BOSTON – Bill Belichick was announced as the new head coach of North Carolina’s football team earlier this month. But the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach won’t be on the sidelines Saturday leading the Tar Heels in the Fenway Bowl game against UConn.
Freddie Kitchens, who was named UNC’s interim head coach on Dec. 1, will be at the helm of the Tar Heels in the annual Bowl game.
Why wouldn’t Belichick, who became one of the highest paid college coaches after signing a five-year, $50 million deal with the team, take over for the game?
Kitchens coached the team at the end of the season, after Mack Brown was fired, so it made sense to have him continue through the Bowl game.
That’s typically what happens during a changeover with a college team, if there’s an interim coach. After North Carolina fired Mack Brown prior to the season ending, after the Tar Heels got blown out by Boston College, Kitchens took over for the remaining games on the schedule.
After finishing with a 6-6 record, the Tar Heels were invited to oppose 8-4 UConn in the Bowl game.
Kitchens, who will be joining Belichick’s staff, had been in his second season as North Carolina’s run game coordinator and tight ends coach.
He said during Friday’s press conference that he’s in constant communication with Belichick, keeping him abreast of what’s going on with the team.
“I talk to Coach every day, but not during the game, and stuff like that,” Kitchens said. “He understands we have a job to do here.”
It was also reported that since Belichick’s tenure with the Tar Heels doesn’t officially start until 2025, that was another reason for him to have someone else coach the game.
The former Patriots head coach, who led the team to six Super Bowl wins, will eventually guide UNC through a new era with hopes of lifting the program to new heights.
The Fenway Bowl has annually been played at the storied home of the Boston Red Sox since 2021. It’s a place Belichick is quite familiar with, having paraded the Lombardi Trophies out on several opening day games.
Might Belichick attend, tucked away somewhere in the historic park?
“We’re not expecting him to be at the game,” Jeremy Sharpe, UNC assistant AD/Football communication director told MassLive Friday. “But everything is fluid.”
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