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Reports: Ex-North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora lands role at Texas

Larry Fedora had a 45-43 record in seven seasons at North Carolina. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Larry Fedora had a 45-43 record in seven seasons at North Carolina. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Following his firing at North Carolina, Larry Fedora has reportedly found a landing spot in the Big 12.

According to Anwar Richardson of Rivals, Fedora has agreed to join Tom Herman’s staff at Texas as an analyst. Fedora’s new gig, which has not been confirmed by Texas, comes after seven seasons as the head coach at UNC, where he accumulated a 45-43 record and four consecutive bowl trips. The Tar Heels went a combined 5-18 with just two ACC wins over the last two seasons, however, leading to his firing.

When it announced his firing, North Carolina said it would pay out the remaining $12 million it owed Fedora over a span of four years. UNC then hired Mack Brown as Fedora’s replacement.

Before the Tar Heels’ big drop off in 2017 (3-9) and 2018 (2-9), the team had a record above .500 in four of his previous five seasons, including 11 wins and an ACC Coastal Division crown in 2015.

Before landing the UNC job, Fedora spent four seasons as the head coach at Southern Miss. He also had stints as an assistant at Oklahoma State, Florida, Middle Tennessee, Air Force and Baylor.

With his history coaching offense, Fedora will presumably assist Texas’ offensive staff during his time in Austin. From Texas’ perspective, it resembles a practice often taken by Alabama coach Nick Saban.

In recent years, Saban has brought in ex-head coaches in analyst roles to help with game-planning before they return to a full-time coaching role, sometimes with Alabama. Fedora, if Herman loses a coach from his offensive staff in the next hiring cycle, could be a seamless addition to the on-field staff with the Longhorns.

Texas looking to add another ex-head coach?

Fedora may not be the only recently fired head coach to join Herman’s staff. Multiple outlets are reporting that Herman has interest in adding ex-Kansas head coach David Beaty in a similar capacity.

The friendship between Herman and Beaty made headlines in November when Herman reached out to Beaty to help UT in its preparation to play Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. Beaty had been fired by Kansas by that point, but his Jayhawks’ offense put up big numbers in a loss to the Sooners weeks prior.

The correspondence between Herman and Beaty came right after Texas beat KU in Beaty’s final game as head coach. Herman said Beaty could help Texas break away from some tendencies it showed on film over the course of the season.

“Anytime you have an opportunity to gain some knowledge of what an opponent saw of you in their breakdowns of you, you want to seize that,” Herman said of enlisting Beaty’s help. “It’s more about, ‘Hey, what did you see from us? What were our tendencies? Where did you try to attack? Where did you think you could gain an advantage?’ It’s pretty standard stuff. I don’t know why it’s that big of a deal.”

Texas went 10-4 in 2018, Herman’s second season as head coach. The Longhorns capped off the season with an impressive win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

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