Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Larry Fedora is bringing six members of his Southern Mississippi coaching staff with him to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Offensive assistants Blake Anderson, Walt Bell and Chris Kapilovic will join defensive assistants Deke Adams, Dan Disch and David Duggan with Fedora in his first season as head coach of the Tar Heels.
“We don’t have to go through a learning curve,” Fedora said Tuesday during a news conference to announce the hires. “These guys don’t have to learn what I’m all about and how we want to run the program. They know.”
Fedora also hired former Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning as associate head coach for defense. Koenning served as the Illini’s interim coach for the Fight Hunger Bowl victory against UCLA after the firing of Ron Zook.
In addition, Fedora hired former Mississippi assistant Gunter Brewer, who worked at North Carolina from 2000-04, as wide receivers coach.
Anderson will serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after leading Southern Miss to school records for total offense in each of the last two seasons. He plans to install a fast-tempo attack with a goal of running 80 plays per game. The Tar Heels averaged about 63 snaps per game in 2011.
Bell will coach tight ends after coaching wide receivers at Southern Miss in 2011. Kapilovic will coach the offensive line and serve as running game coordinator.
“I’ve worked with most of them, and I’m very comfortable,” Anderson said. “They know what we do. The guys who are here, to me, most of them are family. The ones who I have not worked with in the past, I have a great respect for. I’m really excited about this group we’ve got together.”
Disch, the defensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2011, will serve the same role at North Carolina. Fedora said he hasn’t decided whether Koenning or Disch will call plays on that side of the ball.
Duggan will work as North Carolina’s special teams coordinator and serve as a defensive assistant. Adams will coach the defensive line after spending three seasons in the same role with the Golden Eagles.
Koenning is the lone member of the staff with whom Fedora has not worked before.
Brewer, who worked with Fedora at Oklahoma State, was eager to return to North Carolina. He called it “the best job in America.”
“It’s a gem,” he said. “I think everybody has always recognized that it’s a diamond in the rough that people have seen sparkle at times and come out to the forefront.”
Fedora still needs to hire a running backs coach. He said he plans to finalize his staff in the next couple of weeks. He is retaining Tom Myslinski as North Carolina’s strength and conditioning coach.
Fedora is the permanent replacement for Butch Davis, who was fired just before the season amid the NCAA investigation into the football program. Defensive coordinator Everett Withers served as interim coach, leading the Tar Heels (7-6) to the Independence Bowl.