Bill Belichick's first college try at UNC: Players and coaches weigh in on approach

New York Times

19-05-2025

Bill Belichick has been one of sports' most discussed figures this spring, but little had to do with the surreal nature of a six-time Super Bowl champion head coach electing to coach college football for the first time at 73.
Even less of it had to do with his new team at North Carolina.
Belichick joins a rapidly changing sport and is taking over a roster ravaged by the transfer portal and NFL Draft, rebuilding on the fly and making $10 million a year to improve on the tenure of Mack Brown, his 73-year-old predecessor who went 44-33 in five seasons.
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While in the NFL, the New England Patriots coach was famously all business, but Belichick has seen his relationship with his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, 24, become the dominant storyline since he started wearing Carolina blue.
'It's wild, right, because the whole world is talking about it,' said linebacker Cade Law, who spent two seasons and spring practice at UNC before transferring to Memphis. 'And we were in the middle of it, so everywhere you go, people are asking about it.'
Since spring practice ended April 12 with a 'Practice like a Pro' event at Kenan Stadium, Belichick has been promoting his new book, during which UNC football has also come up.
'They're so eager, they're hungry. They have dreams,' Belichick said of the Tar Heels in an interview Friday on 'Good Morning America.' 'They want to be good. I want to help make them good and make them good on a good team. … I've learned so much being back in the college environment, whether it be recruiting, the college game, the rules, the hash marks, some strategy and just putting a team together.'
The Athletic reached out to ACC and opposing coaches about what Belichick is facing and to recent UNC transfers about their experience inside Belichick's first college program. No current UNC players have been made available for interviews since Belichick's arrival.
'It's Bill Belichick. I think it's great for college football,' said an ACC coordinator, granted, like the other coaches, anonymity so he could speak candidly on Belichick's transition.
He said it shouldn't appear that it's easy for NFL coaches to come in and dominate.
'It's really, really important for all of us who have come up in college football to kick his ass this year,' the coordinator said.
NFL coaches coming to college have been rare. Even rarer, doing so by choice or, like Belichick, having held no official role in the college ranks. Jim Mora (UCLA/UConn), Lovie Smith (Illinois) and Herm Edwards (Arizona State) are recent examples of coaches who went from NFL to NCAA — with mixed results. Still more returned to the college ranks after NFL stints or have gone back and forth.
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In a February interview, UNC general manager Michael Lombardi, who worked under Belichick with the Cleveland Browns and again for three seasons in New England from 2014 to 2016, referred to the program as 'the 33rd NFL team.' Belichick and company are unabashedly leaning into a professional model for his program.
The players noticed it in the form of more freedom than they were used to.
When practice was done, they could go to class if their schedule demanded. The strength and conditioning staff would spend the day in the weight room, and individual players could find time on their own schedule to get in their workout for the day. Under Brown, UNC's offense and defense would rotate scheduled times in the weight room.
'That was cool. I thought that was fun,' said Law, who transferred in search of more playing time. 'Carolina is tough academically, so you could kind of get your business going school-wise and then come in and lift whenever you want.'
Added Jariel Cobb, who enrolled at UNC early from high school and spent the spring there amid a crowd of running backs before transferring to Charlotte: 'They treated us not as adults but treated us like young adults. They made sure we held ourselves accountable.'
Belichick's staff is stuffed with pro experience. Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick was a veteran assistant with the Patriots under his father and spent last season running the Washington Huskies defense. Brian Belichick spent five seasons coaching the secondary under his father with the Patriots before taking the same job at UNC. Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens is a holdover from the previous staff and spent more than a decade in the NFL, including a one-year run as Browns head coach in 2019. Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer and Lombardi's son Matt, the receivers coach, have NFL experience. Inside linebackers coach Jamie Collins is a first-year coach who played in the NFL.
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Still, UNC is not the first college program to embrace a pro mindset.
'At the end of the day, I don't know how really different it is than what we're all already doing,' the ACC coordinator said.
As for the hubbub about Belichick and Hudson, sightings of the much-talked-about couple inside the team facility were rare, players said. Sometimes they ate lunch together in the team facility. UNC disputed a report earlier this month that Hudson had been banned from the facility in the wake of an awkward Belichick interview with CBS in which Hudson continually interjected, fueling existing questions about her role. Belichick has said Hudson handles his promotional affairs outside of UNC football.
