Tag Archives: mack brown

College Football HoF, University of Texas

Brown, Mack (2)

Cards: Panini Contenders 2018, UT Upper Deck 2011 NC
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o North Carolina
Sent: 3/23 Received: 4/5 (13 days)
See Also: Mack Brown

Well the wheels came off the wagon at UT in 2013. Despite the Longhorns finishing 9-4 and 8-5 respectively in those last two years- everyone involved decided it was time to map the Texas Longhorn program in a new direction. Mack moved into being more like a defacto booster/ promoter for the school, as UT churned through Charlie Strong until they got who they wanted in Tom Herman- a coach off of the Mack Brown coaching tree.

Mack in the meantime worked the college football angle as a commentator for ESPN and in 2018 earned a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. Feeling the urge to coach again, Mack returned back to North Carolina in 2019- after a near 5 year hiatus from coaching.

I had gotten this National Championship card I think as a pull from the Spoodog UT break way back in 2013-ish. I had always wanted to get it eventually signed. It made sense to send it out when I got the Panini Contenders 2018- A set that ironically came out a few months after one of the message boards I was on got feedback from us and I told them it’d be great to have coach cards again. I digress however… Mack is still one of the better coaches TTM in the business. He signed these cards in about 2 weeks.

University of Texas

Brown, Mack

Cards: UT Upper Deck 2011
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Texas
Sent: 4/13    Received: 4/18   (5 days)

Mack Brown has assembled quite an impressive resume in college football and seems quite content to remain among the upper echelon of coaches at that level, but before that what most fans of the University of Texas don’t know is that Mack Brown is a Seminole. Yes, he graduated from Florida State and started student coaching after an injury caused an early exit in 1974. It has been a long road for Brown along the way, with stops at Southern Miss, Memphis State, Iowa State, and LSU. By this point he had held quarterbacks, wide receivers, and the offensive coordinator positions by 1982.  In 1983, Mack earned his first head coaching stint, leading the Appalachian State Yosef to a 6-5 record, but quickly joined the University of Oklahoma staff as offensive coordinator for 1984.  He’d head over to the Tulane Green Wave to be athletic director and head coach, turning a dead end program around for an Independence Bowl appearance in 1987.

In 1988, the University of North Carolina was looking to fix its woeful football program. Taking note of Mack’s turnaround of Tulane, the University signed him up. After an initial rough patch, the team gelled under his recruitment and started a return to respectability by 1991 finishing at a 7-4 record. 1992 saw Mack’s Tar Heel program finish 9-3 and win the Peach Bowl. The school enjoyed its finest football in some 50 odd years under Mack’s direction through 1997.  He’d leave North Carolina for the University of Texas after the season, (to take over for reassigned head coach John Makovic,) finishing his career at UNC with 69 wins.

A new era of Texas football began that year, under Mack’s direction. He claims that his first ‘recruit’ was convincing Ricky Williams to stay at Texas for his senior season. It has been during his tenure at the University of Texas that Brown has displayed a dominant knack for recruitment, and preparing many players for the professional level. In 14 seasons as head coach, the University of Texas has appeared in 13 bowl games under Mack including 4 bowl games. The Longhorns have also ranked in the top 5 6 times over that span as well.  In 2005, Texas went 13-0, with Vince Young at quarterback, and defeated the star-studded USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl 41-38. Mack also was given the NCAA Football Coach of the Year award.  As of the conclusion of the 2011 season, Mack has a 141- 39 record at UT, and is 227-113-1 all-time.  While he has been rumored from time to time to be in line for an NFL gig, the University of Texas has had no qualms about locking him in for basically a lifetime salary and can coach here until he is ready to retire.

After getting scalded at the Orange-White scrimmage this year, I wrote Mack courtesy of his website. I was surprised to get a quick response from Kasey, his personal assistant, who apologized for my situation. He offered to get any autograph I wanted as long as I had them personalized. It was a quick 5 day turn around for both Mack and Major Applewhite in the same envelope, making this Longhorn fan quite happy.