Mack Brown

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Neal Brown and Mack Brown aren’t similar in too many ways.

West Virginia’s Neal Brown is only in his second head coaching position while 72-year old Mack Brown at North Carolina is already in the College Football Hall of Fame and has won 268 games while advancing through his 33 seasons and seeing his hair go to gray as he did so.

Neal “Organized Appeal” Brown is in his fifth season at WVU and is leading the Mountaineers to their third bowl game in that short time. Mack “Mack Attack” or “We Back Mack” Brown at UNC will direct the Carolina blue Tar Heels in their fifth straight bowl appearance.

WVU’s Brown came from mostly-hidden Troy in Alabama. UNC’s Brown is a graduate of North Carolina and is in his second head coaching tenure there after an unceremonious leaving from Texas where he had once claimed a national championship in 2005.

Mack Brown left his hot seat in Texas for his alma mater and then worked five years as an analyst at ESPN before surfacing again in Chapel Hill. Neal Brown seat in Morgantown has steadily heated up since two consecutive losing seasons in 2021 and 2022.

As speculation sizzled across the state about Neal Brown’s job status, West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker just recently announced the coach will return for the 2024 season.

Neal Brown’s circumstances as far as his state’s high school player lode and his recruiting fruits are also much different than Mack’s at UNC.

Most of West Virginia’s player roster comes from out-of-state or from transfers. Mack has recruiting competition from the dozens of universities in his own state, but is one of the premier locations in the entire Southeast.

Facilities and amenities at North Carolina can be lush and lavish. West Virginia’s offerings are becoming much more competitive with the “have’s” of college football, but North Carolina had a head start and won’t defer to any university in its area.

Neal Brown has steadily made a name for himself while Mack Brown is known far and wide and is well-known as a coaching icon in any home of a player he is recruiting.

Rivals of WVU can tell prospective recruits that Neal might not be around when they are in their third or fourth year at his place. Mack has to deflect remarks aimed at his age when rivals tell people he can’t go on too much longer.

Gray hair, good old boy folksy ways and 268 career wins from Mack. Attention to detail, trying to build useful depth and beating Pitt and Virginia Tech for Neal.

Both coaches are settling into the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte for obvious reasons. Both coaches want their players to enjoy the rewards of playing on into late December. And both coaches want their fanbases to see this bowl game as a reward of sorts for their ticket buying and monetary support.