Jordan coming Home
North Carolina head football coach Larry Fedora is leaning to a familiar face to Tar Heel fans to lead his running backs, as Randy Jordan is expected to be named the team's ninth and final position coach hire for 2012.
Jordan, native of Manson (N.C.), played at UNC from 1989 to 1992. He was one of the first recruits brought to Chapel Hill by Mack Brown, and he helped lead the Tar Heels back to the postseason in 1992, as Carolina won the Peach Bowl over Mississippi State in Jordan's final game.
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Jordan rushed for over 1,100 yards in his UNC career, with his best season coming in 1991, when he ran for 618 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 5.0 yards per carry.
In 1993 Jordan embarked on what would be a nearly decade-long career in the National Football League, starting with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1993. He played with the Jacksonville Jaguars for three seasons (1995 to 1997) before returning to the Raiders in 1998.
Jordan played out his final five professional seasons with the Oakland Raiders from 1998 to 2002, with his final game being Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego in 2003.
Jordan immediately moved into coaching, becoming an assistant coach for the Raiders for the 2003 season before joining Bill Callahan when he went to Nebraska.
Jordan coached four seasons at Nebraska (2004-2007) before moving to Texas A&M, where he coaches for four more seasons (2008-2011).
In all, Jordan spent nine years as a player in the NFL, and he's spent nine years as a coach in both the NFL and mostly in college. The 2012 season at North Carolina will be Jordan's 10th season as a coach, and ninth in college.
Sources tell Tar Heel illustrated that Jordan was eager at the opportunity to return to North Carolina as UNC's running backs coach, and that he had a couple of stellar interviews with Fedora, leading to his hire.
Other top candidates for the UNC running backs job included another former Tar Heel running back Chad Scott, as well as LSU running backs coach Frank Wilson.
UNC could officially release word of Jordan's hiring later this week. Stay tuned to Tar Heel Illustrated for more on this breaking news story.