Head coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on prior to a game against the UCF Knights at FBC Mortgage Stadium on September 20, 2025 in Orlando, Florida.
Bill Belichick on Sept. 20, 2025 in Orlando, Florida.
Bill Belichick reportedly prohibited the University of North Carolina from posting about New England Patriots players on social media
Former UNC star Drake Maye helped lead the Patriots to a win over the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 5, but the UNC account only posted about it after backlash
Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft have been taking jabs at one another since the coach exited New England in January 2024
Bill Belichick has reportedly barred the University of North Carolina from posting about the New England Patriots amid the coach's feud with his former NFL organization.
According to North Carolina local reporter Ross Martin, sources inside UNC's football program said Belichick, 73, issued a directive "to not tweet/retweet anything Patriots-related."
The order was revealed and made headlines on Monday, Oct. 6, after former UNC Tar Heel Drake Maye led the Patriots to a win over the previously-undefeated Buffalo Bills the night before. Martin said it is "clearly why" the UNC accounts didn't post "anything" from Maye's "electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills."
The UNC's official X account eventually posted about Maye and the Patriots later Monday, writing, "@DrakeMaye2 pulling off some magic, where have we seen this before," in the post.
Head coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on prior to the game against the Clemson Tigers at Kenan Memorial Stadium on October 4, 2025 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Head coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on prior to the game against the Clemson Tigers at Kenan Memorial Stadium on October 4, 2025 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
According to SI, the decision to post a highlight from Maye's performance came from the university's administration and not from the football program.
Belichick coached the Patriots for 24 seasons, leading them to six Super Bowl victories alongside quarterback Tom Brady.
When Belichick said goodbye to the Patriots in January 2024, ESPN reported that there was no animosity between the coach and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Since his departure, however, Belichick has made several comments that indicate a falling-out with the billionaire.
During an interview with the Boston Globe in August, he was asked what he’s found satisfying about college football versus the NFL. "There's no owner, there's no owner's son, there's no cap, everything that goes with the marketing and everything else, which I'm all for that," Belichick said.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (R) and Patriots owner Robert Kraft speak to reporters where Belichick announced he is leaving the team during a press conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on January 11, 2024.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (R) and Patriots owner Robert Kraft speak to reporters where Belichick announced he is leaving the team during a press conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on January 11, 2024.
And after Kraft said hiring Belichick in 1999 was a "big risk" during an interview on Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski's Dudes on Dudes podcast in July, Belichick issued a statement to ESPN, saying it was him who took the "big risk" at the time.
"As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job. I already had an opportunity to be the head coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable," Belichick told ESPN.
He continued, "I had been warned by multiple previous Patriots coaches, as well as other members of other NFL organizations and the media, that the New England job was going to come with many internal obstacles. I made it clear that we would have to change the way the team was managed to regain the previously attained success."