North Carolina athletics announced the firing of head coach Mack Brown earlier this week, despite the fact that he will coach the season finale in his last home game at Kenan Stadium this weekend against NC State.
Immediately after the firing, rumors started to swirl around who would be the next head coach at UNC and how appealing is the vacancy in Chapel Hill.
One of those names that was thrown out simultaneously was ex-Atlanta Falcons head coach and current Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith.
Per Brooke Pryor Smith has reportedly had a preliminary call with Bubba Cunningham and UNC athletics about the vacancy. Despite the follow-up in the report that Smith is “personally and professionally happy in Pittsburgh,” he at least took the call from North Carolina to open up further conversations.
Steelers OC Arthur Smith said he had a preliminary call with UNC about the head coach opening, but that's part of the wide net that's cast in coaching searches. He emphasized he's personally and professionally happy in Pittsburgh.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) November 28, 2024
This is just the first step of a long line in the process of finding a head coach, but it is an important step as it proves the willingness of the candidate to look at what the job might offer.
In his three years with the Falcons, Smith was 21-30, going 7-10 in each of those years. Now, with the Steelers, Smith has led the offense on a bounce-back season and is currently 8-3 and on top of the AFC North.
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