When the student becomes the surgeon? Mack Brown operated on by former player

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Mack Brown will happily admit that he's no spring chicken anymore.

The Heels head football coach will turn 68 later this summer and with the aging process, comes aging joints.

Brown had a right knee replacement Monday.

I'd love to tell you it was replaced by a super cool apparatus that fires lasers or makes nachos or something, but no, just a knee that bends and stuff.

Brown's now had both knees replaced. His left was re-done back in 2006. The fun detail here is that the surgery was performed by Dr. Michael Bolognesi, a former defensive back that played for Mack back in the late 80s, early 90s.

Never without a quote - here's what Brown had to say about his connection to his surgeon:

"First off, how cool is it that one of our former players replaced my knee yesterday. 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."

Mack was back up on his feet Monday following the procedure and was back at work Tuesday.

He'll be rehabbing, but is not expected to miss any time on the job. Brown was originally scheduled to go under the knife in February, but taking the UNC job changed that plan.