Former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick shared on Monday that he had “a couple of good conversations” with North Carolina Chancellor Lee Roberts regarding the Tar Heels’ search for a new head coach.
During an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” Belichick explained that since leaving the Patriots, he has spent the last 11 months taking a deeper look at college football, especially throughout the season, as opposed to the spring draft period when he was coaching professionally.
“It’s been a good year for me. I’ve learned a lot,” Belichick said. “So I’ve had the chance to talk with Chancellor Roberts, and we’ve had a couple of good conversations. We’ll see how it goes.”
When McAfee pressed for more details, Belichick refrained from elaborating further. Instead, he humorously referenced his well-known tendency to keep responses short during his Patriots press conferences.
“Yeah, let’s just leave it at that, Pat,” Belichick said with a grin. “I mean, I don’t want to give out too much information. I want to get my press conference aura back.”
According to a report by Inside Carolina, Belichick interviewed with UNC last week, a report that was later confirmed by The Associated Press.
New England Patriots in the 2nd half
The Tar Heels are looking for a replacement for Mack Brown, who was fired on November 26 after leading the team to his final game on November 30, a loss to rival N.C. State.
If Belichick were to replace Brown, it would mark a significant shift for UNC, as Belichick has no prior college coaching experience but boasts an illustrious 24-year NFL career, mainly with the Patriots alongside quarterback Tom Brady.
Though Belichick did not go into specifics about his talks with UNC, he did discuss his vision for a college program and how he would approach it. He compared it to running an NFL team, especially with college athletes now able to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, and the possibility of revenue sharing in the future.
“If I were in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for players with the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, schemes, coaching, and techniques that would translate to the NFL.”
Belichick also has a personal connection to UNC through his late father, Steve, who served as an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 1953 to 1955.