The coaching carousel isn’t done with the UNC football team just yet. Last week, it was announced UNC tight ends coach John Lilly would be leaving the program to take the same role with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Lilly had been a member of the coaching staff since February of 2020.

On Monday, Inside Carolina reported the Tar Heels are hiring Freddie Kitchens as the new tight ends coach and run game coordinator. The football program confirmed the news on Tuesday. The news comes less than a week before UNC opens spring practice on Sunday, March 5.

“We’re excited to welcome Freddie, his wife Ginger, and their daughters Bennett and Camden to the Carolina football family,” said head coach Mack Brown. “Freddie brings a wealth of experience as a head coach, a coordinator and a position coach. We were really impressed with his resume and believe he will mesh nicely with the other members of the staff.”

Kitchens has spent much of his career in the NFL, serving as a tight ends coach for the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants. Kitchens was head coach of the Cleveland Browns during the 2019 season, compiling a 6-10 record before being fired by the team.

Most recently, Kitchens served as a senior football analyst for South Carolina in 2022. With Kitchens on staff, the Gamecocks finished 8-5 with wins over two top 10 teams. His role with the Tar Heels will be his first coaching position with a college team since serving as both a tight ends and running backs coach for Mississippi State in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, respectively.

In addition to his coaching career, Kitchens played with new UNC cornerbacks coach Jason Jones at Alabama in the mid-1990s. Kitchens was a three-year starter at quarterback for the Crimson Tide.

Kitchens inherits a talented tight end room set to return Bryson Nesbit, John Copenhaver and Kamari Morales.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Adam Hunger

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