Bill Belichick confirms talks with North Carolina for head coaching job

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick confirmed that he's had conversations with North Carolina regarding their head coaching vacancy during his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, according to ESPN.

Belichick told McAfee that he's had a "couple of good conversations" with the Tar Heels about the vacancy. When asked directly about the interviews, he replied "We'll see how it goes."

Belichick remains the most prominent candidate in a swiftly shrinking pool of potential head coaches for the Tar Heels. Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall accepted a contract extension from Tulane on Monday, and Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has said he's not interested as well. Iowa State's Matt Campbell is "not expected to be a candidate," per ESPN.

Many of the discussions around Belichick joining the Tar Heels have centered around his potential staff, according to Ollie Connolly of The Guardian. Per Connolly, Belichick wants a guarantee that his son Steve, currently the defensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies, would be named the head coach in waiting.

Belichick would also have former coordinators turned head coaches like Matt Patricia and Ben McDaniels, the brother of Belichick disciple Josh McDaniels, on staff. He'd also employ a general manager to handle things like recruiting and NIL, per Connolly.

Belichick explained his sales pitch on McAfee, per Mike Kadick of Sports Illustrated. He detailed an NFL pipeline he would create in Chapel Hill, per Kadick.

"It would be a professional program," Belichick said, "Training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football. It would be geared toward developing the player. Time management, discipline structure and all that, that would be life skills regardless of whether they were in the NFL or somewhere in business. "

While it's unclear at this point whether Belichick will actually go to North Carolina, it's clear the veteran coach has a plan to implement should he get the job. Whether the Tar Heels have the resources and the drive to actually make those plans into reality, and whether Belichick himself can actually build the pipeline he's describing remains to be seen, however.

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Bill Belichick confirms talks with North Carolina for head coaching job; 'We'll see how it goes'

By Sam Westmoreland | Dec 9, 2024