As college football’s hot-seat season gets hotter, understand this uncomfortable truth

You could sense the consternation emanating from at least some segment of North Carolina fans in the aftermath of the Tar Heels’ 41-14 victory against Virginia on Saturday in Charlottesville. It was palpable:

Great win, but ...

Happy for these kids, but ...

Finally, the Heels put it all together, but ...

But, so went the subtext of a cautious celebration, let’s not get carried away here: This still has to be Mack Brown’s final season as head coach. Nice win and all and, hey, maybe UNC gets on a roll and finishes strong and perhaps even puts an end to the misery against N.C. State ... but this still has to be it for Brown — or so goes the prevailing thought among a sizable number of fans who’ve made their feelings clear through their non-attendance at Kenan Stadium this season.

The angst surrounding Brown isn’t new. Nor are a lot of the grumblings among N.C. State fans about Dave Doeren. Or the complaints about any number of head coaches around the country — Mark Stoops! Gus Malzahn! — who are just holding their programs back, according to the people most vocally complaining about them on the Internet.

But here’s a not-so hot take for fans fed up with their school’s head football coach — or offensive coordinator, or defensive coordinator, or strength guy, or equipment manager, or, well, you get the idea: There’s a better than decent chance that they will do no better if a change is made.

UNC is perhaps Exhibit A of this established truth. The dissatisfaction surrounding Brown has grown this season, and deservedly so. There was a lot of it even before the debacle of a defeat against James Madison, and the recently-snapped four-game losing streak. The Tar Heels have made a habit, after all, of late-season collapses. They’ve lost three straight against N.C. State, and have been more or less dominated in that rivalry over the past 20 years.

Brown came back to UNC in late 2018, immediately began working his magic in recruiting and had five seasons of Sam Howell and Drake Maye starting at quarterback. And what do the Tar Heels have to show for it, exactly? A Coastal Division (fare thee well, Coastal) championship, followed by a one-sided loss against Clemson in the ACC Championship game?

An Orange Bowl appearance, and loss, during the immensely flawed pandemic season of 2020?

In other words: not much.

On the other hand, though, Mack Brown is clearly UNC’s best head coach since, well, Mack Brown. Look at who had the job between his first and second tenures: Carl Torbush. John Bunting. Butch Davis. Larry Fedora. In case you forgot, none of them left for a supposed better job. They were all fired — with the end of Davis’ ill-fated tenure perhaps the most embarrassing of all.

Brown caught a lot of flack for what he said after UNC’s loss at N.C. State at the end of the regular season last year. The Tar Heels had suffered through a late-season swoon — again. They’d lost to the Wolfpack — again. They were stuck on eight wins, with a chance to win nine with a bowl victory, “which is pretty good around here,” Brown said at the time.

A good number of UNC fans didn’t appreciate the implication that they should be satisfied with eight or nine wins. But guess what: Brown was absolutely right. Eight or nine wins is, indeed, pretty good for UNC. This is a program, after all, without a conference championship since 1980. One that has never won a major bowl game.

One that has finished as a ranked team 17 times in its 121-year existence. One that has achieved eight or more wins in 35 of those 121 seasons (or, a little less than 30 percent of the time).

None of this is to say that UNC or its fans shouldn’t expect more. Should the Tar Heels expect better than allowing 70 points during an embarrassing home defeat against JMU? Yes. Should they expect something more than zero conference championships over the past 40-plus years? For sure.

But there’s nothing that differentiates UNC’s football program from about 30 to 40 other power conference programs that want more without ever really proving they’re capable of more — at least not in any kind of sustained way. N.C. State is in that category. Kentucky is in that category. UCF, which hasn’t yet proven its ability to compete in the Big 12, now finds itself in that category.

There’s nothing at all with wanting more. But there should also be an appreciation for what you’ve had. Especially when, as Brown said, what you have really is, in fact, “pretty good around here.”

