it's really, really important. told me it wasn't important.

So with Ty Chandler, he was recruited by Tommy Thigpen So what we found is that Ricky was the best player on our who was on our staff, coached by Robert Gillespie. So team, so he was really our best defensive player because when he went into the portal, we knew how good he was. we weren't any good on defense, but as long as he stayed He's 210 pounds now I think, he's fit in with our team really, on field and ran the ball, we didn't have to go out there on really well. He's having fun. He had a really good spring. defense, so it helped us.

Since he's had four years of being physical, being hit by We really got into decisions like we were killing Rice, Ken Tennessee and Alabama -- I mean by Georgia and Florida, Hatfield is a friend. Ricky just gained 43 yards against Alabama, Auburn, we didn't beat him up this spring. We Kansas State the week before. He left him in. He gained talked a lot about him. 255 yards. Ken was great after the game, I got it, you got

110511-2-1001 2021-07-22 21:56:00 GMT Page 2 of 4 to keep him in. Are we making guys mature faster than normal? Yeah, There's that fine line with Colt McCoy and Vince Young. we're talking about state tax, federal tax, your agent, the When you're winning a game, how long do you keep them percentage of money that your agent is going to take away in for stats for the Heisman and when do you pull him out from what you get, the legal part of this. They're having to for safety and trying to get a backup quarterback ready to grow up a lot faster than before, which may be a good play? It's a delicate path that you have to follow to try to thing in the long run. figure out how to playing all that work. Since it's here, we're all in. North Carolina should be a Sam is so good. He's about winning, knows we have to place where name, image and likeness should be a great have another quarterback to go in the future. We'll advantage for us because we have a lot of great people. navigate that with him. Whether it's name, image and We've got to figure out what that means within the rules likeness, the awards you're going to get, it's about your and how we can help our guys with opportunities without ball, it's not about your brand. If we play well, if Sam is getting involved ourself. going to play great, if we play well enough as a team around him, and we have a chance to win a lot of games, Q. You've shown your support of vaccination. Put he'll be right in the mix of that Heisman thing regardless of your video up in May of you getting your shot. What what we say or do. If we don't play well as a team, it will have your conversations been with your players drift away. during the off-season? What percent of your team is vaccinated at this point? Q. With you guys launching the group licensing for name, image and likeness, how proactive has the MACK BROWN: COVID obviously is back. I mean, I university been? Seems like they've been on the watch very closely every day. We've got some concerns at frontier of this name, image and likeness and really the Olympics. We've got a pro baseball game that was embraced it. How nice has that been for you to have postponed the other night. We have a basketball coach in that backing in the athletic department? the playoffs that didn't get to participate. We have a golfer that was taken out of a championship on Sunday. It's here. MACK BROWN: It's great for us. Bubba and his team It's real. have been working on this for two years. We had a discussion with our team the spring before COVID hit, so I was hoping, like all of us, it would be gone away. last thing, about what this meant, where it was going. Probably people have gotten a little more careless. So we're meeting tomorrow for an hour. We've been working Bubba asked if there were any questions at the end of the for the last 10 days on a plan to go back and make sure discussion. Sam Howell stood up and said, I don't want that we're as COVID-safe with our team as we can be. this to be about the quarterback, I don't want it to be disruptive in the locker room. We're not at 85% for herd immunity with our entire team yet. We're getting really close. We have encouraged That's one of the reasons Bubba and his team are working everybody to get it. Some, as we know, across our country so hard on group licensing. They're one of the first to do it. and our world do not want to get it. We understand that. That means that the backup right guard is going to have a That's fair. Our job is to educate; their job is to make chance to be involved with opportunities that he wouldn't personal decisions. That's the way we do for the NFL; be if it's three players on your team that are. that's the way we do with everyone in our program.

I was not in favor of taking away amateurism and moving But we have a great plan in place with what we've got to forward with name, image and likeness. Sally told me make sure that we get the numbers right in each meeting something that really makes sense, that the regular student room for 85% herd immunity and our training table, in our gets to use -- if it's a musician, he gets to use his talent to locker room. That's what we're going to do. 85% herd make money, so why shouldn't a student-athlete get to do immunity we've been told means you can go back to a the same thing? So I got it. normal process. Maybe the unvaccinated people have to wear a mask still, and the vaccinated ones can wear a Now we've all got to figure out those guidelines and what it mask if they want that as an option. That's in our football means. Group licensing helps your whole team. Sam will building and in our football program. be okay. Some of the other players will be okay with their opportunities. But what Bubba is trying to do, what I want But we feel like right now we have a great plan in place us to do, is be able to help the whole team. that we can get back to as near normal as possible.

110511-2-1001 2021-07-22 21:56:00 GMT Page 3 of 4 Q. You went down to Tallahassee last year and lost a game a lot of people, including yourself, didn't expect to. Given your ties to Florida State and your quarterback during the recruiting process, is that a game you have potentially circled as special, or is every game even-keeled as you go into the season?

MACK BROWN: The first question I got today is, You guys are getting so much hype, everybody expects you to win every game, how can you talk about one in the middle when you have to go to Virginia Tech in the opener?

We basically have a three-game season. That's what I've told the players. I'll start talking to you more national after three games, if you haven't lost a game. But let's quit talking. We've gotten hype. We've been hugged. We've had sugar thrown all over us. We're all enjoying it, we like it.

Let's clean it off, and let's get back to facts. We were fifth in the country when we went to Florida State, about 25th when we were leaving. That took about three hours to drop that far.

There were two conferences that weren't playing when we were fifth in the country. I was trying to explain to them, You're not the fifth best team in the country. I tell them you're not the fifth best team in the country, but we got to play. Nobody is good enough anymore to go out there and stand around.

We have some great older players that are leaders, three of them here today, then we've got a bunch of young guys. The young guys have to grow up. We've been circled by everybody in this league.

In fact, I can tell even in recruiting people are being really critical and are cutting us in recruiting. I'm so proud of that. That didn't happen the first year. Nobody cared. So now that we're getting a little better, I'm so excited people are critical of us. So that's a good thing.

But, yes, we'd like to beat Florida State. That's way down that list of issues before we get to it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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