The old cliche is that UNC is a football sleeping giant. With the Tar Heels head coaching job open again, it’s time to accept an uncomfortable truth.

Brown as recently as Monday said he planned to return next season, but Bubba Cunningham, the UNC athletic director, informed Brown later Monday that “he will not return as head coach.”

The last time North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham hired a football coach, it took two days to select Mack Brown in 2016.. He won't be able to move that fast this year, Cunningham said in an interview with the Tar Heel Sports Network on Tuesday night before the men's basketball game in Maui.