ONE BIG THING

Anyone who watched Grayson McCall absorb a horrific blow early in N.C. State’s defeat against Wake Forest earlier this month had to experience instant concern. The collision, which somehow didn’t result in a targeting call, sent McCall’s helmet flying and had his teammates immediately calling for help. Given McCall’s concussion history, it was fair to wonder why he was in that position in the first place.

Weeks after that hit, and undoubtedly after a lot of soul searching, McCall last week announced he’d played his final game. A difficult decision, to be sure, but the right decision for a player who has, multiple times now, experienced the danger of concussions. McCall throughout his years as a college football player gave so much to the game it’s impossible to quantify. Here’s hoping the game is kind to him, too, and that he doesn’t suffer any long term effects of the hits he has taken.

THREE TO LIKE

1. A fitting tribute to Tylee Craft in Charlottesville.

It will take a long time for the UNC football community to heal amid the loss of Craft, who died earlier this month after a courageous and inspiring fight against cancer. The Tar Heels honored him with their performance Saturday at Virginia — a 41-14 victory that came in what was, by far, UNC’s best game of the season. Another great thing to see: Virginia wearing helmet decals in honor of Craft, too. A gesture of sportsmanship that won’t be forgotten.

2. Appalachian State returns home.

This has not been the easiest of seasons for App State. The Mountaineers have struggled on the field. Off it, they’ve dealt for the past month with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and the devastation throughout Western North Carolina. And so App’s 33-26 victory against Georgia State in Boone — in the first college football game there in 37 days — felt like something more. The words on coach Shawn Clark’s sweatshirt said it all: “Mountain strong.” Yes, indeed.

3. Some positivity for the Pirates?

When is a victory against lowly Temple worth celebrating? When you’re ECU, and it comes in the first game after you’ve just fired your head coach in the middle of the season. Who knows how long the positive momentum might last but, less than a week after the school fired Mike Houston, ECU broke out for a 56-34 victory against Temple. Not a bad head coaching debut for Blake Harrell, the head coach who’d served as Houston’s defensive coordinator.

THREE TO ... NOT LIKE AS MUCH

1. Duke squanders a chance ... and several other chances.

Look, it has been a great debut season for Manny Diaz in Durham. The Blue Devils have exceeded expectations. Diaz is clearly laying a foundation. Duke looks to be ahead of schedule in the first season of a new head coach. But still: How do you lose a game with a plus-six advantage in turnover margin? That almost seems like one of those sporting impossibilities, to lose a football game despite having six more takeaways than your opponent. Yet that’s what happened to Duke Saturday night during a one-point overtime defeat against SMU.

2. Charlotte can’t hold on.

The 49ers were on the verge of arguably their biggest win in school history Saturday. All they needed to do was hold onto a four-point lead with 80 seconds remaining at Memphis. Annnd ... they couldn’t do it. Throw in a late safety, and Charlotte went from the precipice of a program-building victory to the reality of a debacle-filled final minute. A moral victory, yes, but any program aspiring to turn the corner needs the real thing.

3. Lingering disrespect for The CW.

We get it: Fans are mean. And one of the new ways fans can be mean these days is to make fun of the networks assigned to broadcast their rivals’ games. In the ACC, anything less than ESPN or ABC is looked upon poorly, like a 90s kid (not me; definitely not me) who wore off-brand Jordans in gym class. But enough is enough. The CW slander can no longer stand. When will people start appreciating The CW? The production quality is top notch. The broadcasters are solid. The camera work is usually great. The CW Train is leaving the station, and it’s time to hop aboard.

CAROLINAS RANKING

1. Clemson (it is, as it ever was); 2. South Carolina (complete list of things the state of South Carolina has over North Carolina: college football); 3. Duke (the Blue Devils lose in confounding, difficult-to-explain fashion? Welcome back to the Triangle); 4. North Carolina (maybe?); 5. Wake Forest (possibly?); 6. N.C. State (who can be sure?); 7. Coastal Carolina; 8. Appalachian State; 9. Charlotte; 10. ECU.