No one was quite sure what Bill Belichick was going to say during his October 13 press conference. After a week in which his name — and that of UNC football — had been dragged through the mud, speculation swirled that his time with the Tar Heels was already up just five games in.
Following the Tar Heels’ blowout loss to Clemson in Week 6, rumors spread that UNC and Belichick were negotiating a buyout to end his short-lived college experiment. Belichick told reporters that wasn’t true.
“That’s just categorically false. There’s no truth to that. I’m glad I’m here,” Belichick said, per The Athletic’s Brendan Marks.
Whether Belichick is telling the truth or not, it’s easy to understand why the rumor gained traction. As if losing to Clemson by 28 points weren’t bad enough, reports surfaced of a toxic culture within the program.
The controversy only escalated after the suspension of cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins, who was found to be violating NCAA rules relating to extra benefits — a situation Belichick briefly addressed during the press conference.
“That’s being handled internally, looked at and reviewed,” Belichick said.
Does Bill Belichick Believe What He’s Doing Is Working at UNC?
There are worse records in college football right now than North Carolina’s 2-3 mark, but perhaps none have looked worse given who’s leading the team. No one in the sport has a résumé like Belichick’s — a six-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots. Yet the only wins he’s produced so far at UNC have come against severely inferior opponents.
That’s the easy part for a Power Four coach. What Belichick has discovered is that the hard part is competing with teams of equal caliber. Not only have the Tar Heels yet to beat a Power Four opponent, but they’ve also been outscored 120-33 in those matchups.
Still, Belichick remains confident in his process, believing he’ll bring success to North Carolina football “like everywhere else I’ve been.”
“One hundred percent, yeah,” Belichick said when asked if he believes his system is working. “It’s a learning curve, but we’re all in this together.”
Bill Belichick Questioned If He and Staff Made Evaluation Mistakes
What’s been truly concerning about this UNC team is how outmatched it looks every week. The players on the field appear completely inferior to their opponents — a likely byproduct of the team’s massive roster turnover.
The Tar Heels brought in 70 new players from a year ago, many through the transfer portal. That portal class ranked No. 9 nationally with 41 commitments. However, a report by The Athletic on October 3 suggested Belichick’s approach to the portal was misguided from the start.
“What I think they miscalculated is with the way they were taking (players) in the portal and paying dudes,” an anonymous coach told The Athletic. “It made me wonder, did they actually understand the landscape they were in? Did they understand that they’re in the ACC, not like Conference USA or the Sun Belt? Like, we got beat by North Carolina on a bunch of kids. I was like, why the f— is North Carolina beating us on kids? When I keep running up against the same P4s over and over again in recruiting, I’m like, all right, they’re gonna suck.”
When asked about potential evaluation mistakes, Belichick replied, “We evaluate everything we do on a regular basis… we’re always looking to improve.”
He added, “When you come in late on the recruiting end and the portal end, we had a better chance in the second portal than the first portal.”
Those questions will persist as long as the Tar Heels continue to lose — or until Belichick ultimately exits the program, one way or another.
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