North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick using Patriots tradition in practice
Chapel Bill is buzzing, as legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick is the new head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Belichick is implementing his way of doing things, one of them being having players wear nameless jerseys at practice, which he did when he was the head coach of the New England Patriots.
"Numbers and what color gloves we wear and all that is not as important as doing your job, being responsible and accountable to your teammates and being a good teammate, so our focus is on the team," Belichick said Wednesday when asked about the uniforms. "We're just all out there working, practicing, trying to get better as coaches, players, all of us.
"It's not all about individual notoriety right now. It's about trying to put together a team."
In New England, Belichick accumulated a combined 266-121 regular-season record and 30-12 postseason record, highlighted by six Super Bowl titles from 2000-23. He previously went a combined 36-44 in the regular season and 1-1 in the postseason as head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-95.
The Tar Heels are coming off a 6-7 season that saw them go 3-5 in ACC play and finish 12th in the conference. North Carolina moved on from head coach Mack Brown after six seasons in what was his second stint as the program's head coach.
As for Belichick's first recruiting class, North Carolina's 2025 class is ranked ninth in the ACC by 247Sports, highlighted by four-star quarterback Bryce Baker — who kept his original commitment — and four-star edge rusher Chinedu Onyeagoro.
Belichick's Tar Heels were reportedly in the mix to be the center of a college football edition of HBO's "Hard Knocks: Offseason" before talks broke down. North Carolina opens the 2025 season at home against the TCU Horned Frogs on Sept. 1.
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