The coach with the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history might be coming to college football.
Bill Belichick confirmed this week that he spoke recently with the University of North Carolina about its vacant head coaching position after reports surfaced about him going through the interview process with Tar Heels’ officials. The former New England Patriots coach has been making weekly media appearances with ESPN, ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ and ‘Inside the NFL,’ among other ventures since the Patriots elected to end their 24-year partnership with Belichick last January.
Belichick, 72, has 333 career wins, eight Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl wins over 29 seasons as an NFL head coach, but he has never coached at the collegiate level. His father, Steve Belichick, was a longtime assistant coach at Navy.
Bill Belichick’s apparent willingness to replace Mack Brown at UNC, and perhaps bypass any NFL coach openings this offseason, is suddenly the biggest storyline during this year’s college football coaching carousel. But UNC still must agree Belichick is the right choice and then come to terms with him with enough money left over to put together a college football roster that resembles the NFL more than ever before.
A decision by either Belichick or UNC could be imminent with the transfer portal already open. Here are the latest updates on the coaching search and the intriguing developments surrounding Belichick’s potential future in college football:
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Bill Belichick: Latest updates, rumors on UNC coaching search
The latest national reports suggest that Belichick is considering an offer to become North Carolina’s next football coach, but The Athletic, ESPN and the Raleigh News and Observer have each reported in previous stories that a power struggle going on within North Carolina is holding up the process to make Belichick the next Tar Heels’ football coach. ESPN reported that UNC Board of Trustees chair John P. Preyer has been a key Belichick advocate. Preyer said publicly he did not like how Brown’s firing was handled by North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham.
Other issues standing in the way of Belichick becoming UNC’s coach include the potential role of his son Stephen Belichick, UNC’s NIL resources, Belichick’s salary and resources for the staff, according to ESPN. Stephen Belichick is currently the defensive coordinator at the University of Washington.
Tulane’s Jon Sumrall was also tied to the UNC job, but took his name out of the running Monday when he announced he would be staying with the Green Wave. UNC has also spoken to Army’s Jeff Monken about the opening, as well as Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann and former Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers head coach Steve Wilks, according to ESPN. Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also said UNC approached to discuss the job opening shortly after Brown’s dismissal was announced last month.
If things fall through with Belichick, there will be a lot of pressure on UNC to hire a new coach quickly.
Belichick, during his weekly appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Monday did not discuss specifics about his conversations with North Carolina. But he did lay out a vision for how a college football program would look under his leadership.
‘If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,’ Belichick 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 was at the end of their college career or their pro career.’
‘But it would be geared towards developing the players, time management, discipline, structure, and all that. There would be life skills regardless of whether they were in the NFL or somewhere in business. I feel very confident I have the contacts in the National Football League to pave the way for those players … to have the opportunity to compete in the NFL .’
