What to make of Bill Belichick to UNC
So, I’ve now had about a week to digest the news that Bill Belichick, the greatest coach the NFL has seen in my lifetime, is heading back to school (editor’s note: It took a lot of restraint not to make a joke following that line). That’s right, the 72-year-old Belichick who has worked exclusively in the NFL since 1975 will be doing the rounds recruiting, convincing kids born after his 16-0 season to come to Chapel Hill. There’s a lot to unpack with the news, so let’s go piece by piece and we can then figure out what this means.
Part 1: How the hell did we get here?
The University of North Carolina has committed to doing better in football in the coming years. A bold statement for an ACC school that is more closely associated with their true money maker- college basketball. Not to say that UNC has been historically bad, but football is not the sport they’re most known for. When you think of the Tar Heels, you probably think of Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, James Worthy and co, before names like Mitch Trubisky, Drake Maye and Quinton Coples. By no means is that a bad thing, but with Football now driving even more money in the college game, UNC did need to make a splash to stay somewhat relevant in the new age of college football.
Initially, that was the thought with their previous coach, Mack Brown, being brought in in 2019. Brown gained notoriety with the Tar Heels in the 80s and 90s and parlayed that into the Texas job where he ultimately won a national title in what I still believe is the greatest national title game ever played when the Longhorns beat USC. Brown had left Texas to go into a media gig with ESPN and was ultimately brought back by UNC to evoke more of a spark from the fan base, and he did… fine. They never won more than 9 games in a season, but also never won less than 6. There was speculation as to whether Mack Brown would retire at season’s end, but when the reports came out that he wanted to stay one more year, you could sense that tensions were rising. You see, Mack Brown is an older coach. He’s 73. College football has become a young man’s game at the top. The days of Frank Beamer (coached until he was 70) and Bobby Bowden (coached until he was 80) on the sidelines are long gone. Hell, Nick Saban just retired last year, and he’s the same age as Mack. With the news that the school was letting Mack go coming out, the immediate assumption was that the Tar Heels would look at coaches like Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell, or go the high-level coordinator hire.
Bill Belichick in the time since Tom Brady left the Patriots has seen his stock go down, leaving many to believe that Brady “carried” Bill. Brady won a Super Bowl with Tampa and Bill had a couple of “meh” years and a rough 2023, meaning that at the end of the year, the Patriots went in a different direction. After interviewing with the Falcons and ultimately coming up short, he sat out this year.
From what I’ve seen and read, Bill likely wasn’t going to be a candidate for an NFL job this year, and according to reports, he was “angry with the NFL” and it’s been referred to as his “middle finger to the league”.
Honestly? It gives off “you can’t fire me, I quit” vibes.
Part 2: The Deal and the Ultimatum
The deal reported is 5 years at $10 Million a year. That puts him sixth amongst college coaches in yearly salary, tied with Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Florida State’s Mike Norvell. The key difference? Those guys have coached in college before- and for a long time as well. Norvell almost coached the Seminoles to the CFP last year, and DeBoer was in the national title game with Washington last season. There’s a 10 Million dollar buyout in Bill’s contract, that lowers to only 1 Million after next season, which caught me off guard at first and then I realized why. The extra reporting that it appears as though the succession plan is Stephen Belichick- Bill’s 37-year-old son who is currently Washington’s defensive coordinator. Stephen has never been a head coach before and this past season was his first year ever being a coordinator at any level.
That on its own was strange but then came the “Belichick Brigade” if you will. Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner- son of former NFL coach Norv- appears to be on his way come the end of the NFL season after he wraps up his duties running the trainwreck that is the Vegas Raiders’ offense. Also, in the new world of college football, where teams are bringing in de facto “GMs”, would you maybe bring in a former athletic director, with boatloads of experience? Nope, bring in Michael Lombardi, the former NFL general manager who hasn’t worked in a front office of any kind in over a decade, ultimately was phased out of NFL Network programming before going to The Ringer and has since then popped up now and then to criticize the NFL and its decision-makers. I’m sensing a theme here.
Part 3: The Reaction and Fallout
There’s been a lot of comparing this situation to Colorado hiring Deion Sanders. The key difference is that Deion coached at Jackson State before, and despite my own opinions on the media’s fascination with Sanders, he was successful at that level and had a key differentiator. He was a great recruiter and had great college football talent in his bloodline that was coming to Boulder with him. Love him or hate him, Deion connects with college football players. Can Bill?
Belichick isn’t exactly known for his kind and gentle demeanour. He’s not exactly known for being a good salesman, so how is that going to translate to recruiting? Tom Brady even joked about that recently saying Bill might struggle with recruiting visits and connecting with high school recruits. Gronk and Julian Edelman said they “can’t imagine” him coaching at the college level. They did say that the program is lucky to have him and the players can gain a lot from him, but it’s telling that three of the players you associate with Belichick’s Patriots aren’t exactly jumping out of their skin to lay compliments at BB’s feet.
Not to mention, if Mack Brown was “too old” at 73 and the school was questioning how long he’d be there, it’s more than a little ironic that Belichick was their man given that he’s SEVENTY-TWO. That extra year made that much difference? If I’m recruiting against UNC, I’m using that to my advantage. “Hey (insert recruit name), how long is he going to be there for your time in college?”
Part 4: My vibe on the situation
Ultimately, this could go one of two ways. First, Bill’s motivation to get back at the NFL for having the nerve to not hire his grumpy, unchanging, stubborn ass pays off with success (and clicks) for UNC, and he becomes the next media sensation of college football like Deion- ultimately even being an ACC contender. Or, the more likely one, this was a short term mess, and UNC is stuck with a nepo-baby in charge. Either way, this’ll be a fascinating situation to keep an eye on for at least the next year or so, until I probably get sick and tired of seeing it. If I had to grade it, I’d give it an I for “I don’t fuckin’ know.”