Kitchens will lead Tar Heels in Fenway Bowl against UConn. Another ex-Browns coach is standing by

BOSTON -- - UConn coach Jim Mora pulled a move that would make Bill Belichick proud while preparing the Huskies to play the notoriously churlish former New England Patriot's next team in his old backyard.

Mora and his players were more than 45 minutes late for what was scheduled as a 30-minute media availability a day before Saturday's Fenway Bowl against North Carolina. Mora then gave a non-apology straight out of Belichick's playbook.

"We practice at a certain time the day before a game," Mora said. "And we stuck to the script."

A six-time Super Bowl winner in New England with Tom Brady, Belichick was fired after going 4-13 in 2023, leaving him just 14 wins short of matching Don Shula's all-time record for NFL victories. Unable to land a pro job at the age of 72, Belichick signed on with North Carolina - his first college gig - when they fired 73-year-old Mack Brown.

Belichick hasn't taken over on the Tar Heels' sideline yet; interim coach Freddie Kitchens - another ex-Cleveland Browns coach - will lead them in the Fenway Bowl. But the future Hall of Famer's potential return to a football field in Boston has been the biggest story ahead of Saturday's game.

Belichick did not attend media day, and Fenway Bowl executive director Brett Miller tried to preempt questions about him by asking reporters "to keep questions focusing on the players and coaches out here today."

"I don't need to beat around the bush any more than that," he said in comments that would have been cryptic if it weren't so obvious to everyone who he meant. "I know there's probably a lot of questions that you guys have about next year, particularly one side. Please do your best to keep it to these guys, because they've earned the right to be here."

The request wasn't completely successful, with Kitchens taking a question about Belichick specifically and saying he talks to his new boss every day. Earlier this month, Kitchens said: "He asks questions; I answer the questions."

"I'm going to try to soak in all I can from him, and be a better coach because of it," Kitchens said after Belichick was hired. "I love Carolina, I want what's best for Carolina, and I know that right now at this moment in time, coach Belichick is what's best for Carolina.

"At the end of the day, he's a ballcoach," he said, "and I enjoy working for ballcoaches."

Mora also brushed off a question about whether the next Carolina coach would have any impact on Saturday's game.

"It's irrelevant to us," said Mora, who was 0-1 against Belichick in four seasons as an NFL head coach. "We can't control the emotions of our opponents. And as far as I know, coach Belichick will not be taking the football field on Saturday, so it's not relevant to this football team in our preparation.

How they got here

North Carolina (6-6) will be playing in a bowl for the sixth straight year - the second-longest streak in program history.

The Tar Heels climbed from back-to-back nine-loss seasons in the final years of Larry Fedora to reach into The Associated Top 25 in each of the previous four seasons under Brown, who also coached them from 1988-97 in one of the most successful eras of Carolina football history.

After starting out 3-0 this year, the Tar Heels lost four straight - including a 70-50 loss to Sun Belt Conference team James Madison. They won three more to gain bowl eligibility before a loss to Boston College that sealed Brown's fate, and a season-ending loss to rival NC State.

UConn is playing in its second bowl game in three seasons under Jim Mora, bouncing back from last year's 3-9 record to post its first eight-win season since Randy Edsall took the Huskies to the Fiesta Bowl in 2010.

An independent, UConn won all of its games against the non-Power 4 conferences and lost to Syracuse, Wake Forest and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Maryland of the Big Ten.

Fenway Bowl history

Miller said the bowl, which has struggled to find traction in a city more focused on the success of its professional sports teams, sold more tickets this year than in its first two.

The Belichick angle is certainly part of that, but the game has also had some good success picking teams, hosting Louisville in 2022 -- the year before the Cardinals climbed into The Associated Press Top 10 - and then SMU last year, one season before the Mustangs made the College Football Playoff.

"Could one of these teams be next," Miller said. "We'll see."

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