CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The president of the University of North Carolina system has temporarily suspended the authority over athletics for trustees at its flagship institution in Chapel Hill, citing the group acting beyond its designated duties.
In a Jan. 16 memo, system president Peter Hans wrote to UNC at Chapel Hill trustees chairman John Preyer with concerns that board members “appear to act independently of their campus’s administration in matters squarely within the responsibility of the chancellor.”
The memo, first reported Friday by The Assembly and obtained by WRAL-TV in Raleigh, also stated unilateral actions by trustee members risk “blurring the lines of actual and apparent authority when these athletic departments negotiate business transactions with third parties” that could include past, current and future employees.
That letter came after trustees had criticized the firing of Tar Heels football coach Mack Brown followed by involvement in the hiring of six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick as his successor. There has also been the trustees’ push last spring to audit the UNC athletic department while questioning data provided by athletic director Bubba Cunningham, though chancellor Lee Roberts publicly backed Cunningham’s leadership.
Additionally, trustees had been vocal in issues of conference affiliation, including coming out publicly against the Atlantic Coast Conference’s eventual 2023 vote in favor of expansion.
Typically, trustees approve contracts for coaches and other athletic officials, but Hans’ letter says trustees will not play any role in negotiating, reviewing or approving such actions, with approvals now going to Hans’ office.
Hans also “encouraged” the board to “focus its continued efforts on the important substantive topics well within its responsibility for oversight and providing advice” to Roberts.
Georgia Tech moves quickly
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech’s football program has hired Texas assistant coach Blake Gideon as its defensive coordinator.
Gideon replaces Tyler Santucci, who was hired Tuesday by the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens as a linebackers coach. Santucci worked with that position group while coordinating the defense for Georgia Tech in 2024, his lone season in Atlanta.
The ACC program announced the addition of Gideon on Friday. He had spent the past four seasons coaching safeties with the Longhorns and was promoted to associate head coach for defense at his alma mater last year.
He was part of Texas reaching the College Football Playoff the past two seasons — as the Big 12 champion in 2023 (when the CFP was in its 10th and final edition as a four-team event) and as the Southeastern Conference runner-up in 2024 (when the CFP expanded to 12 teams) — as the Longhorns finished a win short of the national championship game each time.
The Longhorns led the country with 22 interceptions this past season and allowed a national-best 5.69 yards per pass while ranking second with 31 total takeaways and third in both total defense (283.4 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (15.3 points allowed per game).
Before his time at Texas, Gideon coached nickelbacks and worked as the special teams coordinator at Ole Miss in 2020 and Houston in 2019. He also had stops at Georgia State and Western Carolina as a position coach, having started his career as a quality control assistant at Florida in 2014 before becoming a graduate assistant at Auburn the following year.
Gideon joins the Yellow Jackets as Brent Key looks toward his third season as head coach at his alma mater. Key had a .500 mark while leading the program for the final eight games of the 2022 season after Geoff Collins was fired, and Georgia Tech removed the interim tag for the former offensive lineman at the end of November that year.
Georgia Tech is coming off back-to-back seasons with identical records of 7-6 overall and 5-3 in ACC play while tying for fourth in the league standings. The Jackets reached bowl eligibility in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade.
Buffs DC gets big new deal
DENVER — Colorado rewarded defensive coordinator Robert Livingston with a new two-year deal that makes him the highest-paid assistant in program history.
Livingston also ranks among the highest-paid assistant coaches in the Big 12. He will earn $1.5 million next season and $1.6 million in 2026. The deal was recently approved by the university’s board of regents.
In Livingston’s first season, and with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter playing cornerback, the Buffaloes significantly shored up their defense and held opponents to 23.1 points per game in 2024. It was a dramatic improvement from the season before, when the Buffaloes, who were members of the Pac-12 at the time, surrendered an average of 34.8 points a game.
“Robert Livingston is a top-caliber coach, and this new contract illustrates the investment Colorado athletics is making to ensure our program remains among the nation’s best,” athletic director Rick George said in a release Friday. “I’m thrilled that Coach Livingston will continue to mentor our student-athletes for years to come.”
Livingston arrived in Boulder from the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, where he spent eight seasons on the coaching staff. Livingston’s first Colorado defense ranked first in the Big 12 in sacks (39) and fumbles recovered (12), and the Buffaloes were also tied for third in interceptions (15).
Deion Sanders has been busy putting the finishing touches on his coaching staff ahead of his third season as Colorado’s head coach. On Thursday, he announced the addition of fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame member Marshall Faulk as running backs coach. Faulk will try to bolster a rushing attack that averaged 65.2 yards per game in 2024, one of the least productive ground games in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season despite the Buffaloes going 9-4 with a loss in the Alamo Bowl after contending for a spot in the Big 12 title game.
It was a significant turnaround from a 4-8 campaign in 2023 — Sanders’ debut year in Boulder — that followed Karl Dorrell going 1-11 in his third and final season as coach of the Buffaloes.
In a release George said he and Sanders “have worked extensively to build on the incredible momentum that has been created with our football program over the last two years.”
Hart stepping down at SMU
DALLAS — Rick Hart is stepping down after 13 years as athletic director at Southern Methodist University, which in the past year completed its long-desired move into a power conference by becoming a member of the ACC.
Hart said in a statement released Friday, without elaborating, that it was “time for a new challenge” for him and a new voice to lead the Mustangs athletic department. He said he would continue to serve in his role until a new AD is on campus.
“It is with tremendous pride, heartfelt love, and yes, mixed emotions, that I share I have made the decision that this academic year will be my last at SMU,” Hart said.
SMU, a private school near downtown Dallas, made the CFP in its first ACC season after reaching the league’s title game a year after winning the American Athletic Conference championship. The Mustangs also hired Andy Enfield last year as their new men’s basketball coach after his previous stints at Southern California and Florida Gulf Coast.
Hart’s departure comes at the same time that R. Gerald Turner is stepping down after 30 years as president of SMU. Turner announced his decision in August. Jay Hartzell will take over as SMU’s president on June 1 after serving in the same role at the University of Texas.
“During his 13 years at SMU, Rick has led our Department of Athletics with character, class, and integrity, and he has made this decision the same way,” Turner said in a release. “With my upcoming transition to President Emeritus and the arrival of President-elect Jay Hartzell, Rick believes that now is a good time for both him and SMU to move forward. His decision allows President-elect Hartzell to select his own Director of Athletics who aligns with his vision for the post-antitrust settlement world of intercollegiate athletics.”
Hart became SMU’s AD in July 2012 after six years in that same role at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
SMU has invested more than $250 million in athletic facilities since 2013, including renovating and updating Moody Coliseum, where the Mustangs play home games for basketball and volleyball, and an end zone complex at Gerald J. Ford Stadium that opened this past football season.