Sources: North Carolina works toward hiring Bobby Petrino as OC - ESPN

North Carolina and coach Bill Belichick are working toward hiring Bobby Petrino as the program's next offensive coordinator, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday.

Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens was fired earlier this month after the Tar Heels ranked 131st nationally in total offense (288.8 yards per game) in 2025.

Petrino, the former head coach at Arkansas, returned to the Razorbacks in 2024, where he served as offensive coordinator for the past two seasons. He took over as interim coach after the program fired Sam Pittman on Sept. 28. He's also served as head coach at Louisville, Western Kentucky and Missouri State and the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

The move back into the top job at Arkansas marked a full-circle turnaround for Petrino, who was fired by the Razorbacks in 2012 for misleading officials about an extramarital affair with an athletic department employee. The Razorbacks went 0-7 under Petrino's leadership this fall en route to a 2-10 finish, and Arkansas hired Memphis' Ryan Silverfield as its head coach on Nov. 30.

The Tar Heels are seeking to revamp their offense following a 4-8 season in 2025. Only five FBS teams finished this past season with fewer yards per game than North Carolina, which also ranked 121st in scoring offense (19.3 PPG) and 124th in rushing (105.3) in Belichick's debut season at UNC.

Under Kitchens, the former Cleveland Browns head coach, the Tar Heels scored 15 points or fewer in six of their 12 games.

Petrino has built a reputation for turning around struggling offenses throughout his career.

As a head coach, he led Louisville from 2003 to 2006 before one season with the Falcons. At Arkansas, he went 21-5 in the final two seasons before he was fired in December 2012.

Petrino spent the