Mike Priefer’s Return to Chapel Hill

Mike Priefer's journey to be the special teams coordinator comes after spending 21 years in the NFL in that same role, respectively. He was a part of many organizations such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns.

He will now be taking all of the lessons he has learned, experiences and more to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and in the first year of Head Coach Bill Belichick. After Coach Belichick's hiring this past December, he needed to others to compose the rest of his coaching lineup. And interestingly enough, Coach Priefer and him never met until their offical meeting for the job as the special teams coordinator.

"So obviously, he's been in the NFL, heck of a lot longer than me," said Priefer. "But I had never met Coach Belichick before my interview here back on, think, January 16, and came in the room and shook his hand, and obviously saw him across … I think I might have gone against him about 10 times. Maybe we beat the Patriots one time in my career, so they're always whooping us."

"The first time I met Coach [Bill Belichick] was in my interview, and that was a great interview," said Priefer when speaking about the meeting. "And obviously, I've admired him from afar for years, but that interview itself, I was like, after a couple hours, and it really went well, and they offered me a job. I said, this is really what place I want to be, not just because it was Coach Belichick, but also North Carolina itself. You know, it's such a special place. So obviously, the combination of Bill Belichick and North Carolina was a great combination I couldn't pass up."

Special Teams Impact

Dec 20, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns acting head coach Mike Priefer during the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

For Coach Belichick to have not cross paths with Coach Priefer prior to the job meeting shows what kind of resume the special teams coordinator has. And it is all part of creating a the new rising football culture in Chapel Hill, one that will debut on September 1. Perhaps, the vision of a 33rd NFL franchise may come true.

"So obviously, like he keeps saying, we want to make this the 33rd NFL franchise," said Priefer when talking about the plan at UNC." "And I think when you bring in a head coach that's been in the league for what, 50 years, and a special teams coordinator that has been in the league for a long time, I think, having those experiences that we have, and he understood and we had talked about the success we had in the NFL and special teams in the places I've been, and trying to bring that to the collegiate environment."

"The schemes obviously will be a little bit different," Priefer added. "The players are much younger, so the techniques and fundamentals that we teach, we have to make sure we cover those more often than we would in the NFL, per se, maybe. But those are the conversations we've had about player development."

"I think that's the most important piece for a special teams coordinator, whether it's in college football or the NFL, is a player development piece," said Priefer. "And that's what we’re selling our players, and they're buying in. And we talk to our recruits about that all the time. And you know, you want to come to North Carolina because you're going to be developed as a football player and as a person. And I think that's exactly what, you know, he wanted to bring here in special teams. And I think that's what I can provide."

However, beyond the x's and o's, the vision for UNC football with Coach Belichick and the gridiron itself, he is returning to a place that he has spent a good portion of his life in until his dad took a job with the Green Bay Packers. Nonetheless, he is now a piece of the formula that has been brewing in Chapel Hill for quite some time during the offseason.

"My name is Mike Priefer from the new special teams corner here at Carolina," he said during his opening statement on Wednesday afternoon. "And really excited to be back in Chapel Hill. My dad was the assistant coach here under Dick Crum from 1978 to 1983, so I spent a lot of time here. Went to St. Thomas More Elementary, I went to Phillips Junior High School, Chapel Hill High School for a couple years, until my parents decided, my dad wanted to go to the Green Bay Packers. So my senior year, I moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, from Chapel Hill. You guys can imagine what a culture shock that was."

"So I'm excited about being back, because I was at a Letterman's dinner back in the spring," said Priefer. "I saw a bunch of all the guys that I grew up admiring, you know, when I was a young guy, and, you know, Rod Elkins was there, Scott Sankavich was there, Paul Davis was there, LT was there. I mean, there's a lot of great players. William Fuller was a guy that my dad coached here."

"So I had a lot of great experiences as a young guy here," Priefer shared when reflecting on his time in Chapel Hill before. "Every time I look at the Bell Tower … I was selling programs before games back in the day and trying to make a little bit of money. Then I went out in the field and I was a ball boy during the game. So, a lot of great experiences in and around Kenan Stadium and in Chapel Hill. And I'm really excited about being back."

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