As we get to the end of our preview of the 2025 Carolina football team, it would be a mistake not to discuss the biggest change this season: the coaches. Yes, Bill Belichick is the biggest change by far, but I would argue that his supporting cast makes things just as interesting. There’s a lot of NFL experience on staff, and while that may not necessarily translate well to college, it certainly doesn’t hurt to be familiar with what it takes to win at a higher level of the game.
Let’s go ahead and
discuss the offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators, and then we will get to the guy that will oversee the entire operation.
Freddie Kitchens, Offensive Coordinator
One carryover from the Mack Brown era is Freddie Kitchens, who became interim head coach after Mack Brown left the program. Kitchens’ resume is an impressive one when it comes to the offensive side of the ball — he was the run game coordinator and tight ends coach during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. During that time, former Tar Heel Omarion Hampton flourished in the run game, which resulted in him becoming a first-round draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. As far as his record as a tight ends coach, his group was one of two tight end rooms to rank in the top five nationally in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Finally, an impressive note to throw in there is that Kitchens did spend some time in the NFL, and coached guys like Adrian Peterson, Jason Witten, Nick Chubb, Chris Johnson, and Kareem Hunt.
Needless to say, Kitchens’ resume is stacked, and there’s no doubt that he is an impressive offensive mind. It will be interesting to see what he will be able to do now that he will be running the entire offense, especially considering the fact that there are so many new faces on the roster. It always felt like he had at least a handful of guys at running back and tight end that we knew were reliably strong in what they did, but at this moment we don’t know who those guys are. I’m sure he has some big plans, so we will see how things play out.
Steve Belichick, Defensive Coordinator
Another former NFL coach that has joined UNC’s staff is Steve Belichick, who was a part of five Super Bowl championships during his tenure with the New England Patriots. While he was there, Belichick had various defensive roles, such as defensive assistant, safeties coach, defensive backs coach, and outside linebackers coach. He left his post in 2024 to take the defensive coordinator job at the University of Washington, and once his father decided to join him in the college ranks, he packed up and moved to Chapel Hill.
Much like Kitchens, nobody can accuse Belichick of not knowing anything about the side of the field that he has spent a ton of time coaching. The Patriots’ defensive backs unit let the NFL in total defense and scoring defense, and his unit held the Rams to just three points in the Super Bowl. Looking at his lone season as Washington’s coordinator, things didn’t go nearly as well as I’m sure Huskies fans would’ve hoped, but it’s a little hard to fully evaluate that situation for a couple of different reasons, with the king among them being how much change was happening with the program outside of the norm — not only did they have a new head coach, but they also were in a new conference. Belichick could put together an impressive unit in Chapel Hill, but much like his dad, it all depends on how well he can adjust to coaching the college ranks.
Mike Priefer, Special Teams Coordinator
Finally, let’s talk about UNC’s new special teams coordinator before we get to the head coach. Mike Priefer is yet another guy that has a lot of experience coaching in the NFL — he was the special teams coordinator in various capacities for the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, and the Cleveland Browns. It is worth noting that he spent some time coaching college before he joined the NFL ranks, but now he is returning in hopes of helping UNC’s third unit flourish during the 2025 season.
Things with the special teams unit at UNC weren’t the best under Mack Brown, which put the offense in some pretty dark situations at times. There’s no doubt that Bill Belichick is a guy that believes that particular unit is important for any football team to have success, and hiring Priefer was a move that I’m sure many fans will appreciate. Here’s hoping that things play out well with this group, otherwise it could cause a lot of issues for both sides of the ball.
Bill Belichick, Head Coach
What can we say at this point, right? By now we all know the resume of the man in charge. Bill Belchick is one of the most successful head coaches in football history, winning six Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots. He comes from the Bill Parcells coaching tree, which includes other successful coaches such as Nick Saban, Tom Coughlin, and Sean Payton. Belichick started as a defensive coordinator in the NFL before taking the job with the Patriots, where he made it to an insane nine Super Bowls. The NFL may never see another coach quite like him, and now he is seeing what damage he can do in the college ranks.
There are a number of questions about whether or not Belichick can turn around a program like the Tar Heels, and I don’t know that anybody is qualified to say whether or not he will definitively. However, what I will say is this: Belichick will die on the hill that the key to winning football is fundamentals, which while that sounds like a pretty basic way of thinking, it’s something that is lost on a lot of coaches. Think about it: how many coaches have you seen become super focused on doing cute, confusing, and messy things with their roster? How many Carolina defenses have we seen that had numerous guys that barely knew how to tackle? It’s a very sound way to look at the game, and it’s clearly a way of thinking that has led to a lot of success.
It’s exciting to have such a brilliant football mind in Chapel Hill, but again, there are so many questions surrounding how he will handle college as opposed to the NFL, and we won’t have answers to any of it until the first game of the season. Heck, it’s possible that we may not have complete answers until a year or two from now. Belichick did his best to put together a functional roster this season, but it could be that we do not see a fully unlocked version of him from a coaching standpoint until 2026 or 2027. Immediate success would be great, but I think the expectation this season is to not flop against a weak schedule, and hopefully win a bowl game. Pretty reasonable expectations, right?
Outlook
Overall, I think this coaching staff is as good as UNC could have ever hoped for. For years fans have been clamoring for a group of coaches that know what they’re doing, and it seems like we finally have that. For the final time, I will point out that knowing how to get NFL guys to do what you want them to do and getting college kids to do it are two different things. It could be a learning curve for everyone involved when it comes to getting on the same page, so do not expect this team to make the College Football Playoffs in the first season.
However, what I do expect is for the staff to execute to the best of their abilities, constantly evaluate poor situations and make adjustments through the season, and finally, I expect them to take their jobs very seriously. I’ll be honest: I did not always believe Mack Brown and his staff took things as seriously as they should have. I will never accuse Bill Belichick. and his staff of not doing so, and anybody that has seen him coach knows why. My hopes are high for what we see from the legendary head coach, and the TCU game cannot get here soon enough.
