Steelers’ Arthur Smith, UNC Football Discuss HC Role to Replace Mack Brown

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IV

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The North Carolina Tar Heels will not be moving forward with head football coach Mack Brown after the conclusion of the 2024 season, and could be tapping the Pittsburgh Steelers for his replacement with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

“Reality is [UNC] reached out on preliminary call,” Smith said on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “I appreciate it, love that place. But that’s not my focus. I mean I’ve got one of the best jobs in football right now. There’s a lot to be said too about [how you] can’t put a price on personal and professional happiness, which I have here.” Smith continued:

I’ve got an awesome job here. Love it here in Pittsburgh. [I] probably [have] a different mindset than I had five, four years ago where any head job, I probably would’ve walked there to take it.Now my perspective’s different, and when you got something good like I got here in Pittsburgh right now, family loves it here. I like the working environment, love being a Steeler.Bruce Feldman of The Athletic first reported Wednesday that “One potentially intriguing option with very strong ties at North Carolina is Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who we hear has some traction with key people in Chapel Hill.”

Smith played at UNC as an offensive lineman and also began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Tar Heels under John Bunting in 2006. He transitioned to the NFL from there as a defensive quality assistant for Washington (2007-08), a defensive intern for Ole Miss (2010) and worked his way up in the Tennessee Titans coaching staff between 2011-20, eventually spending two seasons as the team’s offensive coordinator.

He then was hired to be the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach, compiling a 21-30 record with no playoff appearances. After he was fired in Atlanta, Mike Tomlin hired him as the team’s offensive coordinator this season, and both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson have looked improved in his scheme.

Granted, Smith’s offenses have never been juggernauts. As a head coach or offensive coordinator, those units have finished top-10 in yardage just once and top-10 in scoring twice out of six seasons. The Steelers rank 18th in yardage and 14th in points this year.

There’s also the question of whether he could be a program-builder at the college level, where recruiting is arguably as important as Xs and Os. Or whether he would want to leave the NFL in the first place.

Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 @BarrettSalleeNorth Carolina is a sleeping giant in the ACC. It should be an annual conference title contender pic.twitter.com/ATA17xqZDY

Kevin Negandhi @KevinNegandhiWhen @CoachMackBrown came back to restore respectability at North Carolina, the program had won a total of 5 games the previous 2 years. In his return @UNCFootball has won at least 6 games in every season. He is a HoF coach and an even better human. Much love to Mack and Sally.

North Carolina—which has gone 44-32 in Brown’s second tenure as head coach but has never emerged as a national power in football—will likely cast a wide net in its search for a replacement and “preferred to enter the search market this winter instead of a year from now, when it’s expected there will be more open Power 4 jobs and thus more competition for top candidates,” per Feldman.