UNC Football

Bill Belichick surprised many by accepting the head coaching position at the University of North Carolina last week. Intrigued by the opportunity with the Tar Heels, he decided to make the jump to college coaching, despite anticipating interest from NFL teams once the season concluded.

"I think there would've been some interest, but in the end, really, it's not about what could've been or would've been, it's about the opportunity at North Carolina," Belichick told Jim Gray on the Let's Go! podcast (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). "I think this program is in the right spot now to take off."

The 72-year-old NFL coaching legend believes he can build a winning team at North Carolina, a program that finished the regular season 6-6 ahead of their bowl game, and he is confident he can do it quickly.

"We're gonna get the team, make it as competitive as we can as soon as we can," Belichick said.

Despite Belichick's enthusiasm for joining the program, the Tar Heels and Belichick agreed to a buyout clause reduced to six months and $1 million, suggesting potential flexibility if he decides to return to the NFL in 2026, according to Gray.

Prior to his deal with North Carolina, Belichick reportedly expressed interest in a head coaching opening with the New York Jets. However, the time crunch between the Jets' delay in responding and the Tar Heels needing a decision led to the end of his NFL career and his transition to college football.

"What I heard was that Bill did indeed reach out to (former Jets general manager) Mike Tannenbaum," Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer said Sunday. "(Mike) Tannenbaum was a little stunned but brought it back to the Jets' front office people, and they mulled it. And they were working to set up a conversation between Belichick and Woody Johnson."

Belichick also did not respond to at least one other team that had shown interest, signaling that he was prioritizing the Jets and not actively seeking other opportunities, according to Breer.

"This was a real thing," Breer said. "I do think it illustrates that Bill at least wanted to make sure that the door was closed on the NFL for right now before he jumped into the college ranks."

Belichick has never coached at the college level. He began his NFL career in 1975 with the Baltimore Colts, which eventually led to his 24-year tenure as head coach of the Patriots until 2023.

Bill Belichick is heading to the college game just 15 wins short of surpassing Don Shula's NFL record of 347 victories.

That made his move to North Carolina a surprise to some, though Belichick expressed Monday that his six Super Bowl titles as a head coach were more important to him than the chance to set the all-time wins record.

"I never really gave that one a lot of thought, to be completely honest with you. It's not about wins to me, it's about championships," he said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. "That's what I wanna do, I wanna win championships. The wins are great, and you've gotta win games to win championships, I get that. But to me it's about championships and that's really what I'm most proud of."

Belichick also won two championships as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants between 1985-90.

The 72-year-old's decorated coaching career was entirely in the NFL until now, starting in 1975 as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts. He was then on the coaching staffs of the Detroit Lions (1976-77), Denver Broncos (1978) and Giants (1979-90) before becoming the head coach of the Cleveland Browns (1991-95).

His first stint as a head coach wasn't terribly fruitful. He went just 36-44 with the Browns, reaching the playoffs once.

From there, he spent a season with the New England Patriots as an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach (1996) before spending three seasons with the New York Jets as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach (1997-99).

He was supposed to succeed Bill Parcells as the Jets' head coach heading into the 2000 season but quit and sued both the NFL and organization to get out of his contract, in part because of his disdain for team owner Woody Johnson. He was ultimately traded to the Patriots, and the rest is history.

Now, Belichick is adding a new chapter to his long and storied coaching career, attempting to tame the wilds of the college game for North Carolina, traditionally a basketball school. It's a surprising new twist, but if ACC titles and berths in the College Football Playoff follow, both North Carolina and Belichick will be more than happy with his third act.

As Bill Belichick embarks on his new life as UNC head coach, some are wondering how he will handle the nuances of college football that he didn't have to deal with during his legendary NFL career.

The Athletic's Mike Sando spoke to an NFL coach who questioned whether Belichick is ready to navigate the transfer portal and other cumbersome aspects of being a college football head coach in this current era.

"Bill used to put up an empty depth chart on the first day of camp, telling the guys they had to earn everything," the coach said. "How he's going to have transfers telling him they want X number of plays per game, or this many targets? What's he going to do when some kid in the portal tells him what jersey number he wants?"

