Bill Belichick on his plans for UNC football: ‘Pro football...on a much smaller scale’
Since being named North Carolina’s football coach, Bill Belichick has pretty much limited his public comments to such forums as the “Pat McAfee Show” and “ManningCast” with Peyton and Eli Manning on NFL Monday Night Football.
Belichick does have a general manager, Michael Lombardi, and Lombardi did give a state-of-the-program kind of press conference this week with local media and those who cover UNC football.
Belichick recently sat down with UNC’s Jones Angell and Adam Lucas for a “Carolina Insider” interview that was uploaded Friday on the GoHeels YouTube channel. He gave insights into how things have gone for a coach who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and now is testing out college football for the first time at age 72.
Lombardi, during his media briefing, said the UNC program would have such an NFL bearing and imprint that it could be likened to the NFL’s “33rd team.” Belichick said much the same.
“College football has changed,” Belichick told Angell and Lucas. “I think you can see many other schools have models similar to what we have, a general manager/head coach model.
“That’s what it is. It’s pro football on a much smaller ... monetarily a much smaller scale, in terms of what each school individually is spending.
“These kids are being paid to play, and that’s what college football is now. It’s not pro football but it’s pretty close.”
Monetarily, UNC will be putting a lot into the football program – $10 million a year for Belichick. That’s what it took to lure him to UNC and back into coaching after a one-year sabbatical following his departure from the Patriots.
The Tar Heels have not won an ACC championship since 1980, although UNC advance twice to the ACC title game in the last 10 seasons. The Heels were ranked in the Top 10 in Mack Brown’s first run as UNC’s coach, but that came during Florida State’s ACC football reign. Clemson was the ACC heavyweight during Brown’s second run, which ended after last season.
Despite the lack of championships, the Tar Heels have had their share of All-Americas who became NFL stars, such as Lawrence Taylor and Julius Peppers. UNC intends to better highlight such stars from the past in building the Belichick football program, and Belichick said the school’s biggest basketball star, Michael Jordan, also has been supportive.
“I would say the football teams, especially in the past 40-some years have probably been less than what everybody has hoped for, and hopefully we’ll change that,” Belichick said.
Belichick and his staff have put together their first class with high school signees and the transfer portal additions. Work on the class of 2026 continues, he said, saying UNC is recruiting nationally although with an emphasis on getting the best in-state players.
“We want to be a national school,” he said .”It’s a national brand. Everyone wants to go to Carolina. We’re everywhere. We’re going to recruit North Carolina hard but want to have a national presence.”
In the NFL, Belichick was concerned with drafting the right kind of players and bringing in his kind of players in free agency. Then it was a matter of what to pay the players and fit it under the NFL salary cap. It was all business.
But Belichick said he now sees little difference in 18-year-old recruits and the young draftees and rookies he dealt with in the NFL.
“The players who come into college football now are professionals,” he said. “They’re monetized, they’re compensated, they pay taxes.”
Belichick said he wanted players who are “good, smart, dependable and good teammates” and would learn a lot during his first spring practice with his new team.
“There’s a lot of work to do, players and coaches,” he said. “We need to earn each other’s trust.”
