North Carolina football coach Mack Brown has his knee replaced by a former player who is now a decorated surgeon at rival Duke University
- The University of North Carolina says football coach Mack Brown has had his right knee replaced by one of his former Tar Heels players
- The 67-year-old coach underwent knee surgery at nearby Duke University Hospital, where former Tar Heels player Dr. Michael Bolognesi now works
- Bolognesi — who played defensive back at UNC from 1989-93 — says surgery won’t affect the coach’s summer schedule. Brown was discharged Monday
- In a statement, Brown asked rhetorically: ‘How cool is it that one of our former players replaced my knee yesterday?’
- Brown coached at UNC from 1988-97 and was hired again last November
- Bolognesi operated on Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski in 2016
The University of North Carolina says football coach Mack Brown has had his right knee replaced by a trusted surgeon – one of his former Tar Heels players.
Team spokesman Jeremy Sharpe said Tuesday that the 67-year-old coach underwent knee surgery on Monday at nearby Duke University Hospital, where former Tar Heels player Dr. Michael Bolognesi now works.
Bolognesi — who played defensive back for Brown from 1989-93 — says the surgery won’t affect the coach’s summer schedule. Brown was discharged later Monday afternoon.
Mack Brown coached at UNC from 1988-97 and was hired last November to replace the fired Larry Fedora. In between his two stints at Chapel Hill, Brown coached the Texas Longhorns from 1998 until 2013 and won a national championship at the end of the 2005 campaign
‘First off, how cool is it that one of our former players replaced my knee yesterday?’ Brown said in a statement.
‘We talk about building young men so they can be productive husbands, fathers and citizens. Carolina produces a lot of special people and I’m happy we were able to play a small part in Mike’s development because we counted on him and he, along with the rest of the surgical and anesthetic team, did a tremendous job.’
Brown says he had planned to have surgery in February but delayed it after he was hired to coach the Tar Heels again.
He coached at UNC from 1988-97 and was hired last November to replace the fired Larry Fedora. In between his two stints at Chapel Hill, Brown coached the Texas Longhorns from 1998 until 2013 and won a national championship with a Rose Bowl win over USC in January of 2006.
Brown first made a name for himself at North Carolina in the late 1980s through the mid 1990s (left). During that time he coach Michael Bolognesi (right), who is now a decorated surgeon
Although Bolognesi was unheralded as a football player, lettering only one year at North Carolina, he has become a well-known surgeon.
In fact, he performed a knee replacement in 2016 on Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who was apparently unbothered by Bolognesi’s history at rival UNC. (Bolognesi did get his doctorate from Duke)
Bolognesi was recently named president of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. His title at Duke University Hospital is ‘Professor of Surgery, Chief of the Adult Reconstruction Division, and Director of the Adult Reconstruction Fellowship in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.’
The move from football to the operating room isn’t completely uncommon.
In fact, current Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif graduated from McGill’s medical school in May 2018. He is the fourth NFL player to graduate from medical school while still playing in the league.
Brown returned to North Carolina in November after coaching Texas from 1998 until 2013