Coach search in North Carolina: Steelers’ Arthur Smith announces contact with Tar Heels

The North Carolina Tar Heels are looking for their next head coach after the end was announced Mack Brown’s Term in Chapel Hill. With that said, one coach who is catching the Tar Heels’ attention appears to be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Now, Smith has reportedly shared that he has had a preliminary conversation with North Carolina about the head coaching opening. He also emphasized that he is happy with his situation in Pittsburgh and that this is the early stages of a job search in which many candidates are being considered.

Arthur Smith is in his first season as offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers Russell Wilson And Justin Fields to try to revitalize the team’s offense. It’s been pretty successful so far, as the Steelers sit atop the AFC North at 8-3.

Before his time with the Steelers, Smith was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He had a 21-30 record in three seasons there. He went 7-10 in each of those seasons. From 2011 to 2020, he was an assistant with the Tennessee Titans.

Smith already has ties to North Carolina. He was a guard in North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. He later became an assistant there. Aside from that, his only college experience came in 2010 as an intern at Ole Miss.

Of course, North Carolina is looking for several other coaches at this stage of its coaching search. Insider Pete Thamel recently broke down some of these options.

“It would be really interesting to see if there is a power coach that comes out of a P4 league as a head coach and goes to Carolina to make a change there. You know, some of these names might be Dave Clawson, PJ Fleck – a guy, you know, who had a lot of success and things like that,” Thamel said.

“I find Jon Sumrall is on this list of Tulane. He’s done an excellent job – two Sun Belts in a row and has a chance to win the American, I think Bob Chesney If you go in and put 70 up in their stadium, he’s on the list, right, of James Madison. Won big at Holy Crossthis is a little bit similar, it’s private but has a little bit of a similar vibe to Carolina in that kind of East Coast neighborhood kind of way. (UNLV’s) Barry OdomFriend the pod from earlier this year. I find Jeff Monken out of army? What he did there will give them a look.”

The coaching search in North Carolina is currently in its early stages. However, Arthur Smith is certainly a name in the mix.