ATLANTA — Bill Belichick, best known as one of the greatest and most successful head coaches in NFL history, has reached an agreement to become the next coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, the school officially announced.
The school announced on Nov. 26 that head coach Mack Brown would not return.
Belichick, 72, was the head coach for the New England Patriots for 24 seasons (2000-2023). During his tenure in New England, he led the Patriots to unprecedented heights, winning six Super Bowl championships while coaching in nine. Belichick has won 266 games and 30 playoff games as the Patriots coach. He also won two Super Bowls as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
While many pundits have sounded off on Belichick coaching the Tar Heels, prominent New England sports reporter Karen Guregian believes Belichick can make an immediate impact fresh out the gate.
Guregian has covered every Patriots game during the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era and has covered the Patriots as a beat reporter since 2007 for the Boston Herald and Masslive. She said Belichick brings “credibility, a history of winning, and an unmatched ability to teach the game.”
“I do think he’ll make an immediate impact on the program,” she said. “If the players listen, and do what he says, he’ll have a positive impact. However, the younger generation of players, now with the NIL, transfer portal, etc., are a little more difficult to reach for someone like Belichick, even with all of his championship rings. I think he discovered that with the younger players and rookies he’d draft.”
Belichick, who is best known for his analysis, coaching, leadership, and admiration for sports and history, has great coaching and teaching roots. His late father, Steve Belichick, served as an assistant coach from 1953-1955 and his late mother, Jeannette, taught Spanish and French at Hiram College.
He was hired by the Patriots in 2000, the same season that he drafted quarterback Tom Brady in the sixth round with the No. 199 pick.
Veteran New England Patriots play-by-play Radio Broadcaster Bob Socci said he believes the Tar Heels have “great potential” with Belichick at the helm.
“There’s no question he is a great, great coach,” Socci said. “He is a great teacher of football. Nobody can question his leadership as a football coach. When you look at his success during two plus decades, his career, and his philosophy, there have been countless times where he’s referred to himself as a teacher. I think he will make football a lot more interesting there. From the standpoint of coaching and teaching, it’s going to be no problem for him.”
Socci was a Sports Information intern at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989-90 and says 73-year-old Mack Brown had a good track record in college football.
“It’s a beautiful campus, they have great facilities,” Socci said. “The coach he is replacing is roughly the same age. I was there for Mack Browns’ second season,” he said. “He had a tough time despite the limited success with Drake Maye two years ago.”
Belichick and Brady led the Patriots to the greatest comeback in NFL history, winning Super Bowl 51 against the Atlanta Falcons after trailing 28-3 in 2016. Two years later, the pair won their sixth Super Bowl championship against the Los Angeles Rams, which was played inside Mercedes Benz-Stadium in Atlanta.
Together, the pair became the undisputed greatest, most successful head coach and quarterback duo of all time, something that can never be duplicated.
Rookie New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, drafted with the No. 3 overall pick in 2024 from UNC, offered his perspective on Belichick potentially joining UNC as their next football coach.
“Obviously a legendary coach with the success he had here, and what a great place Chapel Hill is,” Maye said. “So, any time you have a legendary NFL coach going back to college, I think it’s cool. It’s pretty interesting. I think Coach Belichick would love Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill is a great spot. It’s a cool thing for a Hall of Fame coach to go back and coach some college kids.”
New England Patriots Fan Club of Atlanta Administrator John Gray said he believes Belichick will “bring experience, buzz, credibility and discipline” to the Tar Heels.
“I think Bill will enjoy teaching basics to college kids who are eager to learn,” Gray said. “He is one of the best ever which will advance their pro potential. The hard part is recruiting top talent and convincing them that he’s going to be there for multiple years.”
Gray moved to Atlanta in 2008 from Boston and also oversees the Boston Celtics Fan Club of Atlanta.
Belichick recently said on the Pat McAfee Show that there were similarities of running an NFL team at the college level.
“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,” he 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.”
Socci says while there may be some challenges that arise, he believes Belichick will bring a lot to the team.
“There is so much involved in running a college program. Are players going to stick it out when it’s tougher than they imagined it would be the way they’re being coached, the way they’re being driven, and the way they practice? There are a lot of things that are non-football that you have to worry about at the college level. It will be interesting to see how he handles it,” Socci said.
Belichick had previously been linked to NFL jobs in the time since leaving the Patriots, notably the Atlanta Falcons in January.
While it remains unclear if Belichick will ever return to the NFL, he currently stands 16 wins shy of the NFL’s all-time wins record held by Don Shula.