Chapel Hill, N.C. (WEEI/WGR Sports Radio 550) - There's a new sheriff in Chapel Hill, and his name is Bill Belichick.
The University of North Carolina has officially named Belichick as the football program's new head football coach Wednesday night.
The University of North Carolina Board of Trustees is set to meet Thursday to approve the five-year contract for Belichick to be the 35th head football coach in program history.
The 72-year-old succeeds college football legend Mack Brown as the next man at the helm for the Tar Heels, as UNC announced the firing of the 73-year-old days after a blowout loss to Boston College at Chestnut Hill. Brown finished the 2024 season 6-6, bringing his overall record at Chapel Hill to 44-33 during his second stint as their head coach (2019-24).
The just-over-.500 nature of Brown’s tenure describes the essence of Tar Heels football to a tee. Playing football since 1888, UNC has a winning percentage of .566, with only eight conference titles to its name.
In 29 seasons as a coach at the professional level, Belichick amassed 302 regular season wins, good for third all-time behind Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches George Halas (318) and Don Shula (328). His 31 playoff wins, nine conference championships and six Super Bowl wins rank No. 1 for head coaches in NFL history.
Belichick’s pursuit of the NFL all-time regular season wins record will go on hold, for now, as he attempts to bring the winning culture he helped establish in New England to a North Carolina program that has never come close to the top of the college football mountain.
While Belichick is most often linked with the Navy football program, with his dad coaching there for 34 years (1956-89), Belichick also has ties through his father to UNC.
Before joining the Navy coaching staff in 1956, the late Steve Belichick spent three seasons as the backfield coach for the Tar Heels (1953-55).