North Carolina football is not in a very good place.
Although Bill Belichick vowed to make the Tar Heels the 33rd NFL franchise, it has gone about as poorly as reasonably could have been expected in Chapel Hill this season. UNC, which paid Belichick $10 million a year to replace Mack Brown, is 2-3 entering its second and final bye week of the season. And neither of those two wins have come against Power-4 conference opponents; the Heels are 0-3 against such teams, losing by a combined score 120-33 in those games.
The first five games have gone so poorly that Belichick and the university were reportedly discussing a parting of ways that could help Belichick dip out of Chapel Hill much sooner than expected without UNC having to be on the hook for his entire buyout. That reporting was eventually followed by brief statements from Belichick and North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, in which Belichick said he is “fully committed to UNC Football and the program we're building here,” and Cunningham said that Belichick has “the full support” of the athletic department and university.
Paul Finebaum, who is never shy of expressing his opinions, weighed in on ESPN's ‘Get Up' today.
“I felt those statements were totally bogus,” Finebaum said. “If you're going to make a declarative statement, make it. Don't just issue a meaningless piece of paper, which is what Belichick did. It feels to me like it is over. And I think his behavior is indicative of that.
“Not to make too much out of it, but he basically took a week off during the bye week. And he's entitled to have his own private life. We've said that repeatedly here, but I've never heard of a coach in big-time college football to do something like that. Maybe take an afternoon off to play golf during the bye week, but not go on vacation. So to me, he has checked out. The play on the field has checked out. His coaching has been abysmal, and I think Bill Belichick would be wise to walk out now before the humiliation gets any worse.”
It could get a lot worse, too. After the bye, North Carolina goes out West to play at Cal before returning home to play currently ranked Virginia. After a home game against Stanford, three straight in-state games close the regular season: at Wake Forest, home vs. Duke, and at NC State.
