On Thursday afternoon, inside a packed Blue Zone, the University of North Carolina officially introduced Bill Belichick as its next head football coach.
Yes, you read that right.
Belichick’s introduction put the bow on a bizarre week in Chapel Hill, one filled with rumors and an extended game of will-they-won’t-they between Belichick and the school. The legendary coach’s hiring was officially announced on Wednesday night.
Joining Belichick on the dais were two of the key figures in his recruitment to Carolina: chancellor Lee Roberts and athletic director Bubba Cunningham. Cunningham, who’s led his fair share of hiring processes during his tenure at UNC, declared Thursday an inflection point for an athletic department which some had seen as behind the times.
“The future of college athletics is changing,” Cunningham said. “And we want to be on the forefront of that.”
On Thursday, the forefront of change was the introduction of a 72-year-old head coach who is effectively a rookie in college football. Belichick’s long coaching resume includes exactly zero college programs. When pressed about this hole in his new hire’s resume, Cunningham responded confidently.
“I got over the hump on collegiate head coaching experience with [women’s soccer head coach] Damon Nahas and [field hockey head coach] Erin Matson,” Cunningham said.
Nahas and Matson, of course, won national championships in their first seasons in their roles.
Though Belichick has never won a national championship, coached teenagers or taken the infamous “Mayo Bath” a certain bowl game promises its winner, the eight-time Super Bowl champion has done just a little bit of college scouting over the decades. Belichick said his visits to Chapel Hill always stuck with him — while also turning those memories into a recruiting pitch.
“I’ve been on just about every major campus in the country,” Belichick said. “There’s not many nicer than North Carolina. You can’t get a better education than you can at this school. So there’s a lot going for it. I think we can recruit nationally. There’s certain kids that don’t want to leave their region. I get that. But I think we’ll be able to recruit nationally. We’ll certainly try to.”
Belichick’s elevator pitch was no accident: Carolina faces an offseason in which it will lose multiple offensive and defensive playmakers. With a small high school recruiting class joining, the Tar Heels will need to rely heavily on the transfer portal.
Then there’s the issue of filling out a robust coaching staff, one with a budget of $10 million. Belichick said he plans to retain interim head coach Freddie Kitchens, the run game coordinator and tight ends coach who will lead the Tar Heels against UConn in the Fenway Bowl on December 28. One key spot in Belichick’s building is already taken: former Belichick assistant Michael Lombardi, who served in a personnel role on two Super Bowl-winning teams with the New England Patriots, will serve as general manager with Carolina.
Other than that, it’s open season.
“I’ve already had a lot of people contact me,” Belichick said. “There will certainly be a strong presence of NFL people on the staff. I think that’s a certainty.”
Bill Belichick is introduced as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels football team at a press conference held at The Blue Zone in Kenan Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.)
There’s also the task of connecting with Carolina’s large network of NFL alumni. One notable figure towered over everyone else on the front row of the press conference: Hall of Famer Julius Peppers. Belichick never coached the Carolina Panthers legend, but did mentor another Hall of Fame pass rusher out of Chapel Hill. Belichick’s first two Super Bowl rings came as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, who used the incomparable Lawrence Taylor to routinely terrorize opposing offenses in the 1980s and 1990s.
Now, Belichick said he’s engaged with both Peppers and Taylor — as well as UNC’s most famous athletic alumnus.
“I talked to Michael [Jordan] the other day. Very supportive,” Belichick said. “There’s been a ton of support from ex-players and other UNC alums. This is a great brand.”
But despite concerns about the septuagenarian’s stamina for such a large undertaking in a short amount of time, Belichick said he’s ready to devote all his energy toward the Tar Heels.
“I know I can help individual players,” he said. “I know I can help our team be successful. 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.”
As for the belief Belichick will simply use Chapel Hill as a stepping-stone to jump back into the NFL, the new head coach flatly denied it: “I didn’t come here to leave,” he said to a round of applause.
There certainly are inducements to stay put. Belichick’s contract with Carolina is a five-year deal, one which will pay him a $1 million base salary with $9 million in supplemental income. The first three years of the deal are guaranteed. Various benefits include a membership at the Chapel Hill Country Club.
Outside of the fiscal draw, it doesn’t take much research to discover why Belichick, who spent much of his adult life in more northerly cities, has such a strong attachment to Chapel Hill. The young Bill spent time around the UNC campus when his father, Steve, was an assistant coach for Carolina in the 1950s. As if that wasn’t enough, Belichick recalled a story from that time his family told, one which should immediately ingratiate him with his new fanbase.
“When you’re little, you don’t remember everything,” Belichick said. “Obviously, I was too young to remember a lot of things from Carolina. 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.'”
Featured image via Associated Press/Ben McKeown
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