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.

UNC sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that there are still multiple steps remaining before any potential hire is announced. No announcement is imminent and other candidates remain engaged in the process.

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 2023 season as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M prior to joining Pittman’s staff at Arkansas in 2024. With Petrino calling plays, the Razorbacks improved from 107th to 10th nationally in yards per game (326.5 to 459.5) last year. Despite going winless in its final 10 games in 2025, Arkansas closed the regular season ranked inside the top 25 nationally in both scoring (32.0 PPG), total offense (454.8 YPG) and rushing (191.9 YPG) among FBS programs.

Each of the previous two head coaches Petrino has worked for — Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Pittman — have been fired within two seasons. If a deal is finalized, Petrino will arrive at North Carolina ahead of a pivotal season under Belichick, who went 2-6 in ACC play in 2025.

The Tar Heels’ intention to hire Petrino was first reported by On3.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he will take over calling offensive plays in the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff opener on New Year’s Eve against Miami.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who had called plays this season, is balancing responsibilities, having recently taken the head coaching job at USF.

Day added that Hartline will focus on coaching Ohio State’s receivers in the CFP.

“We wanted to take [playcalling] off of Brian’s plate because he’s got so much going on with what he’s trying to do,” Day said Monday. “Ultimately it will be my decision what calls go into the game.”

As head coach, Day called Ohio State’s offensive plays until last season, when he relinquished those duties to Chip Kelly. After the Buckeyes won the national championship, Kelly left to be the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders and Day promoted Hartline from receivers coach.

Under Hartline, the Buckeyes rank 17th nationally in scoring, averaging almost 35 points per game, though they scored only 10 in their Big Ten championship loss to Indiana. The Buckeyes twice drove the ball inside the Indiana 10-yard line in the second half but failed to come up with any points.

Miami knocked off Texas A&M 10-3 on Saturday in the first round to advance to face the second-seeded Buckeyes at the Cotton Bowl.

Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi described the program as a “malfunctioning organization” after a series of high-profile scandals, one he hopes to “fix” if he has the interim tag removed.

Poggi, who has interviewed with athletic director Warde Manuel for the job, told reporters Monday that Michigan must conduct a “massive self-examination of what’s happened in this building.”

The school on Dec. 10 fired coach Sherrone Moore for cause for having an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Moore subsequently was charged with three crimes, including felony third-degree home invasion, after allegedly confronting the staff member at her home. He spent several nights in the Washtenaw County Jail before being released on $25,000 bond.

Michigan in 2023 went through the signal-stealing scandal involving former staff member Connor Stalions, which led to the Big Ten-imposed suspension of coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three regular-season games, and other penalties. The program had a separate recruiting violations case that yielded penalties for coaches, and also endured other scandals, including the firing of former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, who faces a federal indictment for allegedly hacking into the computer accounts of college athletes to access intimate photos and videos, while working inside Michigan’s football building.

“It’s been five years of a malfunctioning organization,” said Poggi, in his third stint on the Michigan staff after working under both Moore and Harbaugh. “Let’s call it what it is: It’s happened every year. The athletic director doesn’t want any more of that.”

Poggi will lead Michigan against Texas in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 in Florida. He said Monday that Manuel told the team that he expects to hire the next long-term coach before the game. The transfer portal opens Jan. 2, and Michigan is hoping to retain quarterback Bryce Underwood, the nation’s No. 1 recruit last year, and other notable players.

The 65-year-old Poggi worked as a hedge fund manager before entering coaching, spending most of his career as a high school coach in Maryland before first joining Harbaugh’s staff in 2016. He returned in 2021 as associate head coach before landing his only FBS head coaching job at Charlotte, where he was fired before the end of his second season after going 6-16. Poggi came back to Michigan this season.

Asked why he would be a strong choice for the long-term job, Poggi said, “Because I know what the hell I’m doing. … I want to fix this program.”