At this point for Bill Belichick and North Carolina, the news just gets worse by the day. After the Tar Heels’ 38-10 drubbing by Clemson, Belichick and his team have produced more bad headlines than points against Power Four competition.
First came the canceled Hulu docuseries. Then WRAL’s Pat Welter reported on a laundry list of issues — from a toxic culture instilled by the coaching staff, parents unable to communicate with coaches like Belichick’s son Steve, and certain players allegedly receiving preferential treatment.
“It’s an unstructured mess,” one source told Welter. “There’s no culture, no organization. It’s a complete disaster.”
There was also the suspension of cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins following alleged extra benefits violations.
Basically, after things had gotten so ugly on the field, it was only a matter of time before everything off it began to spill out. And now Belichick is reportedly asking where it all came from.
Bill Belichick, UNC Staff Trying to Find Who Leaked Information
It’s clear that Belichick and his staff aren’t happy about how much has been aired out publicly over the last few days. The dirty laundry keeps piling up.
There was even the report that Belichick ordered the UNC program not to acknowledge former quarterback and current Patriots star Drake Maye’s latest performance against the Bills. The Tar Heels’ official page went ahead and did it anyway, after backlash over Belichick’s continued pettiness toward his former team and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
But according to Welter, the UNC staff is now clamping down and trying to trace who is leaking information.
“Continuing to reach out to sources about what’s going on inside the Belichick program. Some now are feeling reluctant to share new information as internally the Belichick staff is trying to find the leak. But between WRAL and national reports the ‘leak’ is far from a few people,” Welter wrote.
North Carolina is In Bad Situation With Bill Belichick
The higher-ups at North Carolina have to be feeling helpless, watching millions of dollars sunk into the program provide no return on investment. Worse yet, things may only continue to spiral. Sitting at 2-3, UNC still has half the season to play — all against Power Four opponents in ACC play.
Losing to those opponents has been Belichick’s kryptonite so far. The Tar Heels are 0-3 against them, and it hasn’t been close. They’ve been outscored 120-33.
Cutting ties with Belichick now or after the season would cost UNC somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million or more. The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel noted the school may have to hope Belichick walks away on his own — an unlikely scenario.
“If you’re UNC, you’re hoping Belichick reads the room and voluntarily throws in the towel, which seems highly unlikely for a proud and notoriously stubborn individual. And I can’t imagine an NFL franchise will throw him a lifeline at this point,” Mandel wrote. “More realistically, Belichick fires a bunch of his staff (though presumably not his two sons), does some sort of front-office restructuring and runs it back in 2026.”
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