Why UNC football coach Mack Brown regrets his reaction to Saturday’s loss to James Madison

North Carolina football coach Mack Brown did his best Monday to explain all that happened Saturday.

After the Tar Heels were blitzed 70-50 by James Madison at Kenan Stadium, Brown said some things in the locker room he wished he had not said but did say in the heat of the moment.

Losses made him physically ill, Brown said Monday. An humiliating loss like the one Saturday had him flummoxed.

“I was very disappointed in the game. I was disappointed in me,” Brown said. “Walking off the field I was very disappointed. We had a great week of practice. But we made entirely too many mistakes.

“So walking off the field I was thinking it’s all on me, I’m responsible, and I should ask the team about leadership and if they feel good about me moving forward. That’s something I shouldn’t do. I shouldn’t have put that pressure on young people. I’m supposed to be a leader and it’s probably the worst thing I’ve said after a loss. So I’m disappointed in me and I’ll grow from it.

“I’m excited about the future. I love my job and love these kids.”

Brown said he apologized to athletic director Bubba Cunningham for what he said and the way he acted.

Brown, 73, noted that when he returned to UNC, when he returned to coaching again, he promised his wife, Sally, that he would accept losses better. He had never been good with that, he said, but promised to be better.

“I lied,” he said Monday.

Brown said he was “mad at the world, mad at everything” after the game. But he then went home and said within 30 minutes had sent out a team text. It was time to turn to Duke and the next game.

“I told them, ‘I’m sorry and let’s go,’” Brown said. “I then started breaking down the game to see what we can do better.”

The Tar Heels (3-1) open ACC play at Duke (4-0) on Saturday. There will be the need this week to put the JMU beating behind them, learn from it. The fixes will need to come quickly, Brown said.

“It was just a bad game for all of us. It’s just fact,” Brown said. “We took a step back. We had done so well in winning the first three games and were so excited . I think that’s what got to me after the game.

“You want to be 4-0 going into a rival game. How does it happen? We let everybody down. I don’t like letting people down. I let my team, the fans, the university down. I just hate that.”

There were reports Saturday of an ultra emotional postgame scene in the UNC locker room – the reports saying Brown at one point offering to step aside as coach and the players refusing to let him do it. Those reports were based on unnamed sources while others who were in the locker room and spoke privately called those reports inaccurate or overblown.

No UNC player was allowed to speak to the media after the game. That added to the social-media scuttlebutt about what was, or wasn’t, said in the UNC locker room or how Brown -- a Hall of Fame coach at age 73 -- had handled it.

Brown later Saturday told Chris Low of ESPN he was not resigning and would be back at work.

Brown, in his comments to the media, had called the loss “embarrassing” and it was to anyone associated with UNC football. The Tar Heels had allowed 70 points in a game before Saturday – to East Carolina in a 70-41 blowout on Sept. 20, 2014.

But that game was in Greenville. Saturday’s loss was at Kenan Stadium, before an announced crowd of 50,500.

The Dukes, unstoppable on offense, scored 53 points in the first half, at one point scoring touchdowns in five straight possessions. They led by a stunning 32 points at halftime, 53-21.

No team, home or away, had scored 53 points against UNC in a half during a football history stretching back to 1888. JMU did that, the Tar Heels leaving the field to boos at halftime.

UNC did score 50 points and had 616 yards in total offense. Quarterback Jacolby Criswell, in his first career start at UNC, passed for 475 yards and three scores and Omarion Hampton rushed for 139 yards and three TDs.

But UNC’s defense looked lost, its secondary constantly caught out of position as JMU moved the ball and reeled off explosive plays. Quarterback Alonza Barnett III was a game-long problem for the Heels, throwing for 388 yards and five TDs and running for another two in setting JMU records while the Dukes’ experienced offensive line won the battle up front.

JMU, considered a 10-point underdog by Vegas oddsmakers, had an extra week to prepare for the game after an underwhelming 13-6 win over Gardner-Webb. But coach Bob Chesney, who came to JMU from Holy Cross, had the right game plan and the players the right mindset.

Brown, in his postgame comments, said he was once booed by 102,000 Texas fans when he coached the Longhorns. Asked if his UNC players noticed the boos at Kenan, he said dryly there weren’t enough fans still around for many boos to be heard.

“I don’t get to bitch, I have to fix,” he said. “That’s what I get paid for.”