Mack Brown officially accepted the Bobby Dodd national coach of the year trophy Tuesday night during a fancy affair at the Erwin Center.
But Brown, a unanimous selection, probably unofficially won the award on Thanksgiving evening when he pulled quarterback Colt McCoy early in the fourth quarter against rival Texas A&M, rather than trying to put up a higher score to further impress a national TV audience.
That's when ESPN college analyst Ron Franklin decided to cast his vote for Brown.
"That's Mack,"
Franklin said. "That's character, and that's class."
Former coach Bill Curry, a recipient of the award in 1989 who played for Dodd at Georgia Tech, said Brown personifies what his old coach represented.
"We're almost never unanimous,"
Curry said, "but there was only one choice."
