On Thursday, the eyes of the entire football world were glued to Chapel Hill, NC, as six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick was officially introduced as the 35th head football coach in North Carolina Tar Heels history.
After opening remarks from Belichick, UNC chancellor Lee H. Roberts and athletic director Bubba Cunningham, the former New England Patriots head coach answered questions from assembled media for the better part of 40 minutes.
“I’ve always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick said during his opening remarks. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. But this is really kind of a dream come true.
“I grew up in college football with my dad as a coach at Navy for 50 years, so as a kid, all I knew was college football. And so it’s great to come back home to Carolina, and back in an environment that I really grew up in.”
As has been discussed over the last few days, Belichick’s late father Steve was a backfield coach at UNC before beginning his iconic run at the Naval Academy, which meant the now-head coach of North Carolina spent three years of his early childhood living in Chapel Hill.
“You know, when you’re little, you don’t remember everything,” said Belichick. “Obviously, I was too young to remember a lot of things from Carolina. But as I grew up, you know, you hear the same story over and over and over and over again.
“And so one story I always heard was, ‘Billy’s first words were ‘Beat Duke.’”
This, obviously, played well to the room, drawing applause from the pro-UNC attendees.
With stories like this one, as well as bringing one of his dad’s 1950s UNC football hoodies with him on stage, it was made clear that Belichick is diving head-first into being a true “college football guy,” if you will.
Despite this outward embrace of the college game, Belichick said there will still be an NFL presence within the Tar Heels program, mentioning the hiring of former NFL executive Michael Lombardi as UNC football’s general manager, and the retention of former NFL head coach Freddie Kitchens, who is currently serving as the team’s interim head coach as they prepare for an appearance in the 2024 Fenway Bowl against UConn.
“There will certainly be a strong presence of NFL people on the staff - I think that’s a certainty,” said Belichick. “And not only in the staff, but in the training area. But at the same time, looking for the best people we can get for Carolina. That fit, I think, is a little different than what an NFL team would have, but we’ll see.”
For a man who has spent half-a-century coaching at the professional level, it only makes sense that Belichick would look to both draw on that experience as a building block, as well as use that as a selling point to bring in talent.
Belichick joins Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Bill Walsh as the only other Super Bowl-winning head coach to take a job at the college level after raising a Lombardi Trophy.
Walsh did so with Stanford in the early 1990s - a place he had coached for two seasons before taking over the 49ers in 1979. When Walsh returned to Palo Alto in 1992, he had already been retired from the NFL for four years. In his first year at the helm, Stanford went 10-3, winning their conference for the first time since 1971 and finishing the year ranked No. 9 in the AP Poll. He would proceed to go 7-14 over the next two seasons before officially calling it a career.
Belichick, only one season removed from the game after a mutual parting of ways with the Patriots back in January, would more than welcome a first season at UNC like Walsh had at Stanford, as would the famous UNC alumni Belichick has already been in touch with.
“I’ve had conversations with, you know, Julius [Peppers], L.T. [Lawrence Taylor],” said Belichick. “I mean, these are the greatest players to have played here. Very supportive. You know, talked to Michael [Jordan] the other day. Very supportive.
“There’s been a ton of support from ex-players and, you know, other UNC alums. This is a great brand, and a great support system here. So I’m excited to spend more time with these people, and to get the support that they’ve, I’ll say, promised. But they, you know, indicated how much they want to be a part of the program, and how much I want them a part of it.”
Belichick was asked if his lack of college coaching experience would put him behind the 8-ball when it came to developing young players - an especially relevant question given the decade of dud-drafts he oversaw during the second half of his tenure in New England.
It felt like Belichick had the answer to this question ready in the holster.
“If you look at the players we had in the NFL - Tom Brady was a fourth-string quarterback his rookie year,” said Belichick. “He didn’t exactly come in, you know, with any play time at all. You know, Gronkowski - he, you know, didn’t do too much his rookie year. Julian Edelman played quarterback in college, and he was a wide receiver and then was a punt returner.
“So developing players is something that Michael [Lombardi] and I believe strongly in, and will support that with a staff, and will support that with the program. There’s a lot of opportunity and room for growth for all players, whether 19, 20, or honestly 22, 23. Now look, there’s a certain point in their NFL career where, you know, they kind of level off and maybe able to maintain that is really where they’re at. But there’s so much growth in players. And again, I just think there’s a little more time to do it here at the college level. And I’m excited about that opportunity.”
Six Super Bowl rings.
Developed the greatest QB and tight end of all-time.
Came home to Carolina after half a century in the NFL.
MJ and LT are going to be around the program.
You could start to see the formula for his recruiting pitch for the Tar Heels coming together in real time.
But it’s that NFL piece that, understandably, could be a hang-up for a recruit looking to find their forever home (a rarity in today’s landscape, of course). With Belichick 27 regular season wins away from passing Don Shula as the winningest head coach in NFL history, the specter of the future Hall of Famer eventually leaving for an opportunity in the pros is a valid concern.
Pat Welter of WRAL-TV asked, “Bill, what do you say to people that fear that, if you do succeed here, that you might leave for the NFL again in a year or two?”
“Yeah, I didn’t come here to leave,” said Belichick, again drawing applause from a crowd undoubtedly filled with Tar Heel faithful.
Belichick’s clear intention on Thursday was to project how “all-in” he was on this new foray into college football at age 72.
Whether or not he still bleeds Carolina blue when the next NFL owner gives him a ring about an opening next winter remains to be seen.