It’s been a while and some wondered if it would ever happen, but the Tar Heels made Bill Belichick’s first coaching staff official on Monday afternoon. Here is a look at that staff and the history of each of the coaches that will be coaching the 2025 Tar Heel roster.
Offense
Freddie Kitchens- Offensive Coordinator and Tight Ends Coach
Despite a lengthy coaching career in the NFL, Kitchens only called plays for one full season, and half of another. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in the middle of the 2018 season while coaching for the Browns after full-blown staff changes were made during the season. After helping the Browns finish the 2018 season with a 5-3 record, he was promoted to head coach for the 2019 season, where he would call plays. That would last just one season, as he was fired after going 6-10.
In addition to this time in Cleveland, Kitchens spent over a decade with the Arizona Cardinals, along with stints with the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, before finding his way to the college game in 2022, when he was hired as an analyst for Shane Beamer at South Carolina .
Matt Lombardi- Quarterbacks Coach
Lombardi joins Carolina, after spending the season with the Oregon Ducks, a team that went undefeated in the regular season, before falling to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Lombardi has ties to the NFL, having spent time with both the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Carolina Panthers.
Natrone Means- Running Backs Coach
Means went into coaching in 2005 when he joined the Livingstone College staff as a running backs coach. He would take over as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2006 before leaving to go to the high school ranks in the same role for two seasons at Charlotte’s West Charlotte High School. He would leave coaching for six years after 2008 but resurface as the running backs coach at Winston-Salem State from 2014-17. In 2018, Means was elevated to the team’s offensive coordinator position and was named the assistant head coach, roles he would hold for two seasons. In 2020, he departed for the same roles with Fayetteville State, but would never actually coach for the team because of COVID.
Garrick McGee- Wide Receiver Coach
McGee has spent each of the last two years with the Cardinals, helping their wide receiver room to become one of the best in the ACC led by Jamari Thrash, who was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft last year after receiving second team All-ACC honors.
Prior to that, McGee spent the 2022 season with the Purdue Boilermakers as their wide receivers coach. He is credited with aiding Charlie Jones as he caught 110 passes for 1,361 yards and 12 touchdowns on his way to being named a second team AP All-American.
Some of McGee’s other stops include Florida, Missouri and Arkansas, the latter of which he was the offensive coordinator for. He was also the head coach of the UAB Blazers from 2012-13, posting a 5-19 record in his two seasons before being dismissed. From there, McGee went on to be the offensive coordinator at both Louisville (2014-15) and Illinois (2016-17). While his stint with the Cardinals was relatively successful, his time in Champaign was not, leading to him being fired after the 2017 season which led to him heading to the SEC.
Will Friend- Offensive Line Coach
In his lone season with the Hilltoppers as an offensive coordinator, Friend also coached the offensive line for an offense that scored just 24.9 points per game, totaled just 373.5 yards of offense per game and ran for just 108.9 yards per game. While that may seem concerning, his track record as an offensive line coach speaks for itself.
Prior to arriving in Bowling Green, Friend was the offensive line coach for one season at Mississippi State. His offensive line unit ranked 69th in run blocking and 48th in pass blocking according to PFF’s grades for a team that ran for 146.8 yards per game and allowed 68.0 tackles for loss and 26.0 sacks.
Before that, he spent two seasons on the plains with the Auburn Tigers. Both of his units were solid pass-protecting groups but had their issues in run-blocking for offenses that simply were not great. The opposite was the case in his previous stop, Tennessee, where they were one of the worst pass-blocking teams in the country and a solid run-blocking group despite having stars like Trey Smith, Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright.
Prior to those stops, Friend spent three years as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for Colorado State and coordinated an offense in 2017 that scored 33.4 points per game and averaged 492.5 yards of total offense per game. His offensive lines grade out incredibly well in both areas in his first two seasons in Fort Collins but did struggle a little bit in pass protection in that 2017 season.
