UNC Football: Atlanta Falcons hire Arthur Smith as their new head coach
The former UNC Football player and coach has landed his first NFL head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons.
The Atlanta Falcons have found their new head coach in the form of a UNC football alum. After firing Dan Quinn, the team had an opening for their head coaching job and now they are moving quickly to fill it.
On Friday, the Falcons announced that they have reached an agreement with Arthur Smith to become the team’s next head coach. The 38-year-old is set to become the 38th head coach in franchise history.
We have agreed to terms with Arthur Smith to become our next head coach.
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) January 15, 2021
After playing his college football career in Chapel Hill, Smith’s coaching journey began as a graduate assistant for the program in 2006. From there, Smith spent two years with Washington (as a defensive quality assistant) and then ventured back to the college game as he spent a year at Ole Miss.
After his brief stint at Ole Miss, Smith was hired by the Tennessee Titans, and has spent the last 10 seasons with the organization.
Most recently, Smith has served as the team’s offensive coordinator, and has simply thrived in this role. Over the past two seasons, the Titans put together one of the NFL’s top offenses. Here’s where Smith’s offense ranked in some offensive categories among the entire NFL during this span.
Red Zone touchdown percentage- 75.2 % (best in the NFL)
Rushing Yards Per Game- 153.5 yards (second best)
Points Per Game- 27.9 (fifth best)
Total Offense- 379.6 yards per game (fifth best)
Smith deserves a lot of credit for the resurgence of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who earned the 2019 Comeback Player of the Year Award. The former Tar Heel was also able to show off the complete dominance of running back Derrick Henry, who became the eighth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season.
Given his recent success, Smith was one of the hottest names on the head coaching market. The 38-year-old was also viewed as a finalist for the New York Jets head coaching vacancy, and other teams showed significant interest in him throughout the interviewing process.
Shortly after the Jets announced the hiring of San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, the Falcons wasted no time landing their guy.
According to reports, Smith was viewed as the front-runner for the Falcons job all-along. It appeared as if the Falcons identified him as their guy early on in the process, and the interview process just assured he was the guy to lead their team in the future.
This will be Smith’s first head coaching job of his career. As the Falcons have a roster full of offensive talent, we’ll see if Smith can get this franchise back to relevance during his tenure as the head coach.
Next. UNC Football: 2021 Tar Heels a Top-10 Team?. dark
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