'Coach Belichick is all business, so he doesn't really bring his personal life in with us,' Law said. 'That's more of that pro style, because when we had coach Brown, Miss Sally was always at the facility. That was a family thing. This was a business thing.'
Belichick has tried, rather unsuccessfully, to bring the attention back to his book and football.
'I can't tell people anything because I didn't know anything, either,' Law said. '(Hudson) was never there. She might have been on the fifth or fourth floor, but she had no interaction with the players or the way we did football.'
As UNC builds its roster, it faces a talent deficit between it and the top of the ACC. But it's bolstered by Belichick's track record of success and football knowledge.
'They'll field a tough, schematically sound team,' the ACC coordinator said, adding he thought it would 'go well.' 'In college football, that's half the battle: getting talent and playing hard.'
Belichick is taking over a defense that lost eight of the team's top 10 tacklers, and Beau Atkinson (12 tackles for loss) left for Ohio State and Amare Campbell (10.5 TFL) for Penn State.
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Eight offensive linemen are gone, including All-American Willie Lampkin. The team's top three pass catchers are gone, including star running back Omarion Hampton. Starting quarterback Jacolby Criswell also moved on, and Max Johnson is returning from a broken leg and didn't participate in spring practice.
'All the marquee guys are gone,' an ACC assistant said. 'They added a few guys we recruited.'
The Tar Heels tried to patch holes in the roster via the portal, adding more than 30 new players.
Former South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez looks like the likely starter. He ran for 463 yards and seven scores last season and threw for 2,559 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. He did not go through spring ball.
They added seven offensive linemen, highlighted by Daniel King from Troy and Will O'Steen from Jacksonville State. UNC boosted its defensive front by adding Smith Vilbert from Penn State and Pryce Yates from UConn, among others.
It's a level of turnover that happens with most coaching changes. But with unlimited transfers and name, image and likeness deals, college coaches are adjusting to balancing the reality of an entire roster of free agents every year, the ACC assistant coach said.
'You've gotta do a great job making sure you're having conversations you didn't have in the past,' he said. 'You have to have in the back of your mind that other people want your players, and your players are looking at what other kids are getting across the country and entertaining it.'
Belichick, who raved about longtime quarterback Tom Brady's film study as equal to or better than his own in his book, will also have to adjust to a roster still learning the game instead of seasoned pros. And for many players living life away from home for the first time, learning life skills can be a constant work in progress.
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'Those parents are going to want to have conversations with you. Whereas not many parents in the NFL are calling the NFL head coach saying I need to talk about my son being unhappy or he's disgruntled or his playing time or whatever,' the ACC assistant said with a laugh. 'That just doesn't happen in that league. It'll be interesting to see how he transitions, or maybe they just do it like the NFL and you'll deal with the GM, and if you're not happy, that's how it goes.'
Belichick does inherit a schedule that works in his favor. The Tar Heels play six home games, and a seventh will be played in Charlotte against the 49ers in what could end up being a friendly road crowd. It's likely that just one of North Carolina's opponents — Clemson — will show up in the preseason Top 25.
Opening the season in prime time! pic.twitter.com/8SPc9L1G3a
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) May 13, 2025
Plus, considering all the change, preparing for North Carolina is a unique challenge in itself.
'We'll scout some Patriots tape and Washington tape, where his son came from,' an opposing coach said.
The task ahead, though common in the transfer portal era of college football for recent first-year coaches such as Lincoln Riley at USC, Deion Sanders at Colorado and Jeff Brohm at Louisville, is new for Belichick. Last year, Curt Cignetti turned a transfer-heavy group into a College Football Playoff Cinderella at Indiana. Elsewhere, Mike Norvell leaned on transfers at Florida State for a second consecutive season and stumbled from 13-0 in 2023 to 2-10 in 2024.
'Coaching and retention in today's game will be about the relationships you have. Even with all the money and scouting and all that, it's still college football. It's about you being able to develop your guys and them being comfortable being developed by you,' the ACC assistant said. 'If you're recycling every year, it's a roll of the dice.'
With Belichick, UNC becomes one of the biggest wild cards in the sport in 2025.
'What I do know is that coach Belichick knows how to win,' Law said. 'So if they don't win, that will be surprising to me. He's a legend.'