Bill Belichick reportedly expected to be named North Carolina head coach

Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is heading to college.

According to ABC11, North Carolina's board of trustees is expected to convene an emergency meeting on Wednesday to approve Belichick's contract to become the school's new head coach.

The two sides have been dancing around a potential deal for several days, but it was unclear just how serious the veteran coach was about actually taking the Tar Heels job until recently. On Monday, it was reported that he had agreed to take the job, but had submitted a 400-page "orgaizational bible" on how he expected the program to be run, explaining the choices he wanted to make for staffing, and other aspects of the program's setup moving forward, per Ollie Connolly of The Guardian.

Belichick comes to the Tar Heels with an unprecedented NFL pedigree. Six Super Bowl titles, nine Super Bowl appearances, and the second-most wins of any coach in NFL history. He was the architect of the Patriots' dynasty, and ruled the AFC East with an iron fist for the better part of 20 years.

But the move is a risky one for both the coach and the school. Belichick's last few seasons in New England were less than successful; he struggled to find consistent success after Tom Brady headed to Tampa, and was unceremoniously fired after the 2023-24 season when the Patriots went just 4-13 with a roster that could generously be described as untalented.

And North Carolina is hardly an ideal destination; they struggled to find their footing under former coach Mack Brown, and have shown themselves to be lacking somewhat in their NIL program, which has led to mixed results. Belichick is going to need to be ready to build, and build quickly to find success.

It's clear that Belichick is the kind of splashy hire North Carolina was hoping to make. Whether that splash translates to on-field results, though, remains to be seen.

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