Not long after Mack Brown was hired at the University of Texas, he was saved from the first controversy of his young Longhorns career by the most unlikely ally.
In 1998, Brown and longtime Texas A&M coach RC Slocum were guests at a public event in San Antonio, along with former Texas A&M and Alabama coach Gene Stallings.
Both Slocum and Stallings were well versed in the importance of hand gestures in Texas college football. Brown, a Tennessee resident who had just arrived from North Carolina, was given a quick lesson.
“I didn’t know much about the history of the two places, and a fan walked up to us and stood between the three of us and said, ‘Let’s take a picture,’” Brown reminded ESPN recently. He put his thumb up, and so did RC and Coach Stallings. So I held mine up. RC took it, threw it down and said, ‘Boy you get fired before you ever coach a match if you throw that up You have to learn very quickly that you Hook ’em, you don’t Gig’ em. ”
For Brown, it was the beginning of what would be a very cordial relationship with a normally hostile neighbor. So when North Carolina faces Texas A&M at his first-ever appearance at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Saturday (8pm, ESPN / ESPN app), Brown won’t see a red when he looks across the field and sees maroon. In a sport where fans often wish all the best for their opponents, Brown has always killed them with kindness.
“I’ve never been one to hate our rivals,” said Brown. “I’ve always liked our rivals. They’re two great programs in a state that cares about football, maybe more than any other state in the country. It’s because it’s like a religion there, and both programs are so good. I would. Never say anything bad about Texas A&M. “
Brown announced his entry into the rivalry with a 26-24 upset of the No. 6 Aggies in 1998. In the last 14 years of the series before Texas A&M left for the SEC, Brown beat the Aggies 10 times to go 4- 1 against Slocum, 3-2 against Dennis Franchione and 3-1 against Mike Sherman, including the last 27-25 win in 2011.
“Mack saw rivalry as a matter of pride,” said Ricky Williams, who won the Heisman Trophy in Brown’s inaugural season at Austin after covering 259 meters in that upset win over A&M. “So the idea of beating the Aggies was to show that we are the best team in Texas. He saw those big games as huge opportunities for us.”
Brown never took shots, fired insults, or invented gimmicks to refer to A&M. His magnetic charm that reshaped the Texas recruiting landscape also often made it sound like he was looking for the Aggies – except in one game, of course.
“We don’t need A&M to have a bad team,” Brown told Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls before his first game with the Aggies in 1998. “If we both get 6-4 in this game, it would be. be the case. neither of us help either of us. ”
Brown insists this is none of the good, yet another recruiting field of a crafty coach. He and Slocum were close friends from the time he was assistant to one of Slocum’s close friends, Donnie Duncan, in the state of Iowa from 1979 to ’81. Brown’s offensive coordinator, Greg Davis, who worked for Brown in Tulane and Texas, got his first job with Texas A&M at Slocum’s urging.
“I was with [Brown] 18 years old, and it was never about him vs. RC or him vs. anyone, ”said Davis. It was clearly an important ball game. But it was never a personal deal with him. “
Brown even allowed Slocum to arrange a tour of the Texas facilities for A&M officials when Slocum felt the Aggies were falling behind in the arms race. There was always mutual respect for each other and for the programs.
“It was very different from the rivalry in Oklahoma,” said Brown last week. The rivalry in Oklahoma was state versus state. The A&M rivalry was family versus family. They were all Texans, and even at the game you saw scattered fans of different colors and family gathered together. I sat as a kid and watched Texas and Texas A&M [on TV]. It brought high school football coaches and high school football coaches in the state of Texas to the attention of everyone in the country. “
Dave South named Texas A&M football, basketball and baseball games 33 years and in 2018 was honored with the National Football Foundation’s Chris Schenkel Award for excellence in broadcast. While in New York for the introduction, he ran into Brown, who was inducted into the NFF Hall of Fame the same year, and was surprised by Brown’s disclosure when he introduced himself.
“I know who you are,” Brown said to South. “When I was traveling, very often when we didn’t have a game or played in the afternoon and you played in the evening, I listened to you.”
South said Brown had nothing but kind words for his former enemy.
“When the game was over, the game was over,” said South. “He was very complimentary about A&M and the rivalry.”
But nothing showed Brown’s true respect for the Aggies, like his last press conference after his Texas resignation in December 2013, when Brown took time to recall the 1999 Aggie bonfire collapse that killed 12 students.
Following Brown’s initial statement, a reporter asked if he would have changed anything about his 16 years in Austin. He first said he would give anything to get Cole Pittman back, referring to the UT’s defensive tackle who died in a car accident in 2001. Then there came a remarkable off-the-cuff moment for a Texas coach who had a of the worst professional days of his career.
‘And I would like to have the bonfire [collapse] “It didn’t happen at A&M,” he said. “Those are two terrible things in my life that I will never forget. I played A&M on Thanksgiving and thought about the families … If you lose your kids, there is nothing worse than that in the world. I think every Thanksgiving there because there are 12 families who are not having a good Thanksgiving. That will never go away. “
At the Orange Bowl press conference, he vividly remembered the week of the tragedy again.
“I thought we probably shouldn’t play the game,” he said. “I told RC that we will do whatever you all want. We not only played the game, but I think we were 16-0 ahead at half time. [and] they came back and beat us in the end 21-16. I’m not sure it wasn’t the best for them to have won that match. “
Davis recalls that Brown was deeply affected.
“The bonfire startled him,” Davis said. “In fact, we did blood in Austin at the football office and most of the coaches gave blood.”
For Brown, tragedy was the perspective of what rivalry really meant.
“I thought RC handled that situation better than anyone ever could,” he told ESPN last week. “We had the memorial with a lot of students and fans of Texas A&M, which was an evening that I will remember for the rest of my life. Even the game, our band playing ‘Amazing Grace’ and everyone in that stadium mourning for that. families … Then you know that it is much bigger than a football match. ‘
There is no doubt that Brown wants to beat A&M to finalize a remarkable turnaround season in North Carolina, which is 8-3 after 2-9 two years before Brown’s arrival.
Williams said Brown will sell this as another big step for North Carolina, “because of the success A&M has had from being with the mighty SEC,” he said. “If it’s a prime-time ball game, he knows it’s a huge opportunity for his program to take itself to the next level.”
“I’m sure he’s excited because he knows what kind of program [A&M has] historically and the job Jimbo had [Fisher] “is doing,” Davis added. But it’s excitement. It is in no way an act of revenge or anything like that. I certainly don’t think he’s going to approach it any different than when he played someone else in terms of the old Aggies or whatever. “
And no matter how many nice words Brown says about the Aggies, they will no doubt want to beat him. But the absence of the rivalry may have made Brown’s glowing words sparkle even more. Good luck getting him to say anything else.
“Texas A&M is one of the best programs in the country and I always love playing them at College Station,” he said. “Those fans are incredible. The place is as loud as anywhere I’ve ever been to coach against. The loyalty of those fans is just amazing to me.”