Latest news with #TarHeels
USA Today
7 hours ago
- Business
- USA Today
How much is UNC's football program valued at?
How much does the UNC football program cost? Thanks to the invention of NIL money and the transfer portal, college football continues to become increasingly professional by the day. UNC's 2025 offseason is a perfect illustration of the changing CFB landscape. Needing a starting quarterback for the fall, North Carolina paid $4 million to land South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez. The Tar Heels replaced their entire starting defensive line through the portal, plus added Marshall kicker Rece Verhoff. With college football now essentially a "mini-NFL," the question of selling teams comes into play. In The Athletic's recent "valuation rankings", UNC would sell for $572 million, making it the 26th-most valuable college football franchise. North Carolina is one spot behind Ole Miss, which has a $591 million price tag, plus a spot ahead of South Carolina ($563 million.) The Tar Heels generate an average $63.6 million in annual football revenue, a figure that is lowest amongst the Top 30. The portal is a great addition to college sports, particularly for senior-heavy teams needing to replace a plethora of starters, but the portal is also essentially free agency. Think about professional sports: you have franchise cornerstones, who remain on the same rosters for extended periods of time, but trades and free agency create a sense of unknown. UNC has high expectations heading into its 2025 season, thanks to hiring 8-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick as its next head coach. If North Carolina somehow wins the ACC and makes the College Football Playoff, its program value will shoot up closer towards SEC numbers. If the Tar Heels struggle again this fall, their value will stay the same – or even decrease. People are less likely to pay and see a losing product, which UNC proved to be again in 2024. Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bill Belichick, North Carolina football docuseries coming to Hulu
It appears Bill Belichick's first season with North Carolina football will find its way on TV after all. A docuseries featuring Belichick and the Tar Heels is reportedly coming to Hulu, according to Front Office Sports on Friday, July 18. Advertisement North Carolina was nearly the team to be featured this offseason on HBO's "Hard Knocks," a series that chronicles one NFL team during training camp each season. The Tar Heels would've been the first college program ever featured on the show, although the plans reportedly fell through just days before the show was set to be announced. REQUIRED READING: Bill Belichick says Jordon Hudson 'doesn't have anything to do' with North Carolina football Multiple reports added Belichick's girlfriend, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson, played an "instrumental role" in HBO moving away from North Carolina for "Hard Knocks," as she requested to be heavily involved in the docuseries. Belichick recently gave his answer on the potential "Hard Knocks" series during a podcast appearance with Ryan Clark on the "Pivot Podcast." 'Hard Knocks is training camp, and we're not training camp. We're just not,' Belichick said. 'That's not what we are. The drama of training camp, who's a cut and all that. Like, we're a season, and they don't want that. Yeah, there are film issues too, but forget about the film issues. Just say you could straighten all those out, Hard Knocks just didn't fit for us.' Advertisement Belichick, 73, is a six-time Super Bowl champion head coach with the New England Patriots, which he coached from 2000-23. The 2025 season marks his first year coaching in college football, despite being the oldest head coach in Division I FBS. Belichick has been one of the largest subjects of discussion of the college football offseason, from his decision to coach at North Carolina to his relationship with Hudson. A docuseries by Disney-owned Hulu featuring Belichick and the Tar Heels is set to be appointment viewing for numerous college football fans. A request for comment to North Carolina was not immediately returned to the USA TODAY Sports Network. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bill Belichick, North Carolina docuseries coming to Hulu | Report
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Colin Cowherd Shares Intriguing Take on Bill Belichick's Tar Heels
Colin Cowherd Shares Intriguing Take on Bill Belichick's Tar Heels originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Fox show host Colin Cowherd continues to be a fun listen, with one of his latest obsessions being Bill Belichick's North Carolina. Advertisement The former NFL coach, who won six Super Bowls while leading the New England Patriots, shocked the football universe when he accepted the Tar Heels' Job in December 2024, as many believed he wanted to return to a professional locker room. Now, he's coaching college students and is on the front lines of recruitment. Belichick recently helped flip four-star safety Jakob Weatherspoon's commitment from Ohio State to North Carolina, and Cowherd loves it. 'Ohio State lost like a four-star recruit to Bill Belichick and North Carolina. I'm fascinated with this story,' Cowherd said. He's a grumpy 73-year-old who never really showed any interest in college football.' Advertisement Despite being less experienced at the college level, Cowherd sees potential for a breakout season due to their competition being worse than that of other major conferences. 'I think if Belichick was in the SEC or Big 10, he'd get absolutely rolled, but the ACC is so God awful outside of Clemson. He may just coach his way to a lot of wins,' Cowherd said. 'If you look at the schedule, it's not exactly powerhouses. The oddsmakers, they've given them the ninth best odds to win the horrible ACC,' he added. With South Alabama transfer quarterback potentially emerging as a dual-threat talent, Belichick's tactical brilliance could shine. As the Tar Heels prepare for their season opener against TCU, the mixture of a manageable schedule and Belichick's football knowledge could make them a school to watch in 2025. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 18, 2025, where it first appeared.
