By Ben Tredinnick
Photo Credit: USA Today
In December, Bill Belichick was announced as the next head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels football program, taking over from Mack Brown, who became the program’s winningest coach in his second stint with the team.
UNC has traded one legendary coach for another, as Belichick is one of the most successful NFL coaches ever.
Spending most of his career at the helm of the New England Patriots, he led the team to six Super Bowl wins, all of which came with Tom Brady as the quarterback.
However, when Brady left Foxborough, the Patriots suffered a decline in form, and Belichick departed the team after a disappointing 2023 season.
Belichick’s arrival at the Tar Heels comes at an important time for both the program and the college football landscape.
After a few strong years by their standards in the ACC, the 2024 season was a step backward for the Tar Heels.
Losing both starting quarterback Drake Maye and leading wide receiver Devontez Walker to the NFL in the offseason didn’t help.
While they were able to replace Maye with Jacolby Criswell (who is now at East Tennessee State and spent three seasons as the Tar Heels’ backup), he was never able to lead the team effectively.
Despite a good start to the season with a win over Minnesota, things soon soured. The highlight of this was their 70-50 defeat to James Madison and their Fenway Bowl loss to UConn.
Things need to change at UNC.
Luckily, Belichick has been making these changes, at least at the staffing level.
He has brought in experienced NFL coach Freddie Kitchens as their Offensive Coordinator, and his son Steven will serve as the defensive coordinator.
This is the same role he played with the Washington Huskies in the 2024 season.
In terms of recruitment, Belichick has been able to use his appeal as a coach with a wealth of experience and a track record of success to lure many prospects and transfers to the team.
However, none of these recruits are five-star rated (according to 247sports), with four-star quarterback Bryce Baker being the best-rated player the Tar Heels have brought in.
While recruitment and the current form of the Tar Heels may mean Belichick struggles in his first year in charge, his arrival will help UNC in the long term.
Belichick has stressed that he will be running the program in a similar fashion to an NFL team, giving the players an experience of what playing for such a team would be like.
Ten years ago, this would have been seen as a novel idea that may not have suited the unique traditions of college football.
However, in 2025, the game is becoming a lot more similar to its professional counterparts.
Players’ NIL deals mean they can earn money by playing football, and this is only going to expand in the future with new regulations surrounding NIL coming into force next season.
Teams are replacing their traditional Spring Games with open training sessions, similar to what is seen in the NFL with OTAs.
There is even talk of teams playing spring games against each other, as suggested by Colorado Buffaloes coach (and NFL legend) Deion Sanders.
To put it simply, Bill Belichick is stepping into the world of college football for the first time this season.
However, this world looks very similar to what he is used to, and it could give the Tar Heels an advantage, turning the basketball school that gave us Lawrence Taylor into a future ACC, and maybe national, powerhouse.
Ben Tredinnick is a contributor to The MMM Journal. He can be reached at bmtredinnick@thefourthquartile.com.
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