Belichick will have the benefit of a general manager, as former NFL executive Michael Lombardi was hired alongside him to help revolutionize the Tar Heels football program. While it could take some time for Belichick to adjust to life at the collegiate level, there are some who are confident in his chances to succeed at UNC.

"They already understand the cap, they understand how to pay and who to pay and how to structure a roster," an NFL executive told Sando. "Colleges right now are scrambling to learn that and define that. These college coaches have really been their own GMs, and they have hired young guys to recruit. Belichick is going to be ahead."

Bill Belichick was not only the head coach of the New England Patriots for two decades, he also served as the de facto general manager for the team during much of that time. And while his personnel decisions later in his tenure left plenty to be desired, he still will bring plenty of evaluation experience to North Carolina alongside his coaching acumen.

"They will be better evaluators than 90 percent of these major colleges will be," a veteran NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic.

"They already understand the cap, they understand how to pay and who to pay and how to structure a roster," the executive added. "Colleges right now are scrambling to learn that and define that. These college coaches have really been their own GMs, and they have hired young guys to recruit. Belichick is going to be ahead."

Granted, recruiting and even the transfer portal is a different beast. It will be an adjustment.

"Bill used to put up an empty depth chart on the first day of camp, telling the guys they had to earn everything," a coach told Sando. "How he's going to have transfers telling him they want X number of plays per game, or this many targets? What's he going to do when some kid in the portal tells him what jersey number he wants?"

This is where the central intrigue lies for Belichick's North Carolina tenure—how will he adjust to the quirks of the college game? Or will he adjust at all?

If the answer to that second question is no, his time in Chapel Hill may be short-lived.

If Bill Belichick doesn't find his way back to the NFL, he could find himself in Canton instead.

According to Mike Sando of The Athletic, Belichick becoming head coach at North Carolina makes him eligible for a spot in the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class if he doesn't come back to the NFL by that time. The Hall requires coaches to be at least one year removed from the league before they can be considered.

Belichick's potential 2026 induction would mean that other coaches in line for Hall consideration such as Mike Shanahan and Tom Coughlin would have to wait a year longer, per Sando.

After mutually agreeing to part ways with the New England Patriots at the end of the 2023 season, Belichick signed a five-year contract worth $50 million to join the Tar Heels on Wednesday.

The 72-year-old could pursue a return to the league, though. He was reportedly interested in the New York Jets' vacancy before agreeing to terms with North Carolina, while ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed that there's a sense the NFL door isn't closed on Belichick for good.

Belichick also has a $10 million buyout in his Tar Heels contract, but it drops to just $1 million in June 2025 (h/t Chris Vannini of The Athletic).

He expressed his commitment to the school during his introductory press conference at Chapel Hill.

If Belichick chooses to stay with the Tar Heels in 2026, his eventual Hall of Fame selection is a no-brainer. He's one of the most accomplished coaches in NFL history, winning six Super Bowl titles with the Patriots and earning two more championships as a defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.

He owns an all-time head coaching record of 302-165.

Belichick could still pursue a return to the NFL, but he has a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame waiting if he remains at North Carolina.

Tom Brady, Bill Belichick's longtime quarterback with the New England Patriots, was just as shocked as the rest of the football world when Belichick took the University of North Carolina head coaching position this week.

"Kind of blew me away when I heard the news," Brady said during Sunday's broadcast of the Philadelphia Eagles' win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Despite his surprise, Brady had nothing but praise for the veteran coach as he ventures into new territory.

"I didn't think that was an opportunity he was looking at but they're getting an obviously tremendous coach," Brady said during his Fox broadcast on Sunday. "Being in that locker room with him for as many years (as I was), those guys are going to play very hard (and) he's going to coach them well. It's a great benefit for all those players going to that program, because ether getting the best coach that the NFL has ever seen, now he's at a college level."

Brady joked that the recruiting calls might be a struggle for Belcichik as he is not the "warmest and fuzziest of all times."

Along with Brady former teammate and player of Belichick Tedy Bruschi, a former linebacker expressed his opinion on Belichick's new path.

