The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Mack Brown named FBA’s Champions Award recipient for 2019
04.10.2018 | Football
Brown joins a distinguished list of coaches and administrators to have been honored with the award.
Mack Brown, who won 244 games over a career that spanned 40 years and four schools, is the Football Bowl Association's Champions Award winner, it was announced today by FBA Chairman Kevin McDonald.
The Champions Award is presented annually to a coach or administrator who 'over a long career furthers the cause of the college football bowl industry.'
"I cannot think of anyone who is more deserving of this recognition than Mack Brown," said FBA Executive Director Wright Waters. "In a coaching career that has covered all or part of five decades, Mack's teams achieved unusual excellence. He has been a friend not only to me but to all of college football and I could not be happier for him."
Brown currently works for ESPN as both a College Football Countdown studio host and in-game commentator on the network's Friday evening college football telecasts. He also continues to serve as a special assistant at the University of Texas.
His head coaching career began in 1973 with a single-season stint at Appalachian State. He was then head coach at Tulane for three years [1985-87] and North Carolina [1988-97] for 10 years. His success at Chapel Hill [69-46-1] vaulted Brown into one of the sport's premiere spotlight destinations, coaching the Texas Longhorns for 16 seasons and compiling a 158-48 won-lost record.
Brown coached the Longhorns from 1998-2013. His Longhorns won the 2005 national championship when Texas scored a late-game touchdown to beat USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl Game. That contest is considered one of college football's greatest games ever.
Texas played for the national title again in 2009 against Alabama. In each of those years, Brown was named Big 12 Coach of the Year. He was also a two-time national coach of the year in 2005 and 2008.
The Longhorns played in bowl games in 15 of Brown's 16 seasons, with a 10-5 mark in postseason competition, including three BCS bowl wins.
From 2001-09, the Longhorns recorded double-digit wins in nine consecutive seasons, a school record and tied for the second-longest streak in NCAA history. In addition to the undefeated 2005 season, Texas had just a single defeat in three other campaigns.
Only 85 coaches at all levels own 200 or more coaching victories. Brown's 244 rank him 33rd overall and they are the 10th most by a coach with at least 10 years at an FBS school.
Brown joins a distinguished list of previous Champions Award recipients. They include:
2009 – Roy Kramer, Southeastern Conference commissioner
2010 – Tom Hansen, Pacific-12 Conference commissioner
2011 – LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young head coach
2012 – Bobby Bowden, Florida State head coach
2013 – Grant Teaff, Baylor head coach/AFCA president
2014 – Dennis Poppe, NCAA administrator
2015 – Lee Corso, Indiana head coach/ESPN commentator
2016 – Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference commissioner
2017 – Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech head coach
2018 – Donnie Duncan, Oklahoma athletics director/Iowa State head coach