After a hire that started with an unparalleled amount of hype around it, North Carolina’s first season under Bill Belichick failed to live up to the hype in a lot of ways.

Following a 48-14 drubbing in the season opener by Sonny Dykes and TCU, Belichick and the Tar Heels would go on to win games over Charlotte (20-3) and then Richmond (41-6), but then dropped four games in a row against UCF, Clemson, Cal, and Virginia. Those losses were followed by wins over struggling Syracuse and Stanford squads before ending the year on a three-game losing streak to ACC foes Wake Forest, Duke and North Carolina State.

Ending the year 4-8 is not what the fan base had in mind for the start of the Belichick era as the NFL’s greatest head coach was tabbed to replace Mack Brown in Raleigh.

Entering year two, Belichick is hitting the reset button, starting with a pair of coordinator changes.

ESPN shares this morning that the Tar Heels have parted ways with offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens as well as special teams coordinator Mike Priefer.

Kitchens was a holdover from the previous staff, where he coached tight ends and served as run game coordinator for Mack Brown.

A former quarterback at Alabama, Kitchens spent a few seasons in college football at LSU, North Texas and Mississippi State in the early 2000s before making ajump to the NFL where has spent the majority of his career.

After coaching the tight ends, quarterbacks, and running backs in the league, he spent a season as the interim offensive coordinator for the Browns in 2018 before being elevated to the head coaching spot in Cleveland. That only lasted a season, as Kitchens put together a respectable 6-10 season. 

He would end up with the Giants for a few seasons before a return to the college level at South Carolina in a senior analyst role before landing with Mack Brown back in an on-field role with the Tar Heels.

As the Tar Heels play caller under Belichick this fall, the UNC offense ranked 121st in scoring offense at just over 19 points per game, 124th in rush offense at just over 105 yards per game, and struggled to move the chains on third down, ranking 95th in the country with a conversion rate of about 37%.

Belichick had brought NFL veteran coordinator Mike Priefer to the college level this fall to handle his special teams. He had spent the past twenty five seasons in the NFL, where he had the chance to coordinate special teams for the Chiefs, Broncos, Vikings and Browns. During his time in the league, Priefer had been honored with Special Teams Coach of the Year honors (2012) and laso brifely served as acting head coach for the Browns after head coach Kevin Stefanski tested positive for Covid during the 2021 playoffs. Priefer helped lead the team to a 48-37 win over the Steelers in that game.

The one coordinator set to return? Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick.

There will be plenty of eyes on Belichick’s next hires for those two critical spots as he prepares for year two as a college head coach.