The 2025 season starts for the North Carolina football team with bold expectations as Bill Belichick takes over in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels, armed with an easier ACC schedule than most, are hoping the legendary NFL coach can turn them into a consistent winner. Yet even Belichick, with all his experience and rings, quickly learned that college ball has limits.
He realized that he couldn't copy Nick Saban's detailed practice plan because class schedules were already set, according to CBS Sports. At UNC, he doesn't have the total control he once had with the Patriots.
That adjustment underscores the reality Belichick faces in his first year running a college program. Recruiting battles, NIL negotiations, and players juggling academics create a far different environment than the NFL. While he brings an unmatched pedigree and a defensive mind that has thrived for decades, he is also learning in real time how to navigate the quirks of the college game. For UNC, the Belichick experiment is bold, unpredictable, and potentially transformative.
Skeptics remain, but Belichick has leaned on his NFL credentials and Super Bowl resume to sell recruits, while filling the roster with transfers to mask depth issues. The question is not whether he can coach, but how quickly he adapts to a system that doesn't bend entirely to his will.
Bill Belichick's first game comes under the primetime lights in Chapel Hill. TCU vs. North Carolina bold predictions for Week 1 suggest a defensive blueprint that borrows from Belichick's Patriots days, with disguised coverages and creative fronts to slow down Sonny Dykes' spread attack. All eyes will be on whether the Hoodie can open his Tar Heels tenure with a statement win, even if Nick Saban's practice plan isn't part of the playbook anymore.
Belichick's debut will take place Monday at 8 p.m. EDT.
