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Bill Belichick announced as North Carolina's next head football coach
Surprisingly, the six-time Super Bowl winner drew little interest from NFL teams for head coaching jobs
Bill Belichick is a head coach again.
North Carolina announced on Wednesday that it has hired Belichick as its head football coach, confirming earlier reports. Per UNC, the two sides have agreed to a five-year deal.
"This is an exciting day for Carolina football and our University,'' UNC chancellor Lee H. Roberts said, via a statement. "Carolina is committed to excellence and to creating an opportunity to succeed in everything we do, from the classroom to the field of competition.
"I know after speaking with Coach Belichick that he shares that commitment. His legacy speaks for itself, and we look forward to working together on the next chapter of Carolina football."
Veteran NFL executive Michael Lombardi announced that he is joining Belichick in Chapel Hill to serve as general manager of UNC football. Lombardi worked for decades as a scout and front office executive in the NFL with the 49ers, Browns, Raiders and Patriots.
Lombardi was the general manager of the Browns in 2013 and worked as an assistant to the coaching staff with the Patriots under Belichick from 2014-16. Lombardi and Belichick first worked together in the '90s with the Browns when Belichick was the head coach in Cleveland. North Carolina did not announce Lombardi's hiring.
The agreement between Belichick and the school comes after conversations between the two parties about the Tar Heels' open head coaching job became public a week ago.
Belichick, 72, replaces Mack Brown, who was fired after six seasons in his second stint as head coach in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels finished 6-6 in 2024. Run game coordinator and tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens will coach UNC in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28.
Belichick parted ways with the New England Patriots after last season, following 24 seasons during which he won a record six Super Bowl championships. He was expected to be a candidate for the seven head coach openings available during the offseason, yet he only interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons ultimately opted for Raheem Morris.
The New York Jets, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints currently have interim head coaches, but none of those teams contacted Belichick about their openings, per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. Another handful of teams could make coaching changes after the season and it's unclear if Belichick would have been seriously considered by an NFL team that's yet to make a move.
North Carolina was the top head coaching job available at the top level of college football this offseason, as there has been limited coaching movement among the power conference schools. If North Carolina is Belichick's final head coaching stop, his pursuit of Don Shula's record is now over. Belichick, who has 351 wins as an NFL head coach, is 18 wins away from passing Shula as the winningest NFL coach of all time.
Belichick is approximately eight months younger than the 73-year-old Brown, who was in his second stint as the Tar Heels' head coach. Belichick, meanwhile, has no college football coaching experience. Though he grew up around the college game.
Belichick's father was an assistant at Navy and coached running backs at UNC from 1953-55. His son, Stephen, is currently the defensive coordinator at the University of Washington. Bill a good friend of former Alabama coach Nick Saban, the most successful coach in modern college football history. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was also an assistant of Belichick's with the Cleveland Browns.
The college football world has also changed significantly in the past five seasons. College football has become more like the NFL as players can earn money via name, image and likeness deals — and will make money directly from schools starting in 2025 — while also having the ability to transfer to another school without sitting out a season.
After reports emerged that Belichick had conversations with North Carolina officials about its head-coaching vacancy, he confirmed them this week on an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show." Belichick said he met with Roberts and discussed those changes in college football that have made the sport more similar to the NFL than it's ever been.
"You have salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. In college you have negotiations with whoever represents the player whether that's a family member, a high school coach, an agent or some other financial adviser, whoever it is.
"You have players changing teams in college as you have players that can change teams in the NFL with a different set of rules but the same general structure. And you have to value your players in some way because you have a limited amount of money whatever the revenue share is."
Additionally, Belichick indicated what kind of thought he's put into building a college program and what he would do to appeal to recruits aspiring to play in the NFL.
"IF I was in a College program it would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL..
It would be a professional program at the College level..
I don't have any doubt that the players would be ready for the NFL" ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JyMDtzs2yR— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 9, 2024
"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 added. "It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching technique — 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 the end of their college career or the end of their pro career."
North Carolina announced it was firing Brown ahead of its final game of the regular season. The program had seen declining win totals in each of the past two seasons after a 9-5 campaign in 2022. UNC went 8-5 in 2023 before a 6-6 2024 season included a 70-50 home loss to James Madison and a shocking loss to Georgia Tech after North Carolina gave up a 68-yard TD run with 16 seconds left in a tie game.
Though Clemson is still atop the ACC and SMU made the College Football Playoff following a trip to the ACC title game, there's an opening for North Carolina as Florida State floundered in 2024 and Miami will need to replace many key contributors in 2025. UNC is clearly hoping Belichick's success in the NFL and his ability to develop talent will be a hook in getting players to come to Chapel Hill.
