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CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Interim Head Football Coach Freddie Kitchens met with the media Thursday at the Kenan Football Center to discuss the team as it’s just more than a week from facing Connecticut in the Fenway Bowl on December 28.
Kitchens was named the interim head coach the day after UNC closed the regular season with a loss to NC State. And even though Bill Belichick is now the program’s new head man, Kitchens is the head coach for the bowl game.
Above is video of Kitchens’ Q&A session and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*The Tar Heels have been practicing for two weeks, but the players have the next two days off to go home but must return Sunday. The team will then launch into regular game-week mode.
*With Chip Lindsey off to Michigan, the offensive coordinator position in preparation for the bowl game is being handled by a few coaches, including Kitchens, who was also tight ends coach the last two seasons under Mack Brown.
*Geoff Collins is handling the defense still and Larry Porter is running special teams as he did in the regular season.
*The Tar Heels have not begun UConn prep yet. As Kitchens said multiple times, they are “staying where their feet are,” meaning practices right now are about them and player development.
---Kitchens said a lot of players who didn’t get many reps during the season are getting a lot this month.
---Most of the players that entered the portal and have not yet found a home are still practicing and anticipating playing in the game.
---Kitchens didn’t unveil a plan for when the team gets to Boston next Tuesday, but a spokesman for the program said the Tar Heels will practice at Boston College next week.
“Everybody’s out there practicing right now except for maybe one or two,” he said,
*Kitchens said and Belichick are in contact every day about the team preparing for the bowl game.
“He asks questions, I answer the questions. So, he’s fully aware of everything dealing with this program.”
*Belichick said during his introductory press conference that Kitchens would be on his staff, but he didn’t specify Kitchens’ role. Kitchens said Thursday he will allow Belichick to announce the role and didn’t want to get into any specifics regarding their conversations.
*Kitchens said when Brown was let go his focus was on the players, not Brown. He had to make sure they stayed grounded, and that continued when it took a while for their new coach to be hired. He didn’t talk about the termination though Kitchens was complimentary of Brown. But there’s also clear reverence for Belichick.
*What’s interesting is that Kitchens used the word “acquisition” regarding recruiting. Working the portal is the “acquisition of players,” and recruiting is now that as well.
*In addition, Kitchens was asked a few more questions about Belichick, the feedback of excitement they are hearing from recruits, if there are any tweaks to the offense for the bowl game, his daily message to the players, and a little about the Huskies.
