Who is joining Belichick at UNC? Tracking coaching staff hires

Who is joining Belichick at UNC? Tracking coaching staff hires originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Is Chapel Hill about to become Foxboro South?

The University of North Carolina confirmed the stunning news Wednesday that Bill Belichick will be its next head football coach, announcing a five-year contract for the former New England Patriots legend.

It’s a fascinating development on several fronts, in part because Belichick has never coached at the college level despite 48 years of NFL experience that includes eight Super Bowl titles. So, who will join Belichick on the UNC staff to help him run a Tar Heels team that has won 10 or more games just once in the last 27 seasons?

As Patriots fans well know, Belichick likes to keep things “in the family” — he hired a host of former coworkers, friends and actual family members (his two sons, Steve and Brian Belichick) on his New England staffs over the years.

To what extent he’ll do the same at UNC remains to be seen, as college programs have a different structure than NFL teams. But Belichick said recently that if he landed the job, he’d operate it like “an NFL program at a college level,” which could mean bringing some of his old NFL friends on staff to help build a winner in Chapel Hill.

Here’s a running tracker of Belichick’s notable hires in North Carolina’s front office and coaching staff, which we’ll update as more positions get announced:

General manager: Michael Lombardi

Lombardi and Belichick go way back, so it’s no surprise this was Belichick’s first hire. Lombardi was the Browns’ pro personnel director when Belichick took over as head coach in 1991 and ran the personnel department for all five of Belichick’s seasons in Cleveland.

Lombardi later spent time in the front offices of the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders and Browns (as general manager in 2013) before Belichick hired him in 2014 as the Patriots’ “assistant to the coaching staff.” Lombardi spent three seasons in New England, winning a pair of Super Bowl titles.

Now, Lombardi will be in charge of navigating the world of NIL (name, image and likeness), the transfer portal and more at UNC, essentially serving as Belichick’s player personnel director.

Freddie Kitchens (Role TBD)

Belichick said in his introductory press conference Thursday that Kitchens, who took over as UNC’s interim head coach after the school fired Mack Brown in late November, will be his “first hire” on the Tar Heels’ staff.

Kitchens’ role has yet to be determined and he never overlapped with Belichick, although he did serve as the Browns’ head coach in 2019.