BOSTON — Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has reached a deal to become the next head football coach of the University of North Carolina.
The school announced in a statement that the 72-year-old Belichick agreed to terms on a five-year deal with the Tar Heels. The contract must still be approved by the school’s Board of Trustees and Board of Governors.
Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, said in a statement that, “I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill. I grew up around college football with my Dad and treasured those times. I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.”
This is quite the move for Belichick, who has never coached at the collegiate level and will have to get used to coaching on Saturdays instead of Sundays, along with several other differences between the college and pro games.
But after being shut out of NFL jobs last winter, he’s ready for a new chapter in his Hall of Fame career. He’ll now look to turn North Carolina — a powerhouse in college basketball — into a powerhouse of college football.
Belichick will now become the 35th head football coach in UNC history. He replaces Mack Brown, who was fired last month after a 6-6 season. Brown was 113-79-1 over his six seasons with the Tar Heels, and was 1-4 in bowl games with the school.
Belichick interviewed with North Carolina last week and the two sides met for five hours on Sunday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Monday. Belichick reportedly agreed to become the next Tar Heels head coach on Tuesday, but only if the university accepted a 400-page “organizational bible” that included stipulations on his staff, their salary, and a request for his son Stephen to be named his successor, according to Ollie Connolly of Read Optional.
While Belichick will now have to deal with things like recruiting, the transfer portal, and NIL, he recently said that the college game has become a lot like the NFL game in recent years.
“A lot of football programs are being structured similar to NFL programs,” Belichick said Monday on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show. “In college, you have high school recruiting and the portal. In the NFL, you have the draft and free agency. Salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents, and in college it’s whoever is representing the player. You have players changing teams in college as you have players changing teams in the NFL. There are different rules, but the same general structure.”
Belichick said during that chat that he would — hypothetically, at the time — run an NFL program at the college level.
“IF — I-F — If I was in a college program, it would be a pipeline to the NFL for players who have the ability to play in the NFL,” he 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’s the end of their college career or the end of their pro career.”
Belichick said his program would teach time management, discipline, and structure — and lots and lots of football, of course — that would have players ready for the next level, whether it’s the NFL or not.
Belichick will go down as one of the greatest NFL head coaches ever, and is just 15 wins away from breaking Don Shula’s all-time wins record (regular season and postseason combined). He has eight Super Bowl rings — six as head coach of the Patriots and two as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants — and his 31 playoff wins are the most by a head coach in league history.
Prior to his 24-year dynastic run with the Patriots, Belichick was head coach of the Cleveland Browns for five seasons. He 302-165 during the regular season in the NFL and 31-13 overall in the playoffs as a head coach.
Belichick and the Patriots parted ways “mutually” following the 2023 season, which saw the Patriots go just 4-13 and miss the playoffs for the third time over a four-year stretch.
Belichick’s coaching career has spanned nearly 50 years, starting as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts in 1975.
While Belichick has no real connection to North Carolina, the Belichick family does. Belichick’s father, Steve, spent three years as an assistant coach at the school from 1953-55, prior to his 30-year run at Navy.
A blast from the past: Bill Belichick at North Carolina in the 1950s, as displayed on @PatMcAfeeShow. pic.twitter.com/WP22tTKp9h
It was during Steve’s tenure with Navy that Belichick fell in love with football, and it shaped a lot of what he brought to the NFL when he started his coaching career.
“I grew up around college football and some great Navy teams,” Belichick said during his appearance with McAfee. “I learned a lot and modeled my pro teams around the teams I grew up around at the Naval Academy.”
