Bill Belichick Hiring Former Browns Head Coach to UNC Staff

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was officially announced as the new head coach at the University of North Carolina. The 73-year-old Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, is taking over for 72-year-old Mack Brown.

This will be a new and different opportunity for the former Patriots head coach, who has never coached in the collegiate ranks. On Wednesday, Belichick met with the media and made one announcement about his coaching staff next season at Chapel Hill.

According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, Belichick said that Freddie Kitchens will be the “first hire” for his coaching staff. Kitchens was named the interim head coach for the Tar Heels after the school parted ways with Mack Brown earlier this month.

The former Cleveland Browns head coach has spent the last two seasons at UNC as their run game coordinator and tight ends coach. Before going to North Carolina, Kitchens was a senior football analyst at the University of South Carolina in 2022.

Kitchens spent one season as the Browns head coach in 2019, leading them to a pedestrian 6-10 record. In 2018, he was Cleveland’s running backs coach and interim offensive coordinator after the team fired Todd Haley. 

Cleveland decided not to bring back Kitchens and hired Kevin Stefanski as the team’s next head coach. However, Kitchens didn’t stay unemployed for long, spending two seasons with the New York Giants. 

With the Giants, Kitchens was their tight ends coach (2020) and offensive coordinator/senior offensive assistant (2021).

It remains to be seen what Kitchens's new role will be under new Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick. He could keep Kitchens as the run game coordinator/tight ends coach, or Belichick could elevate his title. Nonetheless, it's good that the former Pats coach wants to keep Kitchens around.

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