Bill Belichick finalizing deal to become UNC’s next head football coach: reports

Look out Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick is coming. 

Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels have reportedly finalized a deal for the 72-year-old coaching legend to become their next head football coach, per ESPN. The terms of the deal were not yet disclosed.

The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach remained interested in returning to the sidelines at some point in the future, but it was always expected that he would make his way back to the NFL after missing out on a new gig following his departure from the New England Patriots before this season.

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Digital contacted the UNC Athletic Department on Tuesday and requested comment on Belichick’s reported offer. However, school officials declined to provide a comment. 

“We don’t comment on coaching searches,” an athletic department spokesperson wrote.

Earlier this week, The Guardian US reported that Belichick agreed to become the new head coach in Chapel Hill. The report added that Belichick handed the school a 400 page “organizational bible” with structure, payment plans, staffing choices etc.

Furthermore, the 72-year-old spoke with UNC athletic leaders about a succession plan. Per the report, Stephen Belichick would become the coach in waiting and would step in when his father decides to leave the program or retire.

Less than 24 hours later, UNC seemed to have reached its decision and is soon expected to confirm Belichick as the program’s next coach. Details pertaining to an introductory press conference remain unclear. 

This will mark Belichick’s first stint as a college football coach. His father, Steve Belichick, was a longtime assistant coach at Navy.

Belichick has spent much of the ongoing NFL season in the media spotlight. 

While he interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons in January, the franchise opted against extending an offer to a coach. Belichick did not appear to draw much interest from any other NFL team, but his regular appearances on ESPN’s “ManningCast” and the CW’s “Inside the NFL” have kept him relatively close to football.

During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” earlier this week, Belichick confirmed he had talks with the North Carolina Tar Heels about their head coaching vacancy. He added that he spent the 11 months since his departure from the Patriots taking a “longer look” at college football throughout the season as opposed to during the spring lead-up to the draft as a pro coach.

“So it’s been, it’s been a good year for me. I’ve learned a lot,” Belichick said. “So I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Chancellor Roberts and we’ve had a couple of good conversations. So we’ll see how it goes.”

Belichick opted not to go into more detail when asked by McAfee. Instead, Belichick offered a quip about his reputation for giving terse responses during news conferences with the Patriots.

“Yeah, let’s just leave it at that, Pat,” Belichick said with a grin. “I mean, I don’t want to give out too much information. I want to get my press conference aura back.”

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick announces he is leaving the team during a press conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on January 11, 2024. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

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Belichick shared some details about the makeup of a college program if he were a head coach.

“If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” he said. “It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that would transfer to the NFL.”

Belichick is one of the winningest coaches in NFL history. He finished the 2023 season with 333 career wins — which places him in second on the all-time coaches wins list. Don Shula’s 347 wins still leads all coaches.