To reflect on the year, Chapelboro.com is re-publishing some of the top stories that impacted and defined our community’s experience in 2024. These stories and topics affected Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of our region.
Once Mack Brown was dismissed from his position as UNC’s head football coach, the school embarked on a national search to find his replacement. Fans eyed several candidates from around college football, but as the search drew on, more of those candidates dropped out. That left one name at the top of Carolina’s list — a name no one saw coming.
Former UNC head football coach Mack Brown coached his final game for the Tar Heels on Saturday, Nov. 30. His last official day as a school employee was the following Sunday.
Athletic director Bubba Cunningham told the Carolina Insider Podcast he hoped the search for the school’s next head coach would be wrapped up within a week. That week came and went, and there was no new head coach. But one name had emerged has a candidate: legendary NFL head coach and eight-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick. The architect of the New England Patriots dynasty had been out of work since the Patriots fired him after the conclusion of the 2023-24 season. Those close to Belichick said he wanted to coach again.
But UNC? It was easy to scoff at the rumors. Belichick had never coached in college, was less than a year younger than the 73-year-old Brown and presented a gruff, surly persona which could easily turn away recruits.
And still, as the days wore on, news began to trickle out detailing Belichick’s genuine interest in the Carolina job.
The commitment made by hiring Belichick would be substantial: the most famous football coach in the country wouldn’t come cheap, and neither would his staff. His presence would require an increased investment in football from a school which, throughout most of its athletic history, had treated it as merely a placeholder until basketball season. That investment entailed a supercharged name, image and likeness fund, one which would compete with the big hitters in the SEC and Big 10.
Would the school make the plunge? Or would it back out?
Opinions were split. Some balked at Belichick’s 72 years of age, seeing him merely as a cynical retread of Brown’s tenure. Others derided Belichick’s lack of experience in college football as a dealbreaker. But there were those who saw the pedigree, the winning culture established with the Patriots and Belichick’s reputation for tough, hard-nosed football as difficult to turn down. For a fanbase which had too often seen undisciplined teams wilt against bigger and tougher opponents, the draw was tantalizing.
At last, on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 11, the school made the news official: Bill Belichick would be Carolina’s next head coach.
The following day, UNC introduced Belichick in front of scores of local and national media inside Kenan Stadium’s Blue Zone. Belichick appeared in an argyle tie, and Cunningham and chancellor Lee Roberts presented their new hire with a commemorative cut-off hoodie, which had become Belichick’s signature look in New England (Cunningham went so far as to don a cut-off blazer in solidarity). Belichick, in turn, showed the audience a vintage UNC sweater, one which his father had worn as an assistant coach for the Tar Heels in the 1950s.
UNC head coach Bill Belichick shows off his father’s old sweater during his introductory press conference. (Image via UNC Athletic Communications)
That familial connection proved to be a key factor in Belichick’s decision: the young Bill was a toddler during his father’s time in Chapel Hill and even took a picture in Kenan Stadium.
“Obviously, I was too young to remember a lot of things from Carolina,” Belichick said. “But as I grew up, you hear the same story over and over again. And one story I always heard was, Billy’s first words were ‘Beat Duke.’”
After the press conference, UNC released the terms of Belichick’s contract, confirming the school’s significant investment on the gridiron: Belichick will make $30 million over the first three years of his deal, all of which is guaranteed. There is also an option for two more years with the same salary. By comparison, Brown made approximately $5 million per year. Belichick will also have a $10 million budget with which to fill out his coaching staff, another number which far outstrips his predecessor’s.
There was one curious addition to the contract: should Belichick leave his position before June 1, 2025, the buyout (that is, the price Belichick would pay the school) would be a steep $10 million. After June 1, that number drops to a much more manageable $1 million. This means Belichick could leave UNC before coaching a single game and pay the school just $1 million in compensation — a veritable drop in the bucket for the man whose contract with the Patriots was rumored to be worth $20 million per year.
But when asked about the notion that he will simply use UNC as a stepping-stone to return to the NFL, Belichick responded in typically contrite fashion:
“I didn’t come here to leave,” he said.
Now, Belichick faces a monumental task: rebuilding a program which fell back into its old throes of mediocrity following the departure of Drake Maye (ironically, to the New England Patriots). The Tar Heels have not won a conference championship since 1980 (a team featuring Lawrence Taylor, who would go on to play for Belichick with the New York Giants), have won 10 or more games in a season just once since the series finale of “Seinfeld” and have not beaten rival NC State since 2020.
Carolina’s opening game of the 2025 season – which will surely involve more pomp and circumstance than the football program has seen in quite some time – will come against TCU in Kenan Stadium on August 30.
“I know I can help our team be successful,” Belichick said. “And I’m gonna do all I can to give my best effort to do that on a daily basis. You can count on that.”
Bill Belichick is on the clock.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Anthony Sorbellini
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