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UNC Football: Tar Heels name Phil Longo new offensive coordinator

By Zack Pearson

CHAPEL HILL, NC - NOVEMBER 18: A general view as the sun sets during the game between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium on November 18, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - NOVEMBER 18: A general view as the sun sets during the game between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium on November 18, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /
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The North Carolina Tar Heels have officially hired Phil Longo as the new offensive coordinator for the football program

Mack Brown has made another big hire to his coaching staff.

Just days after naming Jay Bateman his defensive coordinator, the program will hire Phil Longo as the new offensive coordinator.

According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Longo will join Brown’s staff to install the new air-raid offense. Inside Carolina is also reporting that offensive line coach Brandon Jones and wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway will join Brown’s staff.

Longo has spent the past two seasons in Oxford, Mississippi as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss where the Rebels ranked No. 7 in yards per play (7.1) last season. The offensive coordinator installed a pass-happy offense that was also No. 5  in passing yards per game (346.4) and No. 9 in total yards per game (510.5).

The hire makes sense seeing that Brown wants to have a pass-first offense with the air-raid system coming in. Just last week it was reported that Graham Harrell was going to be hired from the job after serving as offensive coordinator at North Texas. Harrell then decided to stay with the Mean Green where they run the air-raid offense.

Longo will be in charge of the offense as well as the quarterbacks at North Carolina, which could have some significant interest. The Tar Heels have struggled at the quarterback position since Mitchell Trubisky left after his junior year and haven’t really had any consistent play there.

UNC did recruit two quarterbacks in the 2018 class with both Cade Fortin and Jace Ruder showing some signs of promise in limited action.

But the Tar Heels could be flipping four-star pro-style quarterback Sam Howell away from Florida State. While Howell has been committed to the Seminoles since April, the Tar Heels have remained in contact. The new hire of Longo could help him understand this offense a little more and what UNC wants to do.

Jones has spent the previous two years as offensive line coach at Texas Tech while Galloway spent the previous two years at Louisville as co-offensive coordinator. Galloway is also a very good recruiter and was responsible for landing recruit Tavon Austin at West Virginia.

Next. UNC Football completes big recruiting weekend. dark

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