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2026 UNC basketball recruiting target gives insight into ideal college program
Can this recruit be the first piece of UNC's next recruiting class? The UNC basketball program has quite the 2026 recruiting class, extending offers to 17 players, but still lacks a commitment. One of those 17 offers is to power forward Quinn Costello, the top-ranked recruit in Massachusetts and a Top-75 recruit nationally. Costello brings the type of versatility collegiate programs covet, an asset that helped North Carolina make a wild run to the 2022 National Championship game. As the Tar Heels ramp up their recruitment of Costello, he recently gave insight into his ideal fit for a college basketball program, speaking to InsideCarolina at the UAA Finals last week: "I think the big thing for me is the relationship I have with the coach and the coaching staff," Costello said. "I find myself being the most successful in systems and programs where the relationships between the players and the coaches are super strong. I think a strong bond and trust between them is important." Despite UNC only having one championship under Hubert Davis' reign as head coach, winning the 2023-2024 ACC Regular Season Title, Hubert knows how to recruit. He landed 5-star, Top-10 power forward Caleb Wilson in North Carolina's 2025 recruiting class, plus Drake Powell and Ian Jackson last offseason. There's already a few class of 2026 standouts who recently included the Tar Heels amongst their final schools, such as 6'7 wing Cole Cloer, who grew up 30 minutes from Chapel Hill and will play his final season of high school ball at IMG Academy. Landing the 6'10" Costello would be a major recruiting victory for Hubert and the UNC program. What kind of impression will North Carolina continue to make on Costello? Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
ACC Kickoff: Bill Belichick and the top storylines this week in Charlotte
July 20 - CHARLOTTE -- Talking season in college football continues this week with ACC Kickoff, and anticipation has never been higher because of a certain coach arriving in Chapel Hill. Every head coach and marquee players representing all 17 ACC football programs descend on Charlotte on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming 2025 football season. Here are three storylines to monitor during ACC Kickoff. --Bill Belichick's long-awaited debut The University of North Carolina has historically been a basketball school. But this offseason, the Tar Heels have been the talk of the college football universe since hiring legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick last December. Belichick, who turned 73 in April, is now a first-time college coach in Chapel Hill after winning six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots from 2000 through 2023. He replaces Mack Brown, who was fired to end his second stint as UNC head coach last November. It's been an interesting first offseason for Belichick, who has been in the news quite a bit with regard to his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson and her involvement with the UNC football program. However, he's also transformed the roster by bringing in 41 transfers, third-most of any Power-Four program. While ACC Kickoff can always be a bit of a media circus, Belichick's first appearance in Charlotte on Thursday should add a new level of buzz before his much-anticipated UNC coaching debut Sept. 1 vs. TCU. --Expectations renewed for Clemson entering 2025 For awhile there, Clemson winning the ACC Championship under Dabo Swinney felt like a bit of a foregorn conclusion. Swinney and the Tigers won six straight conference titles from 2015 through 2020 and a seventh in 2022, along with a pair of national titles in 2016 and 2018. And yet, when Clemson went 9-4 (4-4 in ACC) in 2023, people wondered if the Tigers' run of dominance under Swinney was coming to an end. Clemson quickly proved that doubt foolish last season, capping off a 9-3 regular season with the program's eighth ACC title in the last 10 years and an appearance in the first 12-team edition of the College Football Playoff. The Tigers now enter 2025 with high expectations once again drifting off their 2024 resurgence and the fact that many prominent players from that team return. Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik is back after amassing 3,639 passing yards, 463 rushing yards and 43 total touchdowns (36 passing, seven rushing) in 2024. On the other side of the ball, T.J. Parker Jr. and Peter Woods Jr. are set to anchor a defensive line that is expected to be among the best in the country. --How does SMU follow up its impressive ACC opening act? As conference realignment boomed over the last few years, quite a few teams that changed conferences struggled to adapt to the increased level of competition. That proved to be no problem for SMU, however. The Mustangs finished their first season in the ACC last fall with an 11-1 regular season and made appearances in the ACC Championship Game and College Football Playoff. That makes for a tough act to follow in SMU's second season in the ACC under head coach Rhett Lashlee. Starting quarterback Kevin Jennings is back this season after anchoring the Mustangs' undefeated season behind 3,245 passing yards and 23 touchdown passes. He's likely out for redemption after he threw three interceptions in SMU's 38-10 CFP loss at Penn State. The Mustangs will have to replace leading rushing Brashard Smith (1,332 yards, 14 rushing touchdowns in 2024) and standout defensive linemen Elijah Roberts and Jahfari Harvey, who combined for 15 sacks in 2024. --Field Level Media
