CHARLOTTE — Bill Belichick thinks a lot of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and has enjoyed being around him since he returned to coaching in January.

However, that could change in November.

The six-time Super Bowl head coach took over as North Carolina’s head man after Mack Brown was let go following the 2024 regular season. Swinney and Belichick have hung out some during ACC meetings and such over the last six months.

“Dabo has been a friend for a long time,” Belichick said during Day 3 of the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff at the Hilton Uptown in Charlotte.  “We’ve scouted his players from the NFL down there. Some of the players that are here today, I actually thought, maybe we’ll be drafting one of these guys, and now here we are going to be playing against them.

“But Dabo has been great. I have so much respect for him and the Clemson program, what he’s done, the way he runs it. It’s high quality. Kids are high quality.”

Belichick’s Tar Heels will host Swinney and the Tigers on Oct. 4 in Chapel Hill.

“Again, I have a ton of respect for Dabo and what he’s done,” Belichick said. “Great opportunity to spend some time with him at the ACC coaches’ meetings, and he’s always been a really enjoyable guy to be around. I don’t know if that’ll be true on (that) Saturday afternoon. Probably not. But at least in these meetings it is.”

Belichick has always been impressed with Swinney’s recruiting skills, especially with his recruitment of former All-American Christian Wilkins.

“He came up to New England, got probably the top player out of New England in the last probably decade, in Christian Wilkins out of Springfield,” Belichick said. “I think that says a lot for the program that he runs and what he’s done for not only college football but all the student-athletes that he’s coached there. They’ve gone on to represent him and the school very well.”