The North Carolina football team moved on from head coach Mack Brown after a subpar 2024 campaign, and the Tar Heels hired former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to be his replacement. There were some rumors spreading after the hire about Belichick being interested in NFL openings, but he has now signed his contract. We also now know when Belichick and North Carolina will open up the 2025 season against TCU.

“Bill Belichick’s UNC debut will be on Labor Day (Sept. 1) vs. TCU at 7:30 ET on ESPN,” Matt Fortuna said in a post.

The first weekend of college football is always a good one as there are games on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The Tar Heels will be on the big stage in primetime with the Monday night slate in week one as they will be going up against TCU from the Big 12. North Carolina will be the home team for this one as the game will be played at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill.

A lot of conferences have their 2025 schedule set already, but that is not the case in the ACC. Bill Belichick and the North Carolina football team will have to wait a little bit longer to see the rest of their schedule as it will come out on January 27th. The first weekend of matchups is set for the conference, however, and there will be games played Thursday-Monday. That is going to be a fun weekend of college football all around, but we have a ways to go before we get there.

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This matchup against TCU should be a good one to get the season going and that will obviously be the first time that we see Bill Belichick on the sidelines with the North Carolina football team. We should find out a lot about both teams during that game.

TCU had a solid season in 2024 as they finished with a 9-4 overall record, and they went 6-3 in conference play. The Big 12 and the ACC were certainly the weaker power conferences of the four, but the Big 12 seemed to have the slight edge. North Carolina had a worse season in an arguably worse conference as they finished with a 6-7 overall record and a 3-5 mark in conference play. That is why they hired Belichick.

Belichick certainly isn't getting a layup for his first game as a college head coach. The Tar Heels do have some easier non-conference matchups after that as they will also play Charlotte, Richmond and then another matchup with a Big 12 school as they will travel to play UCF. That will be another good test for Belichick and the Tar Heels.

North Carolina vs. TCU on Labor Day will be a great way to kick off what should be a very exciting start to the 2025 college football season. If Bill Belichick is going to quickly turn things around with the Tar Heels, they need to find a way to start the year strong with a win in that game.