After a strong season, Mack Brown has high hopes for UNC football ahead of spring game

Just a few months after a strong 2019 season, North Carolina head football coach Mack Brown has been busy preparing for the upcoming spring game in the middle of an offseason filled with high expectations alongside many adjustments. 

The Tar Heels have had two recent coaching changes in the offseason. After former tight ends coach Tim Brewster left for Florida, North Carolina hired John Lilly, a 27-year coaching veteran who last coached in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns. 

“He’s recruited North Carolina, he’s recruited Georgia, he’s recruited Florida, so it fits our footprint in recruiting," Brown said. "He’s been a recruiting coordinator, so obviously he’s very, very good at it." 

Jovan Dewitt has also joined the coaching staff as the new special teams coordinator, taking the place of Scott Boone. Dewitt has been a linebackers coach for 11 years and previously served as the special teams coordinator at Nebraska and associate head coach at Central Florida. He coached for Army in 2014 and 2015, where he worked alongside the Tar Heels' co-defensive coordinator, Jay Bateman.  

“He knows this defense," Brown said. "He knows Coach Bateman, he knows what we’re looking for. He, Jay and the other three guys should really be able to just start in spring like it’s their second year.”

Brown left little doubt about how much confidence he had in the new additions to the coaching staff. 

"(Tar Heel players) should never worry about their coach leaving," he said. "Because if they really like their coach, me and the University of North Carolina hired that coach. So we’ll find you another one that’s just as good, that you like just as much.”

Brown also said that depth is a focus going into next season. 

“That is key for us," Brown said. "You’ll have fresher teams, you’ll have better team morale, you’ll be in a position where you’re less likely to get guys hurt because they’re not in the fourth quarter tired. 

"And," he added, "we should be winning more of those tight games in the fourth quarter.”

Heading into last season, the Tar Heels weren’t projected to be much of a force in the ACC, with a number of questions surrounding how Brown's return to Chapel Hill would play out. But after putting together a winning season for the first time since 2016, expectations are sure to be higher in the upcoming year.

“With more high expectations comes more responsibility," Brown said. "You’ve got to do better, you gotta work harder, you gotta make more plays.” 

While last season shattered expectations, Brown has called this year’s squad a championship-caliber class. The Tar Heels will have a chance to showcase their offseason improvements at their spring game on April 18. 

“Last year, we were trying to beat somebody. Last year, we were trying to finish games. Last year, we were trying to get to a bowl game," Brown said. "This year, we want to win the league.”

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com