"What are we doing here? I mean, with Bill Belichick going to coach North Carolina. I mean, college football — there's only one bowl game I want to see Bill Belichick coaching and that's the Super Bowl, OK?" Bruschi said, per Fox Sports' Ryan Gaydos. "I don't want to see him coaching some Lawnmower Bowl in December or January. That's just not who I am."

Belichick landed the job last week after reportedly inquiring about a head coach opening with the New York Jets. But the time crunch between the Jets giving an answer and the Tarheels needing a decision ultimately led to the demise of his stay in the NFL and his arrival in college football.

At 72 years old, Belichick has never coached at the college level. He began his NFL career in 1975 with the Baltimore Colts, which eventually led to his 24-year tenure as head coach of the Patriots until 2023.

The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach will certainly draw attention to the Tar Heels next season.

Bill Belichick's decision to take the head coaching gig for the North Carolina Tar Heels was somewhat surprising, given he had spent his entire coaching career in the NFL.

But as ESPN's Adam Schefter reported during Sunday's SportsCenter, Belichick took the certainty of a job he was offered over the unknown of the NFL coaching market:

Ultimately in the end, he took the bird in hand. He didn't trust the NFL—that bypassed him last year in favor of some of the coaches hired—to do the right thing and hire him this year. And again, we talked about this other day. You talk about some of these franchises not being well-run, incompetent, relevant, whatever you want to call them. Look what Belichick did for North Carolina. North Carolina Football got more attention this past week than it did in the last 30 years combined because of Belichick. So, if there's an NFL team, any NFL team, that hires Belichick, not only do you get the credibility, but you get the relevancy and everything that comes along with hiring a guy like Belichick.

One of the other surprising factors for Belichick's jump to the college game was that he's just 15 wins away from surpassing Don Shula's record of 347 NFL wins. That would have been quite the achievement to add to his six Super Bowl titles as a head coach.

Not that an eventual return to the NFL would be a surprise, especially given that his contract buyout becomes just $1 million on June 1 (until then, it stands at $10 million). If Belichick doesn't enjoy his first season in Chapel Hill, it won't be hard for him to move on.

Granted, the NFL didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for him in last year's coaching market after he parted ways with the New England Patriots. The only team who formally interviewed him was the Atlanta Falcons, twice, with Schefter noting that "Atlanta bypassed him when there were people around the league who thought that that deal was getting done, and it was tracking to get done until it didn't. And then Washington did have some contact, but was so far down the road with Dan Quinn that it wasn't gonna waver from its stance."

And Belichick also noted in his introductory press conference with North Carolina that he "didn't come here to leave. I feel like doing this a long time. I'm good to go."

"I always wanted to coach in college football, it just never really worked out. I had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK," he added. "But this is really a dream come true. I grew up in college football with my dad and as a kid all I knew was college football. It's great to come back home to Carolina and back into an environment I grew up in."

Time will tell if the North Carolina job sticks. If the NFL comes inquiring in the future, however, it's hard to see Belichick ignoring those overtures completely.

Bill Belichick still needs to fill out his first staff as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, and he reportedly has his eye on the NFL level.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Sunday that Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Scott Turner "has emerged as a top target" to fill the same role with the ACC program under the legendary head coach.

Turner was promoted to the interim offensive coordinator position with the Raiders after they fired Luke Getsy following a 2-7 start to the season.

Things haven't exactly gone well, as Las Vegas is 0-4 since the move and did not reach the 20-point mark in any of those games. It is just 2-11 overall and in last place in the AFC West.

Given the team's position, it is anything but a certainty the front office will bring back head coach Antonio Pierce and his staff for the 2025 campaign. With that in mind, Turner, who is the son of former NFL head coach Norv Turner, may need a landing spot.

Perhaps that landing spot will be in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, alongside arguably the greatest coach in NFL history.

Unlike Belichick, Turner has some experience in the college game. He was an offensive assistant and then wide receivers coach for three seasons with Pittsburgh from 2008 through 2010 and was also on Jim Harbaugh's Michigan staff as an offensive analyst in 2017.

He also got his coaching start as a graduate assistant with Oregon State in 2005.

Yet he is more experienced at the NFL level with stops with the Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Commanders and Raiders. He was most notably the offensive coordinator for Washington for three seasons from 2020-22 before he joined the Raiders as a passing game coordinator in 2023.

