Freddie Kitchens hired by North Carolina as assistant coach

Freddie Kitchens was a flameout as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, but perhaps he'll find his road to redemption as a college coach.

First, he'll have to climb back up the ranks and for now, that means acting as an assistant coach for Mack Brown at North Carolina.

He'll be UNC's new run game coordinator and tight ends coach.

"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," Brown said in a statement released by the program. "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."

Kitchens became a 'name' amongst football coaches for his lone season as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and not for good reasons. He seemed like a solid replacement for Hue Jackson as interim head coach in 2018 and went 5-3 with that title. Unfortunately, he seemed overmatched as the full-time head coach and went 6-10, and was fired after just one season.

Kitchens coached tight ends for the New York Giants in 2020 and was their senior offensive assistant & interim offensive coordinator in 2021. He worked with the South Carolina Gamecocks last season as a senior football analyst.

A quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 1993 to 1997, Kitchens started his coaching career back in 1999 at Glenville State as running backs and tight ends coach