Freddie Kitchens’ very brief stint as a head coach in the NFL didn’t go well, but perhaps a change of scenery to college football will do the trick.
Kitchens was announced as the new senior football analyst for the South Carolina Gamecocks on Wednesday.
Now we’re cooking 😎 pic.twitter.com/7qmMtvgXr9
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) May 18, 2022
The move makes sense as Kitchens and South Carolina head coach Shame Beamer are old friends, having worked together at Mississippi State in 2004 and 2005. That also happened to be the last time Kitchens coached in college football before moving to the NFL.
Kitchens, who played quarterback for Alabama in the 1990s, has bounced all over in his coaching career. When he was hired by the Cleveland Browns as running back coach in 2018, he couldn’t have known that the team would fire then-head coach Hue Jackson, which led to him being elevated to offensive coordinator, which then led to his promotion to head coach in the following year. However, a 6-10 finish wasn’t good enough for him to keep his job beyond that one season.
He resurfaced with the New York Giants, once again working his way up the ladder when someone was fired. After initially coming on as a tight-end coach, he eventually became interim offensive coordinator when Jason Garrett was fired. However, when head coach Joe Judge was fired last year, Kitchens went with him.
While it could be seen as a step down for the coach, he’ll also get the chance to work with quarterback Spencer Rattler and potentially remake himself in the college coaching world. While we wait to see what kind of impact he might have, his hiring certainly caused a lot of interesting reactions in the football world.
Nice addition to Shane Beamer’s South Carolina staff as Gamecocks hire Freddie Kitchens as senior football analyst.
Not many programs can tout a former NFL head coach on staff as an analyst https://t.co/YrFXmdYvww
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) May 18, 2022
Oh my what a hire https://t.co/CAMdxTkAnE
— Fifth Quarter South Carolina 🤙🏻 (@FQSouthCarolina) May 18, 2022
That's a darn big hire. https://t.co/ZSke1rUNQf
— Scott Eisberg (@SEisbergWCIV) May 18, 2022
Freddie Kitchens when he gets his hands on Spencer Rattler: https://t.co/vSPXqAh5Re pic.twitter.com/pte5dXPbmA
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) May 18, 2022
This is a really interesting move. Not many teams have a recent NFL HC as an analyst. https://t.co/LO70GWxjEH
— Heath Cline (@heathradio) May 18, 2022
