The University of North Carolina has named long-time NFL coach Freddie Kitchens its new run game coordinator and tight ends coach, Head Coach Mack Brown announced on Tuesday. A 24-year coaching veteran, Kitchens spent last season as a Senior Football Analyst at South Carolina following a 16-year run in the NFL that included a stint as the Cleveland Browns head coach and a trip to the Super Bowl with the Arizona Cardinals.
"We're excited to welcome Freddie, his wife Ginger, and their daughters Bennett and Camden to the Carolina football family," Brown said. "Freddie brings a wealth of experience as a head coach, a coordinator and a position coach. We were really impressed with his resume and believe he will mesh nicely with the other members of the staff. In fact, Freddie and our new cornerbacks coach Jason Jones played together at Alabama. Freddie has a great offensive mind and his experience will be invaluable both in the meeting rooms and on the field. We're looking forward to getting the Kitchens to Chapel Hill and can't wait to see him work with our talented tight ends group."
While in the NFL, Kitchens worked for the New York Giants, where he served as the tight ends coach in 2020 and as a senior offensive assistant and interim offensive coordinator in 2021 under head coach Joe Judge.
On January 12, 2019, Kitchens became the 17th head coach in Cleveland Browns' history. He posted a 6-10 mark in his lone season as the Browns' head coach, defeating all three of their AFC North rivals (Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh) in the same season for the first time since the division came into existence in 2002. He joined the Browns in 2018 as the associate head coach and running backs coach. He was promoted to offensive coordinator midway through that 2018 season and was credited with helping Baker Mayfield have a successful rookie season in which he was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year honors.
Kitchens moved to the professional ranks in 2006 as a tight ends coach with the Dallas Cowboys under Bill Parcells. He then spent 11 years with the Arizona Cardinals, working with the tight ends (2007-12), quarterbacks (2013-16) and running backs (2017). In 2008, the Cardinals appeared in Super Bowl XLIII.
Kitchens began his coaching career in the college ranks, working as the running backs and tight ends coach at Glenville State (W.Va.) in 1999, before joining LSU as a graduate assistant in 2000 under Nick Saban. He also logged collegiate stints at North Texas as a running backs coach (2001-03) and at Mississippi State as a tight ends (2004) and running backs (2005) coach.
Born Nov. 29, 1974 in Gadsden, Ala., Kitchens was named Mr. Football in Alabama following his senior season at Attalla's Etowah High School. He attended the University of Alabama, where he played quarterback for the Crimson Tide. A three-year starter (1995-97), he threw for 4,668 yards and 30 touchdowns, and led the Tide to wins in the 1995 Citrus Bowl and in the 1997 Outback Bowl. He finished his collegiate career ranked third in the school's history in career passing attempts, fourth in career passing yards, and fifth in career completions. He also played baseball during his freshman and senior seasons at Alabama.
