After the stunning decision to make the jump down to the college ranks, Bill Belichick is filling out his coaching staff for his first season with North Carolina football in 2025. As expected, the staff includes a ton of NFL experience and his son, Steve Belichick, calling the defense.
On Wednesday, Belichick made two more additions to the staff for next season. Belichick brought in former NFL special teams coach Mike Priefer as North Carolina's new special teams coach and then hired Will Friend as the new offensive line coach, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Priefer has a ton of NFL experience coaching special teams, so it's understandable why Belichick would want to bring him in to coach the same unit for the Tar Heels this season. After a stint in the college ranks across the country in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Priefer moved up to the NFL ranks in 2002 as the assistant special teams coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Over the next 20 years, Priefer spent time as either the assistant special teams coordinator or the head special teams coordinator for the New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns.
Article Continues BelowFriend doesn't have the same NFL experience as Priefer does, but he still has the kind of high-level experience that Belichick is clearly looking for as he builds out his staff. Friend served as the offensive line coach at a variety of SEC schools, including Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State. During those stints, he has coached nine NFL Draft picks on the offensive line. He spent last season as the offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky.
Belichick has a lot of work to do to rebuild North Carolina football back to the top of the ACC after a disappointing season, and that process will likely take multiple years as the staff looks to build the roster back up to challenge the likes of Clemson and SMU. However, it appears that Belichick is pushing all of the right buttons with his staff choices, and that alone should make the Tar Heels competitive in 2025.