The Commanders made the playoffs once during his tenure as the OC and lost in the Wild Card Round to end their 2020 campaign.

North Carolina will be firmly under the spotlight during Belichick's first season as the head coach, and he would at least know Turner is an experienced play-caller who has held jobs at the collegiate and NFL levels.

Bryce Baker will stick with North Carolina after the Tar Heels fired head coach Mack Brown and replaced him with legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick.

Baker, a 4-star quarterback out of the Class of 2025 who committed to North Carolina in 2023, reaffirmed his commitment and will sign with the Tar Heels, per ESPN's Eli Lederman.

Baker expressed confidence in Belichick and his staff's vision for the program.

"Their experience in the NFL is huge," Baker said. "They've been on the level that I'm trying to get to. I feel like that separates them from a lot of other schools. They want to develop me, and they know the intricacies that will help me get to my goals. I feel like [Belichick] will bring in the right pieces to build around me. They're going to make me a priority."

After Baker's decision, he and Belichick were introduced and posed together at a North Carolina basketball game:

Baker is considered to be the No. 80 player in the Class of 2025, the No. 8 quarterback and the No. 3 player in North Carolina by 247Sports Composite. He held offers from Penn State, LSU, Florida and others.

According to Lederman, Baker visited Penn State on Nov. 30 and was between North Carolina and the Nittany Lions following Mack's firing. He ultimately decided to stick with the Tar Heels after a phone call with Belichick on Thursday.

Baker will hold a signing ceremony on Dec. 18 before enrolling at North Carolina in January, per 247Sports' Don Callahan.

North Carolina has just nine commits from the Class of 2025. Belichick's first task as head coach will be working to get late commits and players out of the transfer portal to attempt to field a competitive team next fall.

Landing Baker is a good start after he threw for 3,099 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and four interceptions in his senior season with East Forsyth in Kernersville, North Carolina. Baker's pledge to Belichick could also lead to a plethora of other recruits trusting the six-time Super Bowl winner to take them to the next level.

Austin Alexander, a 4-star defensive end out of Kentucky, committed to Brown's Tar Heels in April but has not signed with North Carolina yet. He told ESPN that he's not rushing the process but has "excitement" about the prospect of playing for Belichick.

"Initial feelings are very mixed thoughts," Alexander said. "There's excitement and wonder. I'm just interested to see what's going to happen. I do not have a timeline. I am just taking it day by day."

North Carolina has not won 10 or more games since 2015 and finished a mediocre 44-32 under Brown. While Belichick is unproven at the collegiate level, his track record of success as a head coach gave Baker enough confidence to stick with the Tar Heels and they're hoping he can be the coach to take them to a championship-contending level.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was happy for Bill Belichick after he agreed to become North Carolina's next head coach, but he doesn't believe that the transition from the NFL to the college level will be easy.

"I'm happy for Bill," Saban said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. "I think he probably wanted a new challenge and this is certainly going to be a great challenge for him. North Carolina is a great academic institution, as well as it's got plenty of athletic tradition there in basketball, football. Bill's a great coach."

"But I think the biggest thing that will be a challenge for him is the time that you have to spend recruiting, making phone calls, talking to parents and all those types of things to get the kind of players that you need," he added.

Belichick signed a five-year contract worth $50 million to join the Tar Heels on Wednesday night, taking over after former head coach Mack Brown was fired.

Personnel decisions shouldn't be too hard for the veteran coach, as Belichick served as the de facto general manager for the New England Patriots from 2000 through 2023 and oversaw six Super Bowl victories.

He'll also be joined by Michael Lombardi, who previously served as an executive with the Patriots and has NFL general manger experience. Lombardi will own the same title on the Tar Heels.

If there's anyone who knows what it takes to lead a successful college football program, it's Saban. The seven-time national champion built the Crimson Tide into one of the country's most dominant teams throughout his tenure that included six national titles.

He's also familiar with the transition between the NFL and college, as he was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins prior to taking over at Alabama.

Saban expressed his belief that Belichick is an exceptional coach, but he also knows that his work is cut out for him as he begins his new role at North Carolina.