Brown, Tar Heels trying to reverse ACC's open week trend
With an open date comes renewed health, recharged energy and a tighter focus, and at the exact midpoint of the season for a banged-up North Carolina team, it couldn’t have arrived at a better time.
“Midseason, it’s kind of like midterms for kids,” Carolina coach Mack Brown said. “Sometimes there’s more upsets this time of the year because they’re exhausted. They’re fighting their midterms, they’re staying up too late and it’s just something you don’t realize. You say, ‘Gosh, why are they playing so bad?’ Well, they’re whipped.”
In control of their own destiny in the Coastal Division, the 3-3 Tar Heels begin the second half of their season on Saturday at Virginia Tech with a legitimate shot at a bowl game, and perhaps, even a surprise appearance in the ACC Championship Game.
Given that an already-thin roster has only gotten thinner with injuries at key positions every week, Brown has to find the right balance over the next six weeks to guide his team to the finish line on a high-note.
He’ll manage contact in practice, workload and getting guys rest, but one thing that he doesn’t want to manage is energy.
In three victories, Carolina has had it; in the three losses, it simply hasn’t been where it needs to be.
“The challenge that I’ve given our staff, our managers, our trainers, our coaches and our players is, ‘Let’s bring full energy to every meeting and let’s bring full energy to every practice and that will give us a better chance to have energy every Saturday,’” he said. “I mean, you saw it this week. Every Saturday, we turn on the TV and there’s a team that just doesn’t show up.”
Typically, Brown’s teams have had no problem showing up after a regular-season open week, going 30-7-1 at Carolina and Texas. The Longhorns were especially strong, going 22-5 after the week off.
His approach to the week hasn’t changed, allowing older players to avoid contact and get more rest, instead working in reserves with the opportunity to earn more playing time.
“It was like a spring training for them because we said, ‘Here’s your chance; you’ve got three days to prove to your coach you can get some playing time,’” Brown said. “So, there might be some guys that come out of that with a better chance to play.”
Naturally, the expectation for a team coming off an open date is that the rest and extra preparation should be an advantage, but that hasn’t been the case in the ACC this season, with teams going 4-8 coming out of a weekend off.
Things aren’t much better nationally, as teams from Power Five conferences are 25-26 overall, with the SEC leading the way at 7-5.
Brown’s only explanation for those results is the possibility that players are taking advantage of their freedom, but that didn’t stop him from giving his team the chance to go home on Friday and Saturday before returning for Sunday’s meeting and practice.
“’It’s up to you,’” Brown told his players before sending them home. “’I can’t follow you around at night. I’m going to let you go home, I’m going to let you see your high school games on Friday night, I’m going to let you be with your parents. I can’t call you at 2 in the morning to see where you are, so if you want to win and you want to play well, then take care of yourselves; that’s a responsibility you’ve got.’”
Every indication on Sunday was that his players took that to heart and the Tar Heels didn’t have to deal with any off-field distractions.
“The way that I saw the attention to detail in the meeting yesterday and the way I saw practice yesterday, I would think the message is that our guys really took care of themselves over the weekend,” he said.
They held up their end of the bargain, and now, Brown will try to do the same.
“There’s this real balance at midseason of practicing them hard enough but keeping them fresh and keeping them focused,” he said. “It’s one of the real challenges but one of the real thrills of coaching – how do you get your team to play hard every week? How do you get them to be tough enough because you’re hitting and being physical and stay healthy?”
