Bobby Petrino Joins Bill Belichick’s Staff at North Carolina, Tasked with Reviving Tar Heels Offense
Bill Belichick isn’t wasting any time reshaping the North Carolina football program. After a rocky debut season in Chapel Hill, the legendary coach is bringing in a familiar name with a history of offensive fireworks: Bobby Petrino is set to become the Tar Heels’ new offensive coordinator.
The move comes after a 2024 campaign that saw North Carolina’s offense stall out in dramatic fashion. Under former OC Freddie Kitchens, the Tar Heels averaged just 19.3 points per game-ranking 119th nationally-and managed only 288.8 yards per outing, good for 129th in the country. For a program that’s had its share of explosive offenses in recent years, those numbers were a clear signal that change was needed.
Enter Petrino, a coach whose resume reads like a rollercoaster but whose offensive credentials are hard to question. He’s known for building high-powered attacks, most notably at Louisville, where he helped mold Lamar Jackson into a Heisman Trophy winner and orchestrated one of the most dynamic offenses in college football. His time at Arkansas also featured strong offensive production, and he even brought his play-calling acumen to the NFL during a stint with the Atlanta Falcons.
While Petrino’s career has included its share of controversy-his tenure at Arkansas ended abruptly in 2012 following a well-publicized off-field incident-his coaching stops since then have shown that he still knows how to move the football. He returned to Louisville for a second stint as head coach from 2014 to 2018, then led Missouri State from 2020 to 2022. Most recently, he’s been in the coordinator ranks, calling plays at UNLV, Texas A&M, and Arkansas, where he stepped in as interim head coach for the final seven games of the 2025 season.
Though Petrino and Belichick haven’t worked together before, there are connections between Petrino and members of the current North Carolina staff. That familiarity could help smooth the transition and get everyone on the same page quickly-something the Tar Heels will need as they look to bounce back from a 4-8 season that included a 2-6 mark in ACC play.
Belichick’s first year in college football didn’t go as planned, but this hire signals a clear intent to fix what went wrong-starting with an offense that couldn’t get out of its own way. With Petrino now in charge of the playbook, North Carolina is betting on experience, creativity, and a proven track record of offensive success to jumpstart the program’s turnaround.
It’s a bold move, but if there’s one thing we know about Belichick, it’s that he doesn’t make decisions lightly. And with Petrino now in the fold, the Tar Heels’ offense just got a lot more interesting.