North Carolina football coach Mack Brown won't return for 2025 season

(AP) — North Carolina coach Mack Brown, a College Football Hall of Fame member who won a national championship at Texas, won't return for the 2025 season.

The school announced the move Tuesday with a statement from athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who had informed the 73-year-old Brown that there would be a coaching change. Brown will coach the regular-season finale on Saturday against rival N.C. State, though a decision hasn't been made about whether Brown will coach a bowl game.

In a statement from the program, Brown said he was focused on the rivalry game with the Wolfpack.

“While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time,” Brown said. “I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and will always cherish the memories and relationships (wife) Sally and I have built while serving as head coach. We’ve had the chance to coach and mentor some great young men, and we’ll miss having the opportunity to do that in the future.”

Brown, who has three years remaining on his contract, had indicated his plans multiple times to return for a seventh season in his second stint with the Tar Heels, including as recently as Monday during his weekly news conference.

Cunningham's statement didn't specifically state a reason for the change, instead praising Brown for holding the program's career record for wins as well as for pushing improvements to facilities and program infrastructure. He also praised Brown for leadership during tough stretches such as the recent death of player Tylee Craft after a cancer fight.

North Carolina (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) has been bowl eligible for every season of Brown’s second tenure as he stabilized a crashing program, with a peak of reaching the ACC championship game in 2022. But this year’s team — facing a daunting challenge of replacing No. 3 overall NFL draft pick Drake Maye at quarterback — had a difficult first half of the season that shook confidence in the program’s footing at this point in Brown’s tenure.

The low point was an all-systems-failure showing in surrendering 70 points in a home loss to James Madison. And in the aftermath, Brown stirred uncertainty about the immediate future of the program with emotional locker-room comments to the team that included floating whether he should remain coach.

Brown apologized afterward and said he was “disappointed in me” for how he handled that moment, which came amid a four-game skid following a 3-0 start.

UNC regrouped to return to bowl eligibility with a three-game winning streak, only to have an ugly performance in Saturday's 41-21 loss at Boston College.