By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Between schools cheating in the NIL game and the competition telling recruits that Coach Mack Brown is going to retire, the veteran coach battles plenty that he can’t control on the recruiting trail.

Brown says that he’s in the best shape in 20 years and wouldn’t be recruiting Class of 2026 players if he expected to stop coaching any time soon. But the talk from rival coaches isn’t likely to stop for the Hall of Fame coach who will turn 72 before the Sept. 2 opener against South Carolina in Charlotte.

The way some programs handle NIL gives him pause, though. That leads some players to expect money before committing to a school and Brown says that his program isn’t interested in those players.

“If they’re going to take money before they come here or even if they commit to us that they would take illegal money in December, we shouldn’t sign them because that’s just a waste of our time,” Brown said. “If they’re going to be a great player when they get here, and they’re going to take money to leave, why bring them in? You’re developing somebody you’ll lose after a year or two.”

Brown says that he likes NIL and that Carolina has a good NIL program, but he has to deal with other schools that aren’t handling it the right way.

“People who cheated before NIL are still cheating,” Brown said. “If you offer someone money before they sign to you, it’s like it was two three years ago.”

Carolina isn’t going to offer a recruit money but will instead explain the NIL opportunities at UNC if they commit to the program.

“You can’t give them the money and say, ‘I will give you this amount of money to sign,’ ” said Brown, who will welcome 13 recruits to campus this weekend with already 17 commitments for the next recruiting class.

“We’re going to go by the rules here,” he said. “I’m really proud of the young guys that are committing to us, and the families, that they’re trusting us that there an NIL program, within the rules. That they can earn their money here, but we’re not going to give them money. We ask them before we bring them in, ‘Are you going to take money? If you are, don’t come in.’ “

Fans may wonder why Carolina doesn’t recruit some players and Brown said one reason is that some ask for money up front, and there are also some who may not have the grades to be successful.

Brown gets asked about NIL. But there is one question he gets from nearly every recruit.

“Just about every day somebody, comes in and asks if I’m gonna quit because all the coaches recruiting against me say I’m quitting,” Brown said. “There were a number of them last year that said I was quitting that got fired. So, they probably ought to worry about their jobs instead of mine.”

Brown says that he considers it a compliment that his competitors want him to retire. He’s ensuring that age won’t be a factor in his health by eating right and walking daily.

Brown decided that if he told his players to lose weight and stay fit, he should do the same.

Brown said that he started fasting, and doesn’t eat until 11:30 a.m. or noon and he tries not to eat after 8 p.m., has cut out all sugar and swears by Diet Peach Snapple. Instead of several bottles, though, it’s just one or two.

“Where I get into trouble is if I’m sitting because I’m a nervous eater, and that’s what happened during COVID,” Brown said. “I just sat and ate and I walked, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

Brown said that he’s lost 35 pounds and that he’s trying to lose another 15.

He can’t keep opposing coaches from saying he’s going to quit, but he’s doing all he can to make sure he can be healthy for years to come.

UNC schedule

Month/ date	Opponent/event	2023 record	UNC record in series
April
20	Spring game, 3 p.m.	—	—
August
29 (Thurs.)	at Minnesota	6–7	1–0
September
7	Charlotte	3–9	0–0
14	N.C. Central	9–3	0–0
21	James Madison	11–2	3–0
28	at Duke	8–5	65–40–4
October
5	Pittsburgh	3–9	12–5
12	Georgia Tech	7–6	22–33–3
26	at Virginia	3–9	66–58–4
November
2	at Florida State	13–1	3–17–1
16	Wake Forest	4–8	72–36–2
23	at Boston College	7–6	6–2
30	N.C. State	9–4	68–39–6