Bill Belichick is arguably the most successful head coach in the history of the NFL. He won six Super Bowls as the head coach of the New England Patriots. While his tenure with the Patriots came to an unceremonious end when he was let go by team owner Robert Kraft, Belichick is back in the coaching business at the college level. He has taken over the North Carolina football program, and all eyes will be on him to see how he adjusts to working with college football players.
The current conditions in college football may be closer to the NFL than it has ever been as a result of NIL and the cash that gets paid to players. Belichick is confident that he can build a strong program at North Carolina and that he feels comfortable in the pay for play environment that is a significant part of college football.
“Dealing with the revenue share the NIL packages, agents, if you will, representatives of players, all those kind of things — that’s the life we’ve lived,” Belichick said. “We’re very comfortable with that.”
“We don’t have an unlimited amount of money,” Belichick continued. “Which, we didn’t have in the NFL either. So, you have to figure out how to distribute it and how to, let’s say, negotiate, and also manage the assets and the resources that you have — which are good here at Carolina. But again, it’s not like we have a blank checkbook, nor does any other team.”
Belichick should have good players to coach at North Carolina
While Belichick obviously has confidence when it comes to distributing financial assets to his players, it's quite another to working the situation as expertly as programs like Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Clemson, Oregon and Notre Dame.
It is quite likely that North Carolina will have several very good players this season and should have an excellent chance of putting a winning team on the field after the Tar Heels went 6-7 last year.
One of the key players is quarterback Gio Lopez, who has transferred to North Carolina from South Alabama. He is a multitalented athlete who threw for 2,449 yards last year with an 18-5 touchdown to interception ratio. He also demonstrated excellent running skills as he gained 463 yards on the ground while averaging 5.6 yards per carry and scoring 7 touchdowns.
North Carolina will open the season Sept. 1 with a challenging game against TCU. North Carolina struggled quite a bit at home last year, recording a 3-4 straight-up record while failing to cover the spread in any of those games.
