The Tar Heels closed out the Mack Brown 2.0 era on Saturday when they lost their fourth straight game to the rival NC State 35-30 in Chapel Hill. With a bowl game still on the horizon, the team was in need of an interim coach.
On Sunday, the program announced that running game coordinator/tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens will be leading the team in their bowl game later this month.
Kitchens has been a member of the staff each of the last two weeks and will get his first chance to be a head coach at the college level. Kitchens was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns at the NFL level during the 2019 season following a strong finish to the previous season as the team’s offensive coordinator. In his lone season as the head coach, Kitchens went 6-10 before being relieved of his duties following a season-ending loss to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
This move isn’t a shocking one after the reports coming out of the locker room after the James Madison game that said the players were wanting Kitchens to take over if Brown had chosen to walk away. As of right now, it doesn’t seem like Kitchens will be considered for the full-time position.