THERE’S A MELTDOWN AT LSU AND CHAPEL HILL!

Monday, November 3^rd, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

THERE’S A MELTDOWN AT LSU AND CHAPEL HILL!

I’m getting deluged with calls, texts and emails. What the heck is going on with my two favorite teams in college football? Of course they’re talking about the deluge of criticism taking place at LSU and the University of North Carolina. I have followed both of these college teams for years, but cannot remember so much well-earned criticism.

First come the Tar Heels. I love my alma mater at Chapel Hill. I had the privilege of having an athletic scholarship (basketball and track) at a school  that is, year and in year out, ranked as one of the top public universities in the nation. While at Carolina, I received a great education, competed in track meets all over the world, and dated a number of really pretty coeds.  I couldn’t ask for more. But Carolina is a basketball school. Sure, I attended football games. I went  with my fellow fraternity brothers just for fun. But you never expected a winner there.

I did have high hopes when Mac Brown took over as football coach. He had spent time coaching at LSU and Tulane, and we became good friends when I was Louisiana Secretary of State.  Coach Brown called me when he applied for the North Carolina job and asked me to contact basketball Coach Dean Smith, who ruled the roost and called the shots for all Athletics at Carolina. Coach Brown had a number of winning seasons, but never was in contention for a national championship.

Mack called me a few years later to tell me he was going to the University of Texas. “I love my life at Carolina, but I’ll never win a national championship here. It’s a basketball school. I’ll retire back here, and my kids are going to school here. But I’m going to Texas to win it all.”  He did, winning a national championship for Texas in 2005.

But the powers that be in Chapel Hill did want to win it all. Who, they thought, better than the NFL’s winningest coach? The problem was, Bill Belichick was a has-been. Once quarterback Tom Brady, probably the best that ever was, left Belichick’s team, his program crashed and burned.  He was a bust. A mediocre coach at best. But the Board that governs the University at North Carolina were blinded of his mistakes in later years, and were so hungry for a winner, that they jumped at the chance to get Belichick. It was a huge mistake.

There was more than his poor coaching of football. He was diverted in his attention by his 24 year-old girlfriend. When the Tar Heels had an off-week, he vacationed on the beach rather than developing a closer relationship with his players and their families.

He will never be a winner at North Carolina. He’s over the hill. Now Carolina is doing the same reckless thing that LSU is doing and that’s hoping for a contract buyout.

Then there are the Fighting Tigers. I know LSU football is a way of life for many Louisianans. The athletic director said it best. There are three priorities at LSU. Number one is football, number two is football and number three- football. They had a coach a few years back that won a  national championship with a team that many said was the best football college team ever to play. But he didn’t perform up to expectations the following year, so they ran him off.

LSU stopped at nothing to win it all. Progressive colleges today hire young coaches in their 30s.  But the powers that be in Baton Rouge hired an older coach from a big name school that had done OK, but never won a national championship. What do they pay him? $100 million. What? You’ve got to be kidding!  What Board overseeing any major university, especially one that is ranked mediocre at best, would authorize such an enormous contract that undermines the purpose of what is supposed to be the flagship school?

Now LSU is licking its wounds, has fired the football coach and the athletic director, and is putting on a questionable face in dealing with an untenable situation.

Both colleges need to review their historic missions of educating their young people with the mission of developing their leaders and their workforce for the future of their states. Right now, both schools are traveling a really a rocky road.

Peace and Justice.

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.