What new NC Sports Hall of Famers Ellis, Jones think about Belichick, NIL era
One can only imagine how much money Greg Ellis and Cullen Jones could have fetched in their college days in terms of name, image and likeness.
Ellis was an All-American defensive lineman at North Carolina under Brown, and NIL packages for star pass rushers can reach six figures these days.
Jones was a 6-foot-5 package of swimming skill, determination, bravado and effervescence at N.C. State and an NCAA and ACC champion before going on to join Michael Phelps in winning Olympic gold for the U.S.
Ellis and Jones are members of the Class of 2025 inducted Friday into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. The 11-member group includes longtime NCSU cross country and track and field coach Rollie Geiger and Nora Lynn Finch, who was one of the nation’s premier women’s sports administrators, both at N.C. State and then as the ACC’s first female associate commissioner.
When Ellis left UNC for the NFL, after the 1997 season, the Tar Heels were a top 10 program brimming with talent and Bill Belichick had not yet taken over as head coach at the New England Patriots or started winning Super Bowls. That would come shortly as Ellis played 11 seasons for the Dallas Cowboys and one last season with the Raiders.
Brown left Carolina after the 1997 season to go to Texas, only to return to UNC for a second stint. That ended last season when Brown was fired and Belichick, on a sabbatical from the NFL, was given a pot of money by the Tar Heels to come to Chapel Hill to coach in college.
And stunned such former UNC players as Ellis, who earned Pro Bowl honors with the Cowboys.
“Never in a million years …” Ellis said Friday. “When you look at his personality as a coach, it’s like, okay, you don’t see him doing it at the college level because he’s experienced so much success at the NFL level.
“It’s not the X’s and O’s part of football. He’s going to do that. But the recruiting part of it. I mean, he’s kind of a quiet guy, with a very high IQ when it comes to football. But to kind of go court a kid? I don’t know.”
Ellis said he did not see and was not aware of the CBS interview with Belichick that aired last Sunday. It had Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, shown sitting off to the side and objecting to a question about their relationship. Her interjection left Belichick speechless and staring blankly.
But while Ellis was recruited by, and played for Brown, he has enough respect for Belichick as a championship coach to believe he can mold the UNC program into a top 10 program.
“If you’re a competitor, you do everything you can not to lose,” Ellis said. “I anticipate him doing everything he can not to lose. I think he’ll get the right kids and get the program moving in the right direction.”
With the new combination of NIL inducements and contracts and a transfer portal that has a lot of athletes looking to leave their schools and find the best pay day, it will take a lot of money – both from schools’ NIL collectives plus athletic department revenue-sharing at some point – to keep schools competitive at the highest level.
“A couple of hundred thousand (dollars) can be life-changing money and I understand that,” Ellis said. “I wish the colleges back in the day would have said, ‘This is what we’re going to do’ and stepped up and given some of the money out rather than taken the path it has taken. The avenue that it’s on right now, to me, has altered the path of collegiate sports.”
Ellis, 49, said it’s the “moments and memories” that many athletes cherish as they get older, noting he and former UNC and NFL linebacker Brian Simmons were roommates and have been good friends since their high school days – Ellis from Wendell and Simmons from New Bern.
“If I had gone to Carolina one year and then Brian transfers, that relationship never happens,” Ellis said. “It’s a shame to think the kids can be missing out on something like that.”
Like Ellis, Jones doesn’t begrudge any of the athletes from being paid, saying, “Athletes are 100 percent deserving.” He noted he works for Speedo swimwear and helps sign athletes to contracts.
“But I think when it comes to NIL we need to put parameters on it,” Jones said. “We also need to teach financial literacy. We need to teach marketing. If you’re making money and you are a brand … let’s teach these athletes (how) to be a brand. Don’t post dumb pictures online, because people are watching.
“So I think that’s the thing about NIL that I wish we did a little bit better job of, because with NIL it almost feels like the hands were taken off the wheels and it was like ‘We’ll figure it out.’ But I think universities are stepping up now to teach kids more than how to just play their sports, and I think we’re taking the right steps.”
Many have heard Jones’ story: How he nearly drowned as a 5 year old at a water park. How he was scared to try swimming again. How his mom coaxed him into getting back in the pool. How he found a love in swimming and became an Olympian.
After growing up in New Jersey as a UNC fan and with Michael Jordan as a pro sports hero, Jones decided to attend N.C. State and swam for the Pack from 2003 to 2006. He remained in Charlotte to train after college and specialized in freestyle sprints, turned pro and signed with Nike.
He also met Jordan at an NBA game in Charlotte, saying he was introduced by Steph Curry in Jordan’s personal suite.
“He looks at me and goes, ‘Huh, you’re the N.C. State swimmer’ and I was awestruck,” Jones said. “I looked up to him my entire life, tried to be him in the pool. He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, the Jordan stare, before he smiled and said, ‘You’re cool, man, come on in here.’”
At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, Jones was on the 4x100 freestyle relay team that set a world record and earned gold along with Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale.
“I became the first Black American to have a world record in the sport of swimming,” Jones said. “And the record still stands 17 years later.”
Jones also was on Team USA in 2012, winning a relay gold and two silver medals.
Jones, 41, later returned to NCSU to finish out his English degree. In talking about NIL, he noted the NCAA could retroactively pay billions of dollars to college athletes who played after 2016.
“Hey, I went back to school. O-hhhh, ” he quipped.
This story was originally published May 3, 2025 at 1:00 AM.
