The 2023 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tar Heels were led by head coach Mack Brown, who was in the fifth season of his second stint at North Carolina and 15th overall season at the university. The team played their home games at Kenan Stadium. The North Carolina Tar Heels football team drew an average home attendance of 50,095 in 2023.
After the ACC Championship Game, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Phil Longo accepted the same position at Wisconsin. Offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. followed Longo to Madison after one year in Chapel Hill.
On December 14, 2022, the Tar Heels hired Randy Clements as the new offensive line coach, and would also hire Chip Lindsey to fill the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach vacancy. Along with the new hires, AHC/WR coach Lonnie Galloway added the title of pass game coordinator, and then-TE coach John Lilly added the title of run game coordinator.
Cornerbacks coach and Tar Heel football legend Dré Bly would leave the program in January, and would be replaced in the position by Indiana safeties coach Jason Jones.
In February, John Lilly left to take the TE coach position on Frank Reich's Carolina Panthers staff. He was replaced four days later by former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens. Kitchens was introduced officially on March 1, in the team's pre-spring practice press conference. Kitchens retains Lilly's former title of run game coordinator as well.
Former Tar Heel letterman and longtime NFL assistant Clyde Christensen joined the staff as a volunteer offensive analyst as well, after several seasons as the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The defensive staff was fortified also, as former NFL assistant coach Ted Monachino was hired as a defensive analyst.
The following Tar Heels were selected in the 2023 NFL draft.
Per NCAA guidance, players can enter the transfer portal in one of two windows. The first, a 45-day period following the conclusion of the sport's regular season, opened for football in December 2022 and closed in January 2023. A second, shorter transfer period opened on April 15, following the conclusion of spring practice.
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â¡ Entered transfer portal following the conclusion of spring practices.
ëû Indicates player did not enroll at a new school.
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North Carolina signed 20 players in the class of 2023. The Tar Heels' class finished 30th in the 247Sports composite rankings, 28th in the Rivals rankings, and 29th in the ESPN.com rankings. Four signees were ranked in the ESPN 300 prospect list.
The 2023 ACC conference football schedule was released on January 30, 2023. The 2023 season will be the conference's first season under a new single-division format. The 3-5-5 model gives each team three set conference opponents to play every season, while playing the remaining ten teams twice (once at home and once on the road) in a fourâÂÂyear cycle. The Tar Heels' non-rotating opponents are all traditional rivalries: Duke, NC State, and Virginia.
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The following members of the 2023 Tar Heel football team entered the transfer portal in the postseason window.
The following Tar Heel players announced plans to enter the 2024 NFL draft and forgo any remaining collegiate eligibility.
Following continued defensive struggles under DC Gene Chizik in the 2023 season, both he and defensive line coach Tim Cross were dismissed after the team's bowl game. Senior Defensive Analyst Ted Monachino was elevated to the defensive line coaching position the same day Cross and Chizik's departures were announced.
Former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins was hired to replace Chizik as defensive coordinator for the 2024 season.
Senior advisor Darrell Moody retired after the season, and was replaced by former Tar Heel and NFL linebacker Brian Simmons in a similar advisory role to head coach Mack Brown. Brown's other senior advisor, Sparky Woods also left the staff in late January.