Paul Finebaum sounds off on Mack Brown for his disastrous start in 2024: "I think his path is to finish the season"

The North Carolina Tar Heels under embattled coach Mack Brown lost 21-20 to the undefeated Duke Blue Devils on September 28. While the margin did not match the previous weekend's 70-50 blowout loss to the James Madison Dukes, it was still a poor loss. The Tar Heels moved to 3-2 for a season quickly falling off the rails.

Controversial ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum, appearing on the "Matt Barrie Show," had one piece of advice for Brown (1:20).

“I’m not going to waste a lot of time on beating a dead horse, but every week, it’s harder to watch the train wreck that is Mack Brown,” Finebaum said.

“I mean, that’s a pretty big rivalry in about a 10-square mile area of North Carolina, between Duke and North Carolina. You can’t lose like that. And I think his path is to finish the season and do whatever he would like the rest of his life that doesn’t involve being a head coach at North Carolina."

For his part, the outspoken Mack Brown said during his postgame news conference that he was not quitting and instead asked for North Carolina fans to support their players.

“I say go to the Pittsburgh game next week and really support these kids,” Mack Brown said. “They’re great kids that work their rear ends off to do the best they can do. Everybody in the country that loses a football game has noise. So I don’t worry about the noise.”

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James Madison loss put Mack Brown on the spot

The 70-50 blowout loss to the James Madison Dukes in Chapel Hill put Mack Brown on the spot. He has a 110-75-1 record during his two stints as coach of the Tar Heels, but the program has slipped since a trip to the ACC championship game in 2022, and quarterback Drake Maye's departure to the NFL has exposed more issues with the team.

On ESPN's "College Football" episode on September 23, analyst Rece Davis scrutinized the Tar Heels' loss to the Dukes placing the blame squarely on Brown's shoulders (38:30).

"That's a bad loss for Carolina to the point that it's a program-shaking loss, and you start to wonder, 'OK, what's Mack going to do to fix it or is Mack, at this point in his career -- legend, Hall of Famer, national champion, but is he the one to fix it?'" Davis said.

"I know it's one loss, one game, things happen. Seventy? To James Madison? With a new coach (Bob Chesny)?"

"It's not like it's (Indiana coach/former JMU coach Curt) Cignetti (who was 52-9, including 11-1 last season, with the Dukes)... It's a lot of guys gone. It's a new coach, and they come into your place and put 70 on you?"

After the James Madison loss, Mack Brown asked his players whether they wanted him to resign but later apologized for his comments. Should the North Carolina Tar Heels continue down their current path, it won't be left to the coach to decide his own future.