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While he does look comfortable on television and he brings some of the best football analysis known to man whenever he's working in that capacity, Bill Belichick is a football coach. He started his career in 1975 as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts and he turned that gig into one of the best coaching resumes of all-time.
He's most known for the six Super Bowls he won alongside Tom Brady with the New England Patriots, but it's easy to forget that he actually has eight Super Bowl wins under his belt. He won two as the defensive coordinator for Bill Parcells with the New York Giants in 1986 and 1990.
Belichick is one of the greatest NFL coaches of all-time, and even though his time with the Patriots ended as a bit of a dud, if he wants to pick his whistle and clipboard back up and get into coaching again, he certainly has a ton of wisdom to bring to the table. That's what makes the rumors about his reported interest in the vacant head coaching gig with North Carolina so interesting. Belichick has been some sort of football coach for nearly 50 years — outside of this 2024 season — but he never coached college ball.
He'd be in for one heck of a culture shock because things like the transfer portal and NIL deals have annoyed “old school” coaches much more patient than Belichick. With that said, if there's anyone known for instilling a culture, it would be Belichick. That type of nose-to-the-grindstone “do your job” mentality worked for Nick Saban at Alabama for all those years, and there are reasons to believe that it would for for Belichick as well.
Here are three lessons from his long time in the NFL that he'd be able to bring to the table at North Carolina, or anywhere else for that matter.
Bill Belichick knows it takes both motivation and strategy
There have been few coaches in history who have had it all like Belichick. Most fans seem to think that the great coaches can do one of either two things. They can either inspire via “rah-rah” speeches and motivational gestures (think Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions) or they excel at play calling and outthinking their opponents (think Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers).
Very few coaches can excel at both like Vince Lombardi could. There's a reason the damn trophy is named after him.
Still, Belichick got pretty close to Lombardi during his time with the Patriots and right now, Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs would be another great example of that type of coach. Like Reid, Belichick knows exactly what to say to motivate his guys and he isn't afraid to be tough. He was also known as a tactical genius when it came to situational football, though. So like all of the greats, he truly possesses the best of both worlds as a coach.
Belichick knows how to get the best out of his players
There's a third aspect of being a coach that perhaps only Belichick best exemplified, and that's getting the best out of players.
First, it takes a mold. It takes knowing what you're looking for in a certain position, and then going to get that type of player. Belichick would only draft certain types of players who fit his molds. That's half the battle, but the other half is knowing how to get the most out of those players.
The greatest example for Belichick is that he took a young and raw quarterback in Brady — who the Patriots selected with the 199th pick — and helped him become a (soon-to-be) Hall of Famer. There are many more examples in Belichick's history, though. Rob Gronkowski was a second-rounder. Tedy Bruschi was a third-rounder. Julian Edelman was a seventh-round pick. Heck, Wes Welker was undrafted.
Bill Belichick had a knack for getting the best out his players at the NFL level, but that would certainly translate to the college level.
Belichick knows how to get players into the pros
Belichick may not want to hit the recruiting trail as a head coach at the college level, but it's worth noting that he may not have to. First of all, much like with Deion Sanders at Colorado, his name will be half the draw with recruits. What Belichick would have to quickly develop is something that “Coach Prime” is developing in Boulder, and that's an NFL pipeline.
Belichick would have to prove that he can get players from the college level to the pros, but there's absolutely no doubting the fact that he knows what an NFL player looks like, trains like, and acts like. That's invaluable information for top recruits, and recently speaking with Pat McAfee about his interest in coaching college, Belichick relayed that those are all values he'd instill in a college program.
“If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said, according to On3. “It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching techniques — that would transfer to the NFL.”
“It would be an NFL program at a college level and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football, whether that was the end of their college career or at the end of their pro career,” Belichick continued. “But it would be geared toward developing the player, time management, discipline, structure and all that.”
There may not be a greater value proposition for Belichick the college coach. Whether it's North Carolina or elsewhere, his Super Bowl experiences and nearly 50 years of NFL wisdom would be invaluable. They'd also be a massive draw with top recruits.
It would be strange to see Bill Belichick on a college sideline, but it could really work out.
