CHAPEL HILL — Keith Gilmore, who has spent the past four seasons coaching at Illinois, is North Carolina’s new defensive line coach, UNC announced on Tuesday. Gilmore replaces former defensive line coach Deke Adams, who departed last month for the same job at South Carolina.
Gilmore has ties to both Vic Koenning and Dan Disch, who have served as co-defensive coordinators at UNC under coach Larry Fedora. Gilmore and Koenning worked together at Illinois when Koenning was the defensive coordinator there in 2010 and 11. Gilmore and Disch, meanwhile, were members of the same defensive coaching staff at Illinois in 2009 and 2010.
Gilmore arrives at UNC with 28 years of college coaching experience.
“Keith is a knowledgeable defensive line coach who brings a wealth of experience at the collegiate level to Chapel Hill,” Fedora said in a statement. “He has previous experience with our defensive coaches and I believe he is a great fit for us. He does an exceptional job of building relationships and getting the most out of his players.”
Gilmore in 2011 coached consensus first-team All-America Whitney Mercilus. He earned the Ted Hendricks Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top defensive end. In 2010, Gilmore coached Corey Liuget, a defensive tackle who became the San Diego Chargers’ first-round draft pick.
Before coaching at Illinois, Gilmore spent six years working alongside Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly. Two of those were at Cincinnati, where Kelly was the head coach. They also worked together at Central Michigan and Grand Valley State.
