FCA BREAKFAST TO FEATURE TEXAS LONGHORN

Oct 24th, 2003

MOBILE, AL. - University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown will be in Mobile during "GMAC Bowl Week festivities" as the guest speaker at the Alltel Fellowship of Christian Athletes Breakfast on Tuesday, December 16. Brown will address local high school FCA groups, GMAC Bowl Sponsors and both participating bowl teams at the Adams Mark hotel, beginning at 6:45 a.m.

Tickets for the Alltel FCA Breakfast can be purchased by calling the GMAC Bowl Office at 251-635-0011. Tickets will be $20.00 for Non-FCA Members and $12.00 for FCA Members. Tables that seat 10 people are available as well.

Mack Brown's remarkable record as a head coach has seen success at every level, including the rare accomplishment of building Top Five programs at Texas and North Carolina. Brown's ability to resurrect fallen programs has established him as one of college footballs most respected coaches.

Brown rebuilt North Carolina after a series of disappointing seasons and turned it into a nationally-elite program. At Texas, he has resurrected a Longhorns program that had suffered through six losing seasons, including a 4-7 record in 1997, in the 12 years prior to his arrival.

Brown's squads have registered seven consecutive nine victory seasons, 13 winning seasons in a row and 11 consecutive bowl berths. He also has guided his squads to seven straight national Top 25 finishes, including four Top 10 rankings in the past seven years. His 116 victories since 1990 and 69 wins in the last six years both rank as the second and fourth-most nationally, respectively.

Brown began his full-time coaching career in 1975 at Southern Mississippi, where he worked with the receivers for three seasons. He then coached the wide receivers at Memphis State in 1978 and at Iowa State in '79. He was promoted to offensive coordinator at Iowa State in 1980. Brown went on to lead the offense at LSU in 1982, when the Tigers went 8-2-1 and played Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

In just his 10th season of full-time coaching, Brown had become a head coach, taking over the Appalachian State program in 1983. At the age of 32, he directed the Mountaineers to their first winning record in four years with a 6-5 slate. After one season, he left to become offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. In his only year on Barry Switzer's staff, the Sooners were 9-2-1, won the Big Eight Championship and earned a berth
in the Orange Bowl.

Brown became head coach at Tulane in 1985. Tulane had suffered three consecutive losing seasons before Brown's arrival, but by his third season in 1987, he led the Green Wave to a 6-5 mark and a berth in the Independence Bowl

In 1988, Brown took over a North Carolina program that had suffered two losing seasons in its previous three years and three non-winning seasons in its previous four years. While rebuilding the foundation, Brown's Tar Heels squads posted back-to-back 1-10 seasons in 1988 and '89. In 1990, Carolina was 6-4-1 and the Tar Heels were beginning a run of eight consecutive winning seasons and six bowl game appearances in a row. Brown came to Texas after leading North Carolina to six straight bowl games (UNC won four of them) and eight consecutive winning seasons (the longest streak in modern Tar Heels history). UNC's 54-18 (.750) record during his last six years ranked as the ninth-best nationally during that period. His record was even more sparkling in his final two seasons. He compiled a 20-3 (.870) mark and led the Tar Heels to a No. 4 final national ranking in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 6 ranking by The Associated Press in 1997.

The 5th annual GMAC Bowl will be played on Thursday, December 18th and will feature a representative from Conference USA vs. either the Mid-American Conference or the Western Athletic Conference. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. CST.