WS Chronicle

It was announced last week that Bill Belichick will be the next head coach for the UNC Tar Heels. Belichick will replace Mack Brown, who was recently informed he would not be returning as the head coach of the program.

Belichick and UNC agreed to a five-year deal to have the six-time Super Bowl winning head coach man the sidelines in Chapel Hill. Belichick was introduced as head coach last week during a press conference and he was greeted with a standing ovation upon entering the room from the Tar Heel faithful.

Belichick previously spent his entire coaching career in the NFL and is second only to Don Shula in regular season wins. He said it was always a dream for him to coach at the college level, but this was his first opportunity to do so.

“It just never really worked out,” Belichick said. “Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK, but this is a dream come true. I grew up in college football with my dad. As a kid, all I knew was college football.”

There is a direct connection between Belichick and UNC as his father Steve served as an assistant coach for UNC from 1953 to 1955. As everyone knows, the Tar Heels prefer to hire head coaches that have a connection to the school.

“It’s great to come back home to Carolina and back into the environment that I really grew up in,” he said. “When you’re little, you don’t remember everything. I was too young to remember a lot of things at Carolina, but as I grew up, you hear the same story over and over and over again. One story I always heard was, ‘Billy’s first words were, ‘Beat Duke.’”

Mack Brown ended his second tenure as UNC head coach following a 6-6 season for the Tar Heels. He finishes his second stint as head coach with a 44-33 record overall in six seasons and a 113-78-1 overall record with the Tar Heels.

“While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time,” Brown said in a statement. “I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and will always cherish the memories and relationships Sally and I have built while serving as head coach.

“We’ve had the chance to coach and mentor some great young men, and we’ll miss having the opportunity to do that in the future.”

Brown is the most successful coach in the history of the program. During his first stint as head coach, he turned UNC into a consistently relevant program. After returning to the Tar Heels in 2019, he took the program to the ACC championship game in 2022, but never lived up to the lofty expectations.

After leaving UNC the first time, Brown took the job at the University of Texas and won a national championship in one of the most memorable championship games against the USC Trojans. 

According to several reports, there were supporters on both sides for Brown. There were some that wanted the legendary coach to stay and go out on his own terms, while there were people on the other side that wanted a new coach on the sideline.

Bringing in a coach with the prestige Belichick carries is a major win for the Tar Heels. He can walk into any recruit’s home and immediately garner respect and admiration. He said the goal for taking the job is to turn the program into a “pipeline” to the NFL.

“It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL,” he said.

That type of program would be a major attraction for many high school players who have a dream of playing at the professional level. For years, UNC has had issues with securing the top talent from the state as they have to not only compete with in-state schools like NC State, Duke and Wake Forest, they also must deal with regional juggernauts like Georgia, Clemson and Tennessee poaching in-state athletes as well.

With Belichick at the helm, the program has already secured four-star prospect Bryce Baker from East Forsyth High School. In the coming years, I am positive that Belichick will continue to keep more athletes in state.

This is a big hire for UNC Chancellor Lee H. Roberts. Roberts took over as chancellor in January and faced a lot of criticism from faculty and students due to him not having any experience in higher education. The hiring of Belichick should quiet the criticism a bit, especially if the football program starts to compete for championships once again.

“We know that college athletics is changing, and those changes require new and innovative thinking. Bill Belichick is a football legend and hiring him to lead our program represents a new approach that will ensure Carolina football can evolve, compete and win today and in the future,” Roberts said.

Even though UNC is happy about the hiring of Belichick, there were several analysts that feel the job is “beneath” Belichick and he only took the position because he couldn’t find a job in the NFL and also to secure his son as the head-coach-in-waiting at UNC.

I don’t think Belichick took the position just because he couldn’t find a job in the NFL. He has proved his worth at the professional level and now I think he wants to prove himself at the college level. Plus, I also think he wants to show that his success in the league was not just due to Tom Brady, which is why I think he will finish the five years of the contract.

In any case, this is a huge win for the Tar Heels no matter how long Belichick stays. I have a feeling he will have quick success, similar to what Deion Sanders did at Colorado. The ACC is not a powerhouse conference with a few good recruiting classes; the Tar Heels could be competing for ACC championships in a year or two. 

I for one will be intrigued to see how quickly Belichick can make the Heels into contenders.