North Carolina's interest in Bill Belichick as head coach is a terrible idea

North Carolina has made some...interesting decisions with regards to their football program in recent years, and that doesn't appear to be changing as the Tar Heels embark on their head coaching search.

According to 247 Sports' Grant Hughes, former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick interviewed for the North Carolina job this week, which begs the question:

What on Earth are they thinking?

The Tar Heels' haven't exactly made the best decisions when it comes to building their program in recent seasons, unless you call turning the reins over to a then-68-year-old Mack Brown right as the sport's landscape underwent massive changes that Brown seemed ill-equipped to handle a good choice. But this potential choice is downright baffling.

Sure, Belichick still has a great deal of name appeal; you don't win six Super Bowls without becoming a legend in that regard. And he's certainly a talented ball coach; he has one of the better tactical minds in the sport, and a knack for building sturdy defenses and offenses that can do just enough to get things done. He's a scheme junkie, a tape fiend, and an avid historian of the game who will eagerly sit and talk formations and strategy and history for hours at a time.

And the idea of Belichick trotting out offensive formations and schemes that haven't been seen on a power conference field since the 1950s is, admittedly, a very fun one. For those of us who are dying to see a coach earnestly run the wing-t in a major college football game, Belichick has the potential for real delight.

Unfortunately, the job of college head coach isn't just getting to scheme pass coverages and run defense lanes. In fact, the vast majority of the job in the modern era is doing things that Belichick either seemed to hate doing, or was not terribly good at with the Patriots.

You have to be a recruiter, to be able to walk into recruits' homes and sell them on what you're building and doing, and convince them and their parents that you're able to do the job. Outside of his Super Bowl rings (which, in fairness, are a very convincing argument), is there any evidence that Belichick is a good team builder?

Don't forget how his time in New England ended: just one winning season in his last four at the helm, and a roster that ranked as one of the least talented in the NFL by the time he was fired last year. Even before the end, it was clear that Tom Brady was papering over a LOT of flaws in the offense, which became glaringly apparent when he left for Tampa Bay. He may be a good coach, but all indications are that when it comes to identifying talent, real, top-tier talent, Belichick tends to struggle.

It's not like the Pats were a high-level free agent destination, either; they seldom landed big names on the open market, as Belichick had an obsession with finding hidden gems.

You have to be able to gladhand and handle boosters. They're where the money comes from, and at every major program, you need to have them in your corner if you want to stay competitive, and you'll need them to have your back if things go sideways. While locker room stories seem to indicate Belichick has a wry sense of humor and has been known to crack jokes with players, his public persona could best be described as dour and prickly. He's shown little patience for small talk or the kind of social settings you have to thrive in as a head coach in college.

Virtually every NFL head coach who had success in college was charismatic, a salesman, or a likeable guy who could talk to recruits and their parents. Think Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh. Heck, even Nick Saban could smooth talk his way out of a press conference with ease.

But most importantly, you have to be able to understand the NIL landscape. You need a strong NIL program at your back, and you need to be able to organize a potentially fractious booster corps to march in something close to lockstep to make sure your players get paid, and that you're going to get the guys you need to succeed. Not only is it not clear that Belichick can do that (his negotiations with players in the NFL seem to indicate that he tends to walk a very hard line when it comes to salaries), it's not clear whether or not North Carolina has the infrastructure in place to do that.

All indications are that the Tar Heels are lagging behind in the NIL space; prior to this season, Brown said UNC was "far behind" in that regard, and even the Tar Heels' vaunted basketball program has struggled to make the kind of splash they want to in the NIL space.

While Brown said the Tar Heels had a plan now, what does that plan look like? And is Belichick the kind of coach who's right to implement it? At 72 years old, does he really want to invest the time and energy it takes to coach at this level, to learn the ins and outs of recruiting and NIL and working a room full of boosters? And given his recent track record at building rosters, even if the NIL gets sorted out, will he be able to build a contending program in Chapel Hill?

That's a lot of questions that need answering, and North Carolina doesn't exactly have a ton of time to find out the answers. They're not a top-tier ACC job at this point, even with their position in the fertile recruiting grounds of the Carolinas. Their position as the top job in the current coaching carousel is more a product of a lack of other jobs opening than it is a statement on the quality of the position (and even that may be surpassed by UCF's opening at this point).

At this stage, after what Brown just did, do you really want to bring in another aging retread? Belichick might be a buzzy name at the introductory press conference, but when the dust settles, is he really going to bring the sleeping giant of Tar Heel football to life? Will his glowering countenance stalking the sideline in his cutoff sweatshirt inspire boosters to open their wallets, and draw kids to Chapel Hill? It's possible, but it doesn't feel terribly likely.

This is a crucial hire for a program at a crucial juncture in their history, and Belichick has too many red flags to trust with guiding the Tar Heels into their next era.

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North Carolina's reported interest in Bill Belichick as head coach is a profoundly bad idea

By Sam Westmoreland | Dec 5, 2024