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Six-time Super Bowl winning head coach Bill Belichick received his official introduction as the new head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels on Thursday afternoon, and it didn't take long after that for the 72-year-old coaching legend to get to work. No onboarding, no orientation, no holiday break. Instead, Belichick made sure to hold onto a prized recruit that Mack Brown and his staff had secured way back in June 2023.
Bryce Baker is the No. 10 quarterback prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, according to On3, and is coming off of a senior senior in which he completed 75 percent of his passes for 3,523 yards and 40 touchdowns while adding 303 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. After Brown was relieved of his duties in Chapel Hill, Baker unofficially reopened his recruitment, talking with LSU and visiting Penn State, but according to Steve Wiltfong of On3, Baker has decided to honor his commitment to North Carolina.
“I just feel like with Belichick coming in they can provide that next-level development I didn’t have the opportunity to have with other options I was looking at,” Baker said, per Wiltfong. “Belichick coming from the NFL and the first-hand experience he has for what it takes to be the best. I trust in his development and interest to get me where I want to be.”
From the sounds of it, Bryce Baker didn't lob Belichick any softballs.
“I asked all the hard questions I wanted,” Baker said. “Asked a lot of serious questions. Not just about me, but plan for the team, recruiting.I asked him about his plans to change the culture at North Carolina. He just explained how he was going to run it like an NFL place. He knows there’s differences in college and the NFL but he will have that next-level accountability he’s going to hold the team to. I think that’s going to help with the culture shift.”
The University of North Carolina football program is one that is in desperate need of a culture shift. Since joining the ACC in 1953, the Tar Heels have won 10 or more games only seven times. It'll be interesting to see if Belichick can modify “The Patriot Way” and turn it into something resembling “The Tar Heel Way.”
Establishing this new culture first involves building a roster that can compete right away, and that may mean that Bryce Baker faces some competition for the starting job ahead of the 2025 season.
“He may bring in one other quarterback as a gap quarterback as I prepare,” Baker revealed. “But I feel they’re all invested in me.”
