UNC Officially Has Its New Head Coach
By: Robert MacRae December 11, 2024

The North Carolina football program officially has its new head man.

North Carolina has finalized a contract to bring in Bill Belichick. Belichick and UNC have officially agreed to terms for Belichick to be the Tar Heels’ next head coach, according to multiple reports.

The 72-year-old Belichick, one of the best coaches in the history of the NFL, spent the 2024 season out of coaching.

The legendary former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl champion confirmed on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday that he had discussed the North Carolina head-coaching vacancy and had a “couple of good conversations” with UNC chancellor Lee Roberts. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Belichick had a five-hour meeting with North Carolina officials on Sunday.

Although he has never been a college coach, Belichick grew up around the college game. His father, Steve, served three years as an assistant coach at UNC before spending more than three decades as an assistant at Navy.

Belichick described to McAfee what it would look like if he ran a college program, saying the structure of the program would be like “an NFL program, but not at the NFL level.”

“Let me put this in capital letters. If – IF – 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. “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 an education that would get the players ready for their career after football, whether that was the end of their college career or at the end of their pro career.

“But it would be geared toward developing the player, time management, discipline, structure and all that, that would be life skills regardless of whether they were in the NFL or somewhere in business. I feel very confident that I have the contacts in the National Football League to pave the way for those players that would have the ability to have the opportunity to compete in the National Football League. Whether they’re good enough or not, I don’t know. But they would be ready for it, I don’t have any doubt about that.”

Of course, Belichick is replacing Mack Brown, who was fired by UNC after six seasons in his second stint in Chapel Hill. The Hall of Fame coach went a combined 113-78-1 over his two stints with the Tar Heels and led them to the ACC title game in 2022, when they lost to Clemson. He won a national title at Texas following his first stint at UNC, and his 288 career victories rank seventh on the FBS all-time list.

Clemson is scheduled to play the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill next season at a date to be announced.

Update: North Carolina officially announced the hiring of Belichick on Wednesday night.

–Photo courtesy Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports