Coach Mack Brown University of North Carolina

Born in Cookeville, Tenn., Brown was a three-sport star at Putnam County High School, where he lettered three times in football. He went on to attend Vanderbilt and graduated from Florida State. He lettered twice as a running back for the Seminoles from 1971-72 and completed his bachelor's degree in education in 1974. While completing his degree, he worked on a part-time basis, coaching the squad's receivers and junior varsity.

Brown began his full-time coaching career in 1975 at Southern Mississippi, where he worked with the receivers for three seasons. He earned a master's degree in administration from Southern Miss in 1976. Brown then coached the wide receivers at Memphis State in 1978 and at Iowa State in '79. He was promoted to offensive coordinator at Iowa State in 1980, and in his time at Ames, the Cyclones broke 17 school and Big Eight Conference records and produced league leaders in rushing and total offense. Brown went on to lead the offense at LSU in 1982, when the Tigers went 8-2-1 and played Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

In just his 10th season of full-time coaching, Brown had become a head coach, taking over the Appalachian State program in 1983. At the age of 32, he directed the Mountaineers to their first winning record in four years with a 6-5 slate. After one season, he left to become offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. In his only year on Barry Switzer's staff, the Sooners were 9-2-1, won the Big Eight Championship and earned a berth in the Orange Bowl. Brown helped Oklahoma develop its best passing attack in years, as he coached quarterbacks Danny Bradley, a first-team All-Big Eight selection, and Troy Aikman, a three-time Super Bowl Champion signal caller of the Dallas Cowboys.

Brown became head coach at Tulane in 1985 and quickly went about rejuvenating the Green Wave's sagging football fortunes. Tulane had suffered three consecutive losing seasons before Brown's arrival, but by his third season in 1987, he led the Green Wave to a 6-5 mark and a berth in the Independence Bowl (just the program's fifth bowl game since 1940). That season, the Green Wave set school records for total offense and points, ranking 11th nationally in scoring (32.5 ppg). That remarkable season earned Brown a spot in the Independence Bowl Hall of Honor in 2002. He also served as athletics director his final two years at Tulane.

In 1988, Brown took over a North Carolina program that had suffered two losing seasons in its previous three years and three non-winning seasons in its previous four years. While rebuilding the foundation, Brown's Tar Heels squads posted back-to-back 1-10 seasons in 1988 and '89. In 1990, Carolina was 6-4-1 and the Tar Heels were beginning a run of eight consecutive winning seasons and six bowl game appearances in a row. Brown came to Texas after leading North Carolina to six straight bowl games (UNC won four of them) and eight consecutive winning seasons (the longest streak in modern Tar Heels history). UNC's 54-18 (.750) record during his last six years ranked as the ninth-best nationally during that period. His record was even more sparkling in his final two seasons. He compiled a 20-3 (.870) mark and led the Tar Heels to a No. 4 final national ranking in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 6 ranking by The Associated Press in 1997.

At UNC, Brown recruited and coached several of the finest players in school history. From his 1997 squad, DE Greg Ellis (No. 8, Dallas Cowboys), LB Brian Simmons (No. 17, Cincinnati Bengals) and DT Vonnie Holliday (No. 19, Green Bay Packers) earned All-America recognition and were selected among the first 19 picks in the 1998 NFL Draft.

Along with that trio of first rounders, Brown also helped develop several other Tar Heels standouts. Marcus Jones, a consensus first-team All-American defensive tackle, earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1995. Corey Holliday, the leading receiver in Tar Heels history, was a CFA/Hitachi Scholar-Athlete and is a former member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dwight Hollier, who made more than 500 tackles during his Tar Heels career, also played in the NFL. Natrone Means, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in his final two seasons at UNC, went on to lead the San Diego Chargers to Super Bowl XXIX and the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC Championship game in 1996.

Quarterbacks Jason Stanicek and Mike Thomas combined to rewrite Carolina's passing and total offense records. CB Thomas Smith came to UNC in 1989 as a walk-on from a small high school in North Carolina and departed as a first-round pick of the AFC Champion Buffalo Bills. RB Leon Johnson, one of the premier all-purpose offensive threats in ACC history, played for the New York Jets and Chicago Bears before joining the St. Louis Rams for the 2003 season. CB Dré Bly, a three-time All-American who recorded an ACC-record 20 interceptions during his career, spent the first four years of his career with the St. Louis Rams before signing with the Detroit Lions this past offseason. Freddie Jones, a second-round draft choice of the San Diego Chargers in 1997, is one of the NFL's top pass-catching tight ends who currently is a member of the Arizona Cardinals.

After leading UNC to a 10-1 regular season record and a No. 6 national ranking, Brown accepted the head coaching position at Texas on Dec. 4, 1997.

One of the most respected coaches in the college game, Brown has served on numerous national committees. Currently, he is a member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee and the NCAA Football Issues Committee. He has been chairman of the Football Coaches' Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the College Football Association. A past member of the American Football Coaches Association's (AFCA) Ethics Committee, Brown also has served on the AFCA Public Relations Committee. He has been invited to coach in five postseason all-star games, including the Japan Bowl, Hula Bowl and East-West Shrine Game (twice).

He and his wife, Sally, have four children — Matt, Katherine, Barbara and Chris. Sally enthusiastically involves herself in football team activities. In 1999, she retired as president of Marin Development in North Carolina. She is past president of the Public, Private Partnership (PPP), a organization that fostered improved relations between the University of North Carolina and the town of Chapel Hill. She also volunteered time to chair the fund-raising efforts for the UNC Black Cultural Center and was a member of a Carolina Alumni Advisory Committee.

In Austin, the Browns continue to be active in community affairs, serving as honorary co-chairpersons of the Capital Campaign for the Helping Hands of Austin. Last spring, they endorsed a new Texas license plate, which is designed to raise public awareness for child abuse and neglect and the need for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers. After the Bonfire tragedy at Texas A&M in 1999, the couple initiated a blood drive on the UT campus that attracted more than 250 blood donors.

read the whole bio: Mack Brown Texas Football.com