His most successful stint as an offensive line coach came in his three seasons with Georgia from 2011-14. The Bulldogs' offense got better in each of the four seasons that Friend was there and the offensive line was a big part of why the team finished top 35 in points per game, improved in passing yards in each of the first three seasons and ran for 164.0 yards in each of those four seasons.
Caleb Pickrell- Offensive Assistant
Pickrell will be making the transition with the program from Mack Brown to Belichick. He spent the last two years as an offensive analyst with the team after first joining the staff as an offensive grad assistant back in March 2022. Prior to his time in Chapel Hill, he spent one season as a grad assistant at UCF and some time with the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Lakeland High School in Lakeland, FL. Pickrell has worked with the offensive line at both UNC and UCF and is expected to continue to do so under Belichick.
Defense
Stephen Belichick- Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach
In his lone season on the Huskies staff, Belichick took the defense from 99th in total defense to 26th. The Huskies pass defense allowed just 166.8 yards per game this season, the 5th lowest mark in the country, despite not being a great passing rushing unit. The team also took a step forward in terms of points per game, improving from 56th nationally in 2023 to 45th in 2024. The biggest concern about the unit this year was the run defense, which allowed 158.1 yards per game, but with all that this unit had to replace after a run to a national title and a coaching change, this was a promising start to his career as a college coordinator.
Prior to landing in Seattle, Belichick spent the previous eleven years as a member of his dad’s staff, coaching safeties (2016-18), defensive backs (2019) and outside linebackers (2020-23) after initially serving as a defensive assistant when he first started out on the staff. He was a part of three Super Bowl winning staffs in New England and helped one of the better defenses in the league year in and year out.
Bob Diaco- Defensive Line Coach
Prior to his time in Baton Rouge as a defensive assistant, Diaco spent two seasons as the defensive line coach for the New Jersey Generals in the USFL. This followed one year stints at Purdue and Louisiana Tech where he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. While his unit with the Boilermakers wasn’t great, he put together a very solid unit with the Bulldogs.
In 2018, Diaco was the outside linebackers coach for the Oklahoma Sooners following his one year stint as the defensive coordinator at Nebraska. His defense was the final nail in the coffin for Mike Riley, as they allowed 36.6 points per game, 438.1 total yards per game and 216.7 rushing yards per game.
That may not have been Diaco’s biggest failure, though. That title likely goes to his three stint as the head coach of the Connecticut Huskies. Following a 2-10 record in his first season, the team bounced back with a 6-7 season in Year 2 that had some wondering if he had turned things back in the right direction for a program that had experienced some nice success in the last decade. Unfortunately, the Huskies would go 3-9 in his third and final season, losing the last seven games of the season after a 3-2 start.
Now let's talk about Diaco’s biggest success, his time under Brian Kelly early in his coaching career. After stints at Iowa (graduate assistant), Eastern Michigan (running back, linebacker and special teams coach) and Virginia (linebackers and special teams), he found his way to Central Michigan where he was the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Kelly.
After going back to Virginia for three seasons as their linebackers and special teams coach, he would rejoin Kelly in Cincinnati as his defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. His defense allowed 23.1 points per game and 374.0 yards per game, but created 20 turnovers and had 37.0 sacks while helping the Bearcats go 12-0 and reach the Sugar Bowl.
That offseason, Kelly would take the head coaching job at Notre Dame and take Diaco with him where he would become one of the top assistant coaches in the country. While his first two seasons were very successful, the 2012 season was clearly his best as he pieced together one of the greatest defenses in Notre Dame history on his way to winning the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the country. His defense, which allowed 12.8 points per game, 305.5 yards of total offense per game, 199.8 passing yards per game and 105.7 rushing yards, ranked top ten in twelve different defensive categories and allowed just fifteen offensive touchdowns the entire season. The Irish held six opponents without an offensive touchdown and nine opponents to one or fewer offensive touchdowns. He was also credited with helping develop Manti Te’o, who was the Heisman runner up in that 2012 season.
