North Carolina coach Mack Brown has seen a lot of players come and go during his coaching career, but recently ran into one in an unlikely place: the operating room.
The team announced Tuesday, Brown underwent a right knee replacement surgery Monday performed by one of his former players.
Dr. Michael Bolognesi, who played defensive back for Brown from 1989 to 1993, performed the surgery on the 67-year-old coach.
"The surgery went really well with no issues or complications and he'll begin a standard rehabilitation program in Chapel Hill immediately," Bolognesi said in a release. "We don't expect there to be any need to alter his summer schedule as it relates to team and football operations."
Brown first coached the Tar Heels from 1988 to 1997 and at Texas from 1998 to 2013. He then stepped away from football and served as an ESPN analyst before being hired to replace Larry Fedora in November.
"First off, how cool is it that one of our former players replaced my knee yesterday?" Brown said. "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.
"We had been planning to have this procedure done in February, but after accepting the job here at Carolina that obviously wasn't going to be possible. We did want to get it taken care of and this window on the calendar made the most sense. I don't expect this to slow me down at all."
North Carolina will open the season against South Carolina on Aug. 31.