UNC coach Brown says ’Noles will rebound
Tough starts at Florida State are nothing new to North Carolina coach Mack Brown.
Brown played at Vanderbilt and FSU as a running back, and endured one of the worst years in program history — 0-11 in 1973. The next year, he started his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Seminoles under coach Darrell Mudra.
“We weren’t very good,” Brown, 70, said of that 1974 team that started 0-8 before finishing 1-10.
As the Tar Heels prepare to host FSU in Chapel Hill on Saturday, Brown recalled even a visit from a famous alum wasn’t enough to shake off the rough start.
“Burt Reynolds was coming out with ‘The Longest Yard’ and he came [to FSU] and they showed the premiere to our team Friday night before we played Baylor,” said Brown.
The movie follows a former NFL quarterback, played by Reynolds, who is sent to prison where he recruits a group of prisoners to play a football game against guards.
“If I remember it right, we were all screaming, ‘Green Machine, Green Machine, Green Machine,’ and Baylor wore green and we were up 17-0 got beat,” Brown said of the loss to the Bears in which FSU gave up 21 second-half points. “We were really struggling but then Coach [Bobby] Bowden came in [1976] and Florida State got back on track quickly.”
FSU would win 12 ACC championships and two national titles under Bowden.
Most recently, however, the program has struggled. The Seminoles haven’t had a winning season since 2017.
“Florida State went through three coaches in very few years and that makes it difficult for recruiting and it makes it difficult for other things,” Brown said. “Jimbo [Fisher] leaving was tough on some folks and then Willie [Taggart] coming in and that didn’t work and now Mike’s [Norvell] there and they brought in 13 transfers this spring.”
This season, FSU started 0-4 for the first time since that 1974 campaign. They pulled out a 33-30 win over Syracuse this past weekend, and Brown believes the Seminoles are better than their record indicates.
“They look good and they’re well-coached and it’s just a matter of time,” said Brown. “They are not far away.”
Brown doesn’t need to do much to convince his Tar Heels not to overlook FSU this week.
North Carolina arrived in Tallahassee on Oct. 17 fresh off a No. 5 ranking and as a 13-point favorite only to lose 31-28 to the one-win Seminoles.
“Mike started getting his team better right before we went down there last year and they whipped us and he’s doing the same now if you look at it,” Brown said.
Brown sees the glass as half-full. He points to close losses to Notre Dame, Jacksonville State and Louisville as reasons why FSU is close to breaking through. There’s no need to hit the panic button.
“There is anger in our society right now and people want to get angry over everything,” he said. “Florida State fans, this team is close and they could just as well be 3-2 and maybe 4-1. They’re coming and they’re coming fast.”