Bill Belichick is making changes in Chapel Hill. Just not the kind some people were waiting for.
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According to ESPN, the North Carolina coach is moving on from offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer after a brutal first season with the Tar Heels.
Belichick went 4-8 in Year One, missed a bowl, and watched his program spiral amid reports of locker-room tension and uncertainty about where things were headed. That much was clear long before the season finale.
The personnel moves come as Belichick's personal life continues to draw headlines, with his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson frequently on the sideline and recently in the spotlight after publicly pushing back on media coverage of her role around the program. But on the football side, Belichick appears focused on fixing what went wrong on Saturdays.
Kitchens, a longtime NFL assistant and former Browns head coach, oversaw an offense that averaged just 19.3 points per game, ranking 120th out of 136 FBS teams. Priefer, who also spent years in Cleveland, ran a special teams unit that offered little relief for a team already struggling in all three phases.
Belichick and program general manager Mike Lombardi sold North Carolina on an NFL-style structure, even pitching the Tar Heels as something like a "33rd NFL team." On the field, though, the gap in talent was glaring.
UNC's four wins came against Charlotte, Richmond, Stanford, and Syracuse. Against better competition, it was usually over early.
Belichick said after the season-ending loss to NC State that he needed time to evaluate everything. It did not take long for the first decisions to follow.
