Charles Frederick Kitchens Jr. (born November 29, 1974) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who serves as the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

. Kitchens was previously tight ends coach and run game coordinator, and later the interim head coach for the Tar Heels' 2024 bowl game prior to the hiring of

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick ( ; born April 16, 1952) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Widely regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he holds numerous coaching records, inc ...

. He has served as the head coach of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and an assistant coach for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

, and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He has also spent stints as an assistant coach with

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and Glenville State of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

. He was fired in 2019 after his lone season as a head coach when his Browns team ended with a 6–10 record.

Playing career

Freddie Kitchens was a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

from

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, during which time he threw for 4,668 passing yards and 30

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. In his three seasons as a starter, Alabama won the 1995 Citrus Bowl, and the 1997 Outback Bowl. At the time of his departure, he ranked third in the school's history in career passing attempts, fourth in career passing yards, and fifth in career completions. During his time at Alabama, Kitchens was given the nickname Thick by offensive coordinator

Bruce Arians Bruce Charles Arians (born October 3, 1952) is an American football executive and former coach in the National Football League (NFL). Since 2022, he has been a senior football consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians was previously the h ...

Statistics

Coaching career

Dallas Cowboys

Following his college playing career, he served as an assistant coach for several college teams, before joining the

staff as tight ends coach in 2006 under

Bill Parcells Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells ( ; born August 22, 1941) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons. He came to prominence as the head coach of the New York Giants from 19 ...

Arizona Cardinals

Kitchens then worked on the

staff for 11 years, from 2007 to 2017. In 2008, Kitchens' 2nd year with the team, the Cardinals appeared in

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

, their first Super Bowl in franchise history but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-23. He coached multiple positions, including tight ends, quarterbacks, and running backs.

Cleveland Browns

2018

In 2018, Kitchens was hired as running backs coach for the

. On October 29, after week 8 of the season, the Browns fired head coach

Hue Jackson Hue Jackson (born October 22, 1965) is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia State University, a position he has held since 2024. An offensive assistant at both the collegiate and professio ...

and offensive coordinator

Todd Haley Richard Todd Haley (born February 28, 1967) is an American football coach who most recently was head coach for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL). From 1997 to 2006, he had stints as the wide receivers coach of th ...

Gregg Williams Gregg Williams (born July 15, 1958) is an American football coach. His most recent National Football League (NFL) experience was as the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets, from 2019 to 2020. Previously, he was head coach of the Buffal ...

was named interim head coach, and Kitchens was promoted to

. The Browns finished the season with a 5–3 record, after a 2–5–1 start under Jackson. Kitchens was credited for the improvement of the Browns offense and was also acknowledged for helping

Baker Mayfield Baker Reagan Mayfield (born April 14, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Oklahoma Sooners ...

have a successful rookie season. Mayfield was the runner-up for NFL rookie of the year.

2019

On January 12, 2019, Kitchens was promoted to the head coaching position by the Cleveland Browns. He was the 17th head coach in Browns history, and the ninth since the franchise's reactivation in 1999. On September 8, 2019, the Browns lost to the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

by a score of 43–13 in Kitchens' head coaching debut. The loss marked the 15th consecutive Week 1 without a win for the Browns. Kitchens was fired a few hours after the final game of the season, a 33–23 loss to the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

. The Browns finished the season with a disappointing 6–10 record.

New York Giants

On January 27,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, the

hired Kitchens as their tight ends coach. His hiring was strongly supported by newly hired Giants head coach Joe Judge, who had worked with Kitchens at

. The two are reportedly good friends. When Giants offensive coordinator

Jason Garrett Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was most notably the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 2010 to 2019. Garrett played college f ...

tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

ahead of the Giants' Sunday night game against the

, Kitchens' former team, Kitchens was named offensive coordinator and play-caller for the game. The Giants would go on to lose to the Browns 20-6. It was announced for the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

he would switch positions and become senior offensive assistant. Following the firing of Jason Garrett, Kitchens was named interim offensive coordinator for the Giants. Kitchens was released after the 2021 season following the firing of Judge.

South Carolina

On May 18, 2022, Kitchens was hired to be a senior analyst for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

under head coach

Shane Beamer Shane Beamer (born March 31, 1977) is an American college football coach who is currently the head football coach at the South Carolina Gamecocks football, University of South Carolina. Beamer has been credited with reviving South Carolina's foot ...

North Carolina

On February 27, 2023, it was reported that Kitchens was joining

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American former college football coach. Brown most recently coached at the University of North Carolina, where he had two stints, first from 1988 until 1997, and again from 2019 until his firing ...

's staff at North Carolina as tight ends coach, replacing John Lilly. He was formally introduced on March 1, 2023, at the team's press conference to kick off spring practice. After Brown's dismissal at the end of the 2024 season, Kitchens was named interim head coach for the

Fenway Bowl The Fenway Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Organized by ESPN Events and Fenway Sports Management, it features teams from the American Athletic Conf ...

. The Tar Heels were defeated by Connecticut in the bowl game. Kitchens was retained by Belichick for the 2025 season, being promoted to offensive coordinator.

Personal life

Kitchens has two daughters with his wife, Ginger. In 2013, Kitchens underwent emergency surgery to repair an

aortic dissection Aortic dissection (AD) occurs when an injury to the innermost layer of the aorta allows blood to flow between the layers of the aortic wall, forcing the layers apart. In most cases, this is associated with a sudden onset of agonizing ches ...

Head coaching record

NFL

College

References

External links

North Carolina profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchens, Freddie 1974 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide football players American football quarterbacks Arizona Cardinals coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Cleveland Browns head coaches Dallas Cowboys coaches Glenville State Pioneers football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches NFL offensive coordinators New York Giants coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches North Texas Mean Green football coaches Players of American football from Gadsden, Alabama Coaches of American football from Alabama