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THI reported Monday morning Louisville offensive line coach Jack Bicknell was North Carolina’s top target to replace Stacy Searels, who recently left for the same job at defending national champion Georgia, and Tuesday morning multiple sources very close to the situation confirmed to THI that Bicknell has been hired by UNC.
An announcement by the program should be coming fairly soon.
Bicknell has 33 years of experience coaching at the major college and NFL levels. He has spent time at Auburn and Ole Miss more recently, was the head coach at Louisiana Tech for eight years ending in 2006, and spent time in the NFL with the Dolphins, Chiefs, Steelers, and Giants. He was part of a staff with the Giants in 2009 that won the Super Bowl.
He was the offensive line coach at Ole Miss while current UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo was the coordinator for the Rebels.
Bicknell played at Boston College, where he was the starting center when Doug Flutie was the quarterback. Flutie won the Heisman Trophy in 1984, the same season in which he completed one of the most famous passes in college football history; a Hair Mary to Gerard Phelan to defeat Miami.
In addition, Bicknell’s father, Jack Bicknell Sr., was the head coach at BC at the time, spending 10 years leading the program, which included an appearance in the Cotton Bowl one year.
Bicknell spent one season at Louisville, coaching an offensive line that graded out among the best in the ACC in run and pass blocking.
UNC began spring football practice Tuesday morning formally without an offensive line coach. Kevin Donnalley, the program’s Director of the Koman Game Plan for Success, was the lead coach for that position group. Donnalley was hands-on working with the linemen on various techniques. Donalley was an All-America at UNC and played 13 seasons in the NFL.
