North Carolina’s addition of veteran NFL coach Freddie Kitchens should make Tar Heels fans smile. His resume speaks for itself, with stops on Nick Saban’s LSU staff when he was virtually coming right out of his quarterback days at Alabama, as well as a couple of seasons at Mississippi State before embarking on a 15-year tour of duty in the NFL.
He comes over to the ACC after a short stint at South Carolina as a senior staff analyst in 2022, and he will replace John Lilly as the run-game coordinator and tight ends coach for the Tar Heels. Lilly recently took a position with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
FREDDIE KITCHENS’ HIRING
“Freddie brings a wealth of experience as a head coach, a coordinator, and a position coach,” UNC head coach Mack Brown said. “We were really impressed with his resume and believe he will mesh nicely with the other members of the staff. In fact, Freddie and our new cornerbacks’ coach Jason Jones played together at Alabama.
“Freddie has a great offensive mind and his experience will be invaluable both in the meeting rooms and on the field. We’re looking forward to getting the Kitchens to Chapel Hill and can’t wait to see him work with our talented tight ends group.”
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Kitchens spent one year as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, going 6-10-0 in the one season with Baker Mayfield at quarterback. After being dismissed following the season, Kitchens was hired by the New York Giants and coached there for one season as interim offensive coordinator before heading to South Carolina for the 2022 season.
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