Familiar Faces Clash in Chapel Hill Saturday

Even though it is only the second meeting of the two programs as conference foes, when Louisville takes the field Saturday night in Kenan Stadium there will be a strong familiarity component between the coaching staffs. The theme of this game could be “Family Tradition”. Louisville is in its fourth season under the tutelage of Jeff Brohm, and the Tar Heels are in their second season with Hall of Famer Bill Belichick.

Oct 24, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick seen during overtime against Syracuse Orange at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Brohm and the Cards are 6-3 this season, winning four straight and 34-15 since 2023. Belichick is in his second season as the head coach of the Tar Heels with a 9-12 record, 5-4 this season. Belichick won six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots and has another two as an assistant coach.

The Carolina offense struggled last season, scoring 19.9 points per game and the production of quarterback Gio Lopez was less than stellar. Lopez found a new home at Wake Forest where he is thriving and has the Demon Deacons ranked 13th in the College Football Playoff poll. Standing across the sidelines wearing that baby blue for Carolina is none other than former Cardinal head coach, now UNC offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. With Petrino dialing up the plays and Billy Edwards Jr at quarterback, the Heels have improved their offensive output to 27.1 points per game this season.

Sep 9, 2017; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino and North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Larry Fedora before the game at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Petrino was the Louisville head coach from 2003-2006 and again from 2014-2018. During his first stint, the Cardinals went 41-9 and owned the nation’s second longest home winning streak (22). Louisville’s offense was Top 10 in the country in scoring and total offense from 2004-2006. Louisville finished 6th in the AP Poll in 2004 (Liberty Bowl Champions) and 2006 (Orange Bowl Champions). In the second stint, Petrino led The Ville into the ACC, won a share of the conference title in 2016 and brought a Heisman Trophy to Louisville via Lamar Jackson.

Petrino went 3-0 against North Carolina as the head coach of Louisville.

2004 Louisville 34 North Carolina 0 Kenan Stadium

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2005 Louisville 69 North Carolina 14 Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

2017 Louisville 47 North Carolina 35 Kenan Stadium

The offense coordinator for Louisville during Petrino’s first tenure at Louisville was his brother Paul Petrino, who is now currently coaching the tight ends on Brohm’s staff. Jeff Brohm was the quarterback’s coach during that first Petrino stint. Paul’s son Mason is on staff for Louisville as a quality control coach for the offense.

Current Louisville offensive coordinator Brian Brohm was a quarterback and MVP of the Orange Bowl during the stint and Louisville’s safeties coach Brandon Sharp was a star defensive back. Greg Brohm was the director of operations for Louisville under Petrino from 2004-2006 and is currently the chief of staff for his brother.

Louisville's Jeff Brohm and his brother Brian coaches during one of their practices. August 1, 2023 | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Mike Cassity was the defensive coordinator for Petrino the entire first stint and is back on Brohm’s staff as a defensive analyst. With Louisville’s defensive struggles this season Cassity has had more of a voice in the booth for the Cards, who have shown significant progress on that side of the ball.

Petrino’s offensive coordinator during his second stint at Louisville was Garrick Mcgee, who is now the wide receivers coach for Belichick. The quarterbacks coach for Carolina is Matt Lombardi, who was the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Louisville from 2014-2016. Andrew Blaylock was on the staff as a recruiting coordinator with Charlie Strong and Petrino during his second stint and is currently the assistant director of player personnel for the Heels.

Brohm was asked about how similar his offense is to Petrino’s as he was a pupil at Louisville, “There are similarities, you can see it. I think a lot of offenses have similarities to a certain degree. For us, we probably know what we call it and what the name of it is. Every year you try to emulate your offense and make it better and take a couple of different wrinkles and just like with us, we have a different style quarterback now we want to build the offense around. So, you adapt and do different things to help you have success and that has been the fun part.”

Louisville is currently a 3.5-point favorite according to DraftKings. The “family tradition” matchup will start at 7 pm Saturday night with the broadcast being on ESPN2.

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