Happy anniversary to Bill Belichick for better or worse.
The great experiment is officially one year old after Belichick was named UNC’s new football coach last December. Right now, at least, infamy is the softest way to describe it.
The gamble ranks with 38-year-old Matt Doherty hired as head basketball coach in the summer of 2000 after Roy Williams turned down the job on his first offer. Even though Doherty lasted only three seasons, his first was a long roller coaster climbing to the top – ranked No. 1 after 23 games with a win at Duke – and then free-falling to a 5-5 record that included losing at home to the Blue Devils and a blowout in the ACC tournament rubber match. The deadly 8-20 season came next.
Doherty had been a head coach at Notre Dame for just one year after nine assisting veterans Bob McKillop at Davidson and Williams at Kansas. A starter on Dean Smith’s first NCAA championship team, Doherty had learned enough to win AP national coach of the year. There were other mistakes to lesser degrees in football, like coordinator Carl Torbush and John Bunting, the Tar Heel All-ACC linebacker who had never worked at the Division 1 level.
Belichick’s new start collapsed after one possession against TCU in an opening game that many hopeful (if misguided) Tar Heel fans expected to win. A day that started with unprecedented excitement ended in national embarrassment.
The future NFL Hall of Famer with six Super Bowl rings was an unmitigated disaster as a rookie college head coach for reasons debated since being introduced at a press conference that was as unreal as unforeseen. He was far more engaging with the public than at any time before or after 4 wins and 8 losses that followed.
UNC Trustees John Preyer, the chairman whose term has ended, and newbie Jennifer Lloyd have been basically as invisible as they were evident after reportedly back-enveloping a guaranteed $30 million deal for Belichick before he ever met Chancellor Lee Robrerts and AD Bubba Cunningham.
That and multi-season contracts for general manager Mike Lombadi ($1.5 million annually) and Belichick’s sons are mainly responsible for the head coach and GM still being employed, with UNC saving $15 to $20 million and not wanting to hire another expensive coach.
To their credit, Belichick and Lombardi admitted they had a lot to learn long after scrapping the “33rd NFL team” farce. They just signed 39 high school freshmen and a few jucos and plan to hit the transfer portal hard, two promises reeking with potential new problems.
And they may indeed put a better team on the field in 2026, but a far tougher schedule trades Stanford and Cal for games at Clemson and Pitt. On paper, there are only three ACC winnables, not to mention TCU again in Dublin and Notre Dame at home in the first month.
So, can Belichick reverse what cost him and win back some fans in year two?
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
