The University of North Carolina is working on bringing in former Arkansas and Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino as Bill Belichick's new offensive coordinator,according to multiple reports.
Petrino is reportedly set to join UNC following a 0-7 run as interim head coach of the Razorbacks in 2025, marking his second stint at the SEC school. Belichick and theTar Heels are coming off a rather disappointing first year of the Belichick era, finishing the season 4-8 with a 2-6 record in the ACC.
Prior to his brief stint as interim head coach at Arkansas, Petrino had been the team's offensive coordinator since 2024 and served as Texas A&M's offensive coordinator in 2023. Petrino has a long coaching legacy in college football dating back to 2003, when he got his first head coaching gig with Louisville. Overall, Petrino's journey as a football coach began two decades earlier in 1983 as a graduate assistant for Carroll College.
In 1999, Petrino ventured into the NFL for the first time, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars as quarterback coach and eventually being promoted to offensive coordinator. That run lasted just three years, and by 2002, Petrino made his way back to college, taking a job at Auburn as offensive coordinator. In terms of success, Petrino's first NFL run started strong with the Jaguars finishing the regular season 14-2 and making the AFC title game in his first year.
His most successful stints came as head coach for Louisville (2003-06, 2014-18), where Petrino's teams qualified for bowl games in eight out of nine seasons. Petrino's first stint at Arkansas from 2008 to 2011 was also quite successful, as the Razorbacks appeared in bowl games three out of four years. In 2007, Petrino got the opportunity to be anNFL head coach with the Atlanta Falcons and quickly realizedhe was better suited for college football when he abruptly resigned to take the Razorbacks' job. The Falcons were 3-10 under Petrino.
Controversy has followed Petrino during his coaching career, whether it be short stints, abrupt exits, oreven a motorcycle accident turned scandal, which led to his dismissal from Arkansas in 2012. Despite all of this, Petrino is recognized as a great mind when it comes to coaching an offense, especially at the college level. He's had hiccups along the way, but UNC is interested because Belichick just finished a season coaching one of the worst offenses across the board in college football.
For Belichick, it can't get much worse offensively after his Tar Heels ranked toward the bottom in most major offensive statistical categories in his first year at Chapel Hill. Even if this ends up being another short stay for Petrino, if he gets the offense to where it needs to be, then everybody wins.
