Wednesday was a big day for the Tar Heels in terms of piecing together Bill Belichick’s first staff in Chapel Hill. It started with the hire of Will Friend as the team’s offensive line coach and continued with the hiring of their special teams coach.
As first reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN, the Tar Heels are hiring Mike Priefer as their special teams coach. 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.
This is an outstanding hire for the Tar Heels and should only continue the progression that the team has seen the last couple of years under Larry Porter and his special teams staff. With today’s hires, here is what the staff looks like right now.
Coaches
Bill Belichick: Head Coach
Freddie Kitchens: Offensive Coordinator
Stephen Belichick: Defensive Coordinator
Matt Lombardi: Offensive Assistant
Billy Miller: Special Teams Assistant
Chris Jones: Defensive Assistant
Armond Hawkins: Defensive Backs Coach
Will Friend: Offensive Line Coach
Mike Priefer: Special Teams Coordinator
Training
Moses Cabrera: Head of Strength and Conditioning
Amber Rinestine-Ressa: Director of Nutrition
Front Office
Michael Lombardi: General Manager
Andrew Blaylock: Player Personnel
Joe Anile: Player Personnel
Cory Giddings: Player Personnel
Chris Mattes: Player Personnel
*Italicized names are official hires per the program
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