CFB notebook: Brown officially named North Carolina coach

CFB notebook: Brown officially named North Carolina coach


Former Texas head coach Mack Brown has agreed to terms to accept the same position at North Carolina, the school announced.

It will be the second stint as the Tar Heels' head coach for the 67-year-old Brown, who walked the sideline with North Carolina from 1988 to 1997 and had a 69-46-1 record in his 10 seasons at the school.

The North Carolina head coaching job became available when Larry Fedora was dismissed over the weekend following a 2-9 season that ended with Saturday's 34-28 loss to North Carolina State.

Brown has not been a head coach since he was forced out at Texas in 2013. He has served as an ESPN college football analyst for the past five years.

Brown is a College Football Hall of Fame head coach, and he won a BCS national championship at Texas in the 2005 season. He finished with a 158-48 record in 16 years at Texas.

He was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1996 when UNC went 10-2 and finished ranked No. 10. The Tar Heels went 10-1 and wound up ranked No. 6 in 1997, which was Mack's final season at North Carolina.

UNC has finished in the AP top 25 just once since Brown left North Carolina for Texas after the 1997 season.

--Western Kentucky confirmed that Tennessee offensive coordinator Tyson Helton will be the Hilltoppers' next head coach.

The 41-year-old Helton will replace Mike Sanford, who was fired on Sunday after going 9-15 in two years at Western Kentucky.

Helton, who is the younger brother of USC head coach Clay Helton, spent the 2018 season as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee.

Before that he was the quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator at USC under his brother.

Tyson Helton was the offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky in 2014 and 2015 before taking the USC job.

--USC head coach Clay Helton was not fired after the Trojans' 5-7 season, but a lot of the people around him will be different next season.

USC announced that four assistant coaches will not be returning.

Offensive coordinator Tee Martin, defensive line coach Kenechi Udeze and defensive backs coach Ronnie Bradford are out.

Also, quarterbacks coach Bryan Ellis has left to "pursue another opportunity." That opportunity might be on the staff of new Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton, the younger brother of the USC head coach.

USC had fired offensive line coach Neil Callaway in October at the same time that it relieved Martin of his play-calling duties.

--The parents of Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton provided some encouraging news about their son, who suffered a gruesome leg injury in Friday's victory over South Florida.

They reported that blood flow has returned to his leg following Friday's emergency surgery and that reconstructive surgery will be performed at an undetermined time in the future.

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