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Let's just start here… even though Bill Belichick has interviewed for the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina and has, according to multiple sources, real interest in accepting the position as long as his son Stephen is set up to be his successor, it still feels incredibly unlikely that the most accomplished coach in NFL history would take the job at a program that is by no means a football powerhouse.
However, for a moment, lets speculate that Bill Belichick actually does take over for Mack Brown at North Carolina. To start, what would that even look like? Does Bill look as menacing on a chilly sideline if he's rocking a Carolina Blue hoodie as opposed the Patriots Navy Blue? Does “we're onto Wake Forest” really pack the same punch as “we're onto Cincinnati” once did? And does an old school guy like Belichick even work in this new school era of college football?
I have my doubts to all of these hypotheticals, but longtime college football analyst Paul Finebaum doesn't agree. He feels like Bill Belichick could be the exact guy that the Tar Heels, or any program in North Carolina's position for that matter, needs to ‘get over the hump.'
“Chapel Hill is a very unique situation,” Finebaum said on ESPN's Get Up on Friday. “The expectations aren’t the same Georgia, Texas, and Alabama. They have a great infrastructure and if they’re patient I think he can turn that place around. Mack Brown almost got over the hump, he just couldn’t quite, but Bill Belichick could easily do that.”
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What potentially works in Belichick's favor is that after two decades as the Patriots general manager, he comes into the NIL/transfer portal era with a leg up over other coaches who don't have this sort of experience.
“Right now, as you know, you’ve got a former GM sitting there. College Football is very much like the NFL. You’ve got a General Manager, he manages all the player personnel, the salaries, the NIL. So Bill could be the coach and he can also make sure the infrastructure is set, but I think he would be a home run hire for North Carolina or anyone frankly in this part of the country.”
The question worth asking is, how patient can you afford to be with a head coach who would be 73 years old at the start of the 2025 season? And even if Stephen Belichick is the succession plan in Chapel Hill, does any success that Bill Belichick leads the Tar Heels to during his tenure continue once he's gone?