Jamie Collins- Inside Linebackers Coach
Collins spent seven of his ten seasons at the NFL level under Belichick with the New England Patriots. He was selected by Belichick and Co. with the 52nd overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft and spent the first three and a half seasons with the team before he was traded to the Cleveland Browns. After a quiet first season in the league for him, he became a starter ahead of the 2014 season for a team that won the Super Bowl and peaked in 2015 when he finished the season with 89 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, an interception and a league-high five forced fumbles on his way to Pro Bowl and Second Team All-Pro honors. Collins would have some nice success in Cleveland before returning to New England for one season in 2019, where he would put up better numbers than that 2015 season (81 ttkl, 10 TFL, 7.0 scks, 3 INT, 3 FF, FR). Following that season, he headed to Detroit where he spent the next year and a half where things would start to tail off. He would rejoin the Patriots in the middle of the 2021 season. He would spend his final thirteen games with the team to close out his career.
This will be Collins first coaching job following his official retirement from the league on October 6, 2023.
Ty Nichols- Outside Linebackers Coach
Nichols, who was a former walk-on fullback and defensive end for Wyoming, spent the 2021-23 seasons as a defensive graduate assistant before being elevated to a defensive analyst role with Arizona this year. He helped with both the defensive line and linebackers this season, so he could be set for a similar role with the Tar Heels.
Prior to his time in Tucson, Nichols was on the football staff at Texas Tech while he pursued his degrees in mathematics and civil engineering before he returned home to Idalou, TX to coach at Idalou High School.
Brian Belichick- Defensive Backs and Safeties Coach
Brian spent the last five years as the safeties coach for the Patriots after he was elevated to that role in the offseason of 2020. Prior to that, he spent three seasons as a general coaching assistant for the team under his father from 2017 to 2019. He began his professional career in 2016 with the team as a scouting assistant. He is a two time Super Bowl winner as part of the staff, helping the team win Super Bowls LI and LIII.
Armond Hawkins- Cornerbacks Coach
Hawkins spent this season with the Huskies as a defensive backs assistant and the assistant director of recruiting and helped the Huskies allow just 166.5 passing yards after allowing 258.6 a year ago. The Huskies also put together a recruiting class that is currently ranked inside the top 25 in the 247Sports Composite Player Rankings.
Prior to his time in Seattle, Hawkins spent 2023 with the Arizona Wildcats as a defensive assistant and the assistant director of recruiting under Jedd Fisch after spending the previous season at Colorado as the assistant director of high school relations. He also held that title with USC for three seasons before departing for Colorado after the 2021 season.
Special Teams
Mike Priefer- Special Teams Coordinator
Priefer, who worked with expected offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens in Cleveland in 2019, is a veteran of 20 seasons at the NFL level and seven at the college level.
His first coaching job came back in 1994 at his alma mater Navy as a graduate assistant, a position he would hold for three seasons. He would make the move to Youngstown State in 1997 where he became the special teams coordinator as well as the offensive tackles and tight ends coach. He would spend two seasons in that role before heading to VMI for one season as the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach. He would close out his college coaching career in 2001 when he left Northern Illinois where he was the special teams coordinator and defensive tackles coach for two seasons.
Priefer got his start at the NFL level with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002 as the assistant special teams coordinator, a role he would also hold for three seasons in his next stop with the New York Giants. In 2006, Kansas City hired him as their special teams coordinator and he would spend the next three seasons with the team. He would hold the same role with the Denver Broncos (2009-10), the Minnesota Vikings (2011-18) and the Cleveland Browns (2019-22) with pretty solid success at all of those stops.
Billy Miller- Special Teams Assistant
Miller has spent the last ten years down at IMG Academy, one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country, and has climbed the ladder after originally coming to the school as an assistant head coach and special teams coordinator. He took over as head coach back in 2022 and has led the program to a 25-3 record in the last three years.
Prior to his time in Bradenton, he spent five months as a special teams coaching assistant with Belichick on the Patriots staff. This followed a stint with Greg Schiano, a friend of Belichick’s, which started at Rutgers as a special teams assistant from 2009-12 and extended to Schiano’s time at the NFL level with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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