It's been over 24 hours since Bill Belichick accepted the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina, and it still does not yet feel totally real. The 72-year-old Belichick taking over for an established NCAA powerhouse would've been a big enough surprise, but if you squint your eyes hard enough, you could probably imagine him taking over at a program like Notre Dame or  USC. But for Belichick to take the job in Chapel Hill, where the Tar Heels have won ten or more games just once this century…

Well, that's just Stone Cold Steve Austin's finishing move.

(A stunner)

This development has led many to ask a simple one-word question: Why? Why would Belichick accept the job at North Carolina when the NFL was likely going to come calling after the regular season wrapped up? Why make the move to college when he's just 15 victories shy of breaking Don Shula's record for most career wins in NFL history? Why choose to get mixed up in the chaos of this new NIL/transfer portal era when you could enjoy the much cushier life of a high-paid analyst?

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Well, why not ask the man himself?

“I've always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick said during his introductory press conference, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL… so that was OK. It's great to come back home to Carolina and come back home to an environment I grew up in.”

Belichick lived in North Carolina for a handful of years while his father, Steve Belichick, served on the Tar Heels coaching staff from 1953 to 1955. Those three years that Steve Belichick spent at North Carolina preceded his time at Navy, where he served as a backfield coach and scout for 33 years. When the elder Belichick retired in 1989, his son was on the verge of winning his second Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.