Belichick worked in the NFL in some capacity from 1975 until his divorce from the Patriots after the 2023 seasonGetty Images
Former NFL coach Bill Belichick is “finalizing a deal” to become the next football coach at North Carolina, according to sources cited by Thamel, Schefter & Low of ESPN.com. The expected hiring of Belichick, 72, will “resonate as one of the most stunning and compelling moves in college football history.” Belichick’s hiring at UNC was “spearheaded” by board chair John P. Preyer, who had “honed in on Belichick in recent weeks.” The sides met “multiple times at length, including for five hours Sunday, and those talks culminated with Belichick finalizing the deal Wednesday.” Belichick worked in the NFL in some capacity from 1975 until his divorce from the Patriots after the 2023 season. Belichick's father, Steve, served as an assistant coach for UNC in the 1950s. Belichick's hire gives UNC an “unprecedented jolt of star power for 2025 and beyond” (ESPN.com, 12/11).
GOING TO COLLEGE: THE ATHLETIC’s Marks, Silver, Howe & Russini cite sources as saying that the deal is expected to be for $30M over three years. Sources said that Belichick was "turned off by the NFL’s hiring cycle last winter,” when only the Falcons opted to interview him even though eight teams had openings. Belichick was “expected to have a stronger NFL market this offseason.” Whether a “stop at UNC weakens or burnishes his chances of returning to the NFL,” his shift to the college game is a “late twist in the career of an NFL lifer.” While Belichick can run UNC’s program “without answering to anyone about football decisions,” there “will be other challenges -- like NIL, the transfer portal and navigating boosters -- that are more complicated than reporting to one owner.” But football decisions in college go through the head coach, and now Belichick “can yield that kind of power again” (THE ATHLETIC, 12/11).
HEADING FOR FAILURE: In Raleigh, Luke DeCock writes the situation “already has disaster written all over it,” from the “too-many-cooks hiring process to the transparent competing leaks from each camp: Belichick to NFL insiders, the trustees and boosters to political reporters.” Just when things “couldn’t possibly get any more absurd” at UNC, “here comes an NFL legend who couldn’t land an NFL job last cycle, with absolutely no NCAA experience in that lengthy career.” DeCock: “Even if no one else wants the job, whether for football reasons or having to submit TPS reports to eight different bosses, this is an absurd place to land.” UNC is “willing to settle for someone who counts as family because his dad was a Tar Heels assistant coach for three years some 70 years ago, who has spent one fall observing his son as an assistant coach at Washington and is therefore an expert on the college game despite actually never coaching in it.” Once again, “the folks in power at North Carolina fell in love with a big-name trophy coach” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/11).
TRANSLATION ISSUES? THE ATHLETIC’s Stewart Mandel writes UNC “managed to hire someone completely unqualified” to be their next football coach. Mandel: “Unless Belichick can magically restore eligibility for Tom Brady, I fail to see how this will end well.” Mandell notes he has “seen this movie so many times before: Big-name NFL coach comes to town vowing to turn the program into an NFL organization in college.” But "inevitably, school and coach soon realize that what works in the NFL doesn’t necessarily work in college.” It is “delusional to think Belichick will show up, flash his rings and suddenly North Carolina will start producing more high-end NFL players than Georgia or Ohio State” (THE ATHLETIC, 12/11).
SOCIAL REAX:
The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin: “Good for Bill. Disappointing for those of us who wanted to see him back in the NFL”
Fox Sports’ John Fanta: “Bill Belichick taking the North Carolina football job is one of the all-time weird sports moves of my lifetime, if not the weirdest. Tar Heels haven’t won an ACC title since 1980. Belichick was running one of the greatest organizations in sports history a couple years ago. Wild.”
Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud: “Legacy move. The chance to have son Stephen on his staff (and maybe be the Tar Heels HC in waiting) must have been strong.”
Dallas Morning News' Calvin Watkins: "Let’s be real here nobody wanted to hire Bill Belichick in the NFL."
ESPN's Kalyn Kahler: "Belichick vs student journalists I can’t wait to see it"
SiriusXM's Damon Amendolara: "The Belichick-to-UNC news is obviously massive. The Tar Heels will get a huge influx of NIL cash. Bill must’ve gotten feedback he’d be passed over again this NFL cycle. Shula’s record is now safe. And a coaching legend will spend the rest of his days competing for Duke’s Mayo Bowls."
NBC Sports Nicole Auerbach: "Twelve months from now, Bill Belichick could be covered in mayonnaise."