Ranking the top 20 college football coaches for 2021

11. Mack Brown, North Carolina

Whenever North Carolina plucked their former sideline leader, Mack Brown, out of the clutches of retirement to return to the program, the reviews were mostly positive. However, it did seem as if the Tar Heels had a relatively lengthy rebuilding process ahead of them. That doesn’t seem like it was Brown’s timetable, though.

Yes, a 15-10 record over the past two seasons isn’t necessarily going to jump off the page but Brown took a team that was trending towards bottoming out before he arrived and had them playing in a New Year’s Six bowl in just his second season in Chapel Hill. That’s phenomenally impressive and speaks to the veteran coach’s football acumen.

Now that the rebuild is ahead of schedule, the next steps for Brown — and what could likely vault him firmly into the top 10 head coaches in college football coming into next season — are to make another leap and to sustain this level of success.

From what we can tell, Brown and the Tar Heels are well on their way to doing that. Not only are they entering the 2021 campaign as a top-10 team in the country but they have shot up the recruiting rankings over the past few years as well. Brown’s ability to turn this program into an emerging ACC threat so quickly speaks incredibly highly of his coaching prowess.