Rumors about the back-and-forth negotiations between former NFL head coach Bill Belichick and the University of North Carolina regarding the school's coaching vacancy continue to swirl.
According to some, the sides are continuing to talk and the situation is "very fluid."
According to others, the "ball is in Belichick's court" and the school is hoping "a decision will come soon" with "a lot going on behind the scenes."
And according to the most compelling rumor to date, which comes via Ollie Connolly of The Guardian, the 72-year-old coach, who will be 73 by the time the college football season kicks off, has agreed to coach for UNC and presented the school with a 400-page "organizational bible" that contains a set of demands that he is "unwilling to negotiate."
Per Connolly, Belichick's bible, which he has shared with other college and pro teams but customized specifically for the UNC position, contains "structure, payment plans, staffing choices and salary minimums position by positions" that "would require historic levels of investment from the school."
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To appease Belichick, the school would also have to commit to hiring a coaching staff run by Belichick and a recruitment staff run by a sitting college GM who would need to be bought out of his current contract.
Belichick is waiting on UNC's athletic director and chancellor, as well as school trustees and boosters, to sign off on the deal. He is expected to know their decision within 24 hours, per Connolly.
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It may not be the one the six-time Super Bowl winner is looking for.
"There has already been pushback from the group of 13 trustees, with input from wider faculty. The investment would overhaul the school's approach to football," Connolly writes. "Belichick [is] unsure if the school will meet the demands and is unwilling to negotiate."
If this report is even half correct, committing to Belichick would require a major shift in football philosophy and essentially make the university an NFL prep program. At least that's what Belichick has in mind, as he detailed to Pat McAfee.
"Let me put this in capital letters: IF I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL," Belichick said yesterday on McAfee's program. "It would be a professional program. Training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level."
And it would be very, very weird to see Belichick running it, but that's where we are.
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This story was originally published December 10, 2024, 1:12 PM.