UNC football staff under head coach Bill Belichick takes shape as spring football begins
With Bill Belichick about to begin his first spring practice as North Carolina’s football coach, the Tar Heels officially unveiled their full coaching staff Monday.
Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, said he would build a program at UNC modeled after those in the NFL, and would bring in a coaching staff with extensive NFL experience.
The new staff has that pro experience and also has a familial feel to it. Steve Belichick will serve as defensive coordinator for his father and has his younger brother, Brian, as a defensive assistant to coach the defensive backs.
In addition, Matt Lombardi, the son of UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi, has been hired as quarterbacks coach.
Freddie Kitchens, a holdover from Mack Brown’s staff with more than a decade of NFL coaching experience, has been hired as offensive coordinator. Kitchens served as interim head coach after Brown’s dismissal and coached the Tar Heels in the Fenway Bowl in Boston.
Former UNC standout Natrone Means also will remain on the Belichick staff as running backs coach.
The Tar Heels open the 2025 season at home against Texas Christian on Sept. 1.
UNC offensive staff
Freddie Kitchens
Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends
Kitchens was UNC’s run game coordinator and tight ends coach in 2023 and 2024. He served as head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
Will Friend, Offensive Line
Friend was offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky in 2024. He was offensive line coach at Mississippi State (2023), Auburn (2021-22) and Tennessee (2018-20). Also had stints as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Colorado State (2015-17) and offensive line coach at Georgia (2011-14).
Matt Lombardi, Quarterbacks
A former NFL assistant coach, Lombardi was an offensive analyst at the University of Oregon in 2024. Was an assistant wide receivers coach with the Las Vegas Raiders and an assistant quarterbacks coach of the Carolina Panthers, also coaching with the Miami Dolphins. His college coaching background includes stops at Baylor (offensive quality control coach) and Louisville (offensive graduate assistant).
Garrick McGee, Wide Receivers
A former college head coach at UAB, he served as receivers coach for Louisville in 2024 after previously working as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Cardinals in 2014-15 under Bobby Petrino.
Natrone Means, Running Backs
The former UNC star was an offensive analyst from 2021-24 under Brown. Also has coaching experience as offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and running backs coach at Fayetteville State.
As an NFL player, Means played seven years with the San Diego Chargers, helping lead them to Super Bowl XXIX. At UNC from 1990-92, Means was a two-time first-team All-ACC pick who had 3,074 career rushing yards.
Caleb Pickrell, Offensive Assistant
Pickrell joined the UNC football staff as an offensive graduate assistant in March 2022 before moving to the role of offensive analyst for the 2023 season. He came to Chapel Hill after spending one season as a graduate assistant at UCF. At both UCF and UNC, Pickrell focused on working with the offensive line.
UNC defensive staff
Steve Belichick
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Belichick spent last season as the defensive coordinator at the University of Washington following a 12-year stint on the defensive coaching staff of the New England Patriots with his father that included five Super Bowl appearances and three titles.
Belichick was the Patriots’ defensive play-caller his last four years (2020-23) while also coaching linebackers (2022-23) and outside linebackers (2020-21). He’d previously worked with the team’s defensive backs (2019) and safeties (2016-18) after having worked four years (2012-15) as a defensive assistant.
Bob Diaco, Defensive Line
A former college head coach and defensive coordinator, Diaco comes to UNC after two seasons at LSU, where he served as special teams coordinator in 2023 and senior defensive analyst in 2024. He was the head coach at Connecticut for three seasons from 2014-16. Diaco won the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach while at Notre Dame in 2012.
Brian Belichick, Defensive Backs/Safeties
Belichick joins the UNC defensive staff after a nine-year stint with the Patriots. He began in 2016 as a scouting assistant, then transitioned to being a coaching assistant before taking over as safeties coach from 2020-23. The youngest son of Bill Belichick, he won a pair of Super Bowl titles during his run in New England.
Armand Hawkins, Cornerbacks
A former recruiting analyst and secondary coach at the University of Washington, Hawkins worked under former Huskies and new UNC defensive coordinator Steve Belichick on a staff that helped UW climb from No. 99 nationally in total defense in 2023 to No. 26 in 2024. His coaching stops include stints at Arizona (2023) and Colorado (2022).
Jamie Collins, Inside Linebackers
Collins is a former All-Pro NFL linebacker with New England, Cleveland and Detroit, playing for Belichick and winning a Super Bowl. He earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2015 after leading the league in caused fumbles. Had an 11-year professional career before retiring in 2023.
Ty Nichols, Outside Linebackers
Spent two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant and analyst at the University of Arizona, where he worked with the Wildcats’ defensive line and linebackers. Nichols also spent three years on the football staff at Texas Tech and coached at the prep level in Texas.
UNC special teams staff
Mike Priefer, Special Teams Coordinator
Priefer has more than two decades of professional coaching experience. He completed a four-year stint in 2022 as special teams coordinator with the Cleveland Browns. He worked as an assistant special teams coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2002), New York Giants (2003-05) and was special teams coordinator in and Kansas City Chiefs (2006-08), Denver Broncos (2009-10) and Minnesota Vikings (2011-18).
Priefer also worked as a college assistant at Northern Illinois (2000-01), VMI (1999), Youngstown State (1997-98) and Navy (1994-96).
Billy Miller, Special Teams Assistant
The former head coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for the last three years, Miller spent 10 years total coaching at the formidable prep school. Prior to his decade at IMG, Miller served as a special teams coach for five months with the Patriots under Belichick.
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 5:45 AM.
