North Carolina adds Gillespie as assistant coach

North Carolina has hired Robert Gillespie as an assistant football coach, the school announced Wednesday. Gillespie served as the running backs coach at Tennessee the past five seasons and had been the school's recruiting coordinator since 2015. He initially was expected to remain with the Volunteers before new coach Jeremy Pruitt elected to hire Chris Weinke as the school's running backs coach. Gillespie also has coached running backs at West Virginia, Oklahoma State and South Carolina. "He has a well-earned reputation as a great offensive coach and recruiter, and he has a wealth of experience working with running backs at a very high level," Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora said about Gillespie in a statement. "We are happy to have him join our staff as we get into the bulk of spring practice." The school's release did not specify which position Gillespie would coach. Gunter Brewer, who coached the Tar Heels' wide receivers for four years, joined the Philadelphia Eagles' staff earlier this month. Gillespie played with the Washington Redskins and Jacksonville Jaguars during his two-year NFL career.