On the time he was employed final December, I used to be … um, skeptical about North Carolina’s selection of Invoice Belichick as head coach. However I’m all the time open to being confirmed mistaken. Maybe hiring a then-72-year-old coach with zero school expertise would show to be an impressed resolution in spite of everything. As such, I’ve been scouring for any morsel of information on how the Belichick period goes thus far.
Info has been sparse.
Belichick has spoken with native reporters simply as soon as since December, at the beginning of spring camp. Gamers and assistants weren’t obtainable for interviews in any respect. The varsity does put up all-access kind observe clips, however as a result of Belichick had the numbers faraway from gamers’ jerseys, who is aware of which guys these are within the movies.
Most of what we’ve realized about this system has come by means of the intrepid work of reporters like my colleague Matt Baker, who just lately obtained emails by means of a public information request that make clear the position Jordon Hudson, Belichick’s 24-year-old influencer girlfriend, is enjoying within the athletic division.
Extra on that later. Listed below are 5 notable takeaways up to now.
Belichick’s boss didn’t intend to rent him
In early March, ESPN pieced collectively the occasions that led to UNC hiring Belichick. Understanding the Mack Brown period was nearing its finish, athletic director Bubba Cunningham contacted Steelers OC and UNC alum Arthur Smith in early November. When that didn’t work out, he pivoted to revered school coaches, together with Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and Tulane’s Jon Sumrall.
All of the whereas, a few UNC board members have been conducting their very own one-man search, as The Athletic reported. Belichick had made his curiosity identified by means of a weird recreation of phone that started with, of all folks, then-Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. That curiosity ultimately made its approach to UNC Board of Trustees chairman John Preyer, a public critic of Cunningham, who took it upon himself to supply Belichick the job behind Cunningham’s again.
Cunningham ultimately wrested again management, finalizing a five-year, $50 million deal for the coach. Fairly a clumsy begin to the employer-employee relationship.
This system has a three-letter identification: N-F-L
Belichick stated from the soar he would run UNC’s program like an NFL group, and boy, he wasn’t kidding. It’s all they discuss.
Basic supervisor Mike Lombardi set the tone when he met with reporters in February: “All the pieces we do right here is based on constructing a professional crew. We contemplate ourselves the thirty third (NFL) crew.”
Within the final two weeks alone, the Tar Heels’ Instagram account has made graphics about particular groups coordinator Mike Priefer’s 21 years of NFL expertise, the employees’s 240 years of NFL expertise and observe visits from “two-time Tremendous Bowl champion” former Patriots Rob Ninkovich and David Andrews.
On Tuesday, in a video titled “Professional Efficiency Diet,” UNC interviewed its govt chef, Josh Grimes. Even he’s a former Patriot. And even he says issues like, “The aim is to construct their (diet) routines in order that after they go into the NFL, they’re profitable.”
Hopefully that routine contains lots of Uncrustables.
This is probably not essentially the most fan-friendly program
UNC closed out spring with a public observe in Kenan Stadium titled — look ahead to it — “Follow like a Professional.” A promotional put up for the occasion promised followers they’d be capable to watch “a number of durations of motion” and — not joking — “See Kenan’s New Grass Subject.”
From studying an account from tv station WRAL, this was the soccer equal of watching grass develop. The P.A. pumped up the gang with hip new artists like Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen. The followers had no concept who they have been watching due to the no-number factor. And whereas that poster teased a “temporary autograph session with gamers” after observe, the top coach “walked off the brand new Kenan Stadium grass with out lacking a step,” wrote Brian Murphy.
Left UNC’s “Follow Like a Professional” finish to spring ball questioning .. who was that for? Nice alternative to make a splash with followers, get them excited to help program, have Belichick say a couple of phrases or signal a couple of autographs. Received none of it.https://t.co/O3sexMhvzO
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) April 13, 2025
Whereas unsurprising, that is just about the antithesis of most new coaches, who promote the heck out of the spring recreation (or what was once a spring recreation) to drive fan curiosity and energize recruiting. That’s precisely what Belichick’s pal Nick Saban did his first spring at Alabama, by which 92,000 followers packed Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Crowd estimates for Follow Like A Professional have been nearer to 2,000.
Recruiting goes … nice?
When he obtained the job, many predicted Belichick would flash his rings and recruits would come flocking. He’s had some wins thus far within the 2026 cycle, flipping four-star defensive deal with Trashawn Ruffin from Texas A&M and beating out Tennessee for operating again Jaylen McGill from Spartanburg, S.C.
The Tar Heels’ class is ranked No. 12 nationally on 247Sports, which, have been it to carry up, can be thought of a rousing success for that program. However early rankings are skewed closely by class dimension. UNC has 13 commits; Alabama has 5. It’s extra instructive to take a look at the caliber of the gamers.
UNC’s class contains three four-stars and 9 three-stars for a mean participant ranking of 87.96. That’s virtually an identical to Brown’s final two courses (2023-24), which had common participant scores of 88.16 and 87.84. And that was after Brown’s program started fading. His 2022 class ranked No. 11 with a 90.77 common.
We could have gleaned some perception into Belichick’s portal technique. When Tennessee parted methods with quarterback Nico Iamaleava final weekend, UNC was instantly talked about as a switch risk. However On3 quickly reported the Tar Heels have been targeted as an alternative on South Alabama’s Gio Lopez, who would presumably price a lot lower than Iamaleava’s reported $4 million asking worth.
May very well be the basic Belichick/Patriots technique of prioritizing substance over model. Or, may it’s that UNC is broke after spending greater than $20 million on him and his employees.
Lastly … concerning the girlfriend
Normally, I imagine a coach’s private life shouldn’t be a public matter, nevertheless it’s tougher to say that when stated coach is relationship somebody 49 years youthful than him and is continually taking photographs along with her on purple carpets, on thrones and mendacity on his again on the seashore.
And it turns into utterly truthful recreation when the coach requests that his girlfriend be copied on a lot of his emails, that are public information.
Whereas Hudson shouldn’t be employed by UNC’s athletic division, the emails obtained by The Athletic present she is one thing of a social media/PR advisor. She appeared notably involved concerning the look of nepotism earlier than the varsity introduced Invoice’s son Steve can be serving as defensive coordinator.
“It’s actually price emphasizing the purpose that Steve has the expertise of being a COLLEGE defensive coordinator and can deliver a plethora of information to the teaching employees,” Hudson wrote, to which an administrator assured her they might, “actually promote him as his personal entity.”
That administrator is Robbi Pickeral Evans, UNC’s senior affiliate athletic director for exterior affairs and strategic communications, who, in line with her bio, has labored in communications for the varsity since 2013 and was a journalist for 16 years earlier than that. Which implies her skilled profession started earlier than the individual giving her unsolicited recommendation was born.
Finally, the Belichick rent can be judged solely by his document, not his public relations technique. All of this offseason stuff can be rendered moot in some way. However I wrote in December, “I miss out on how this can finish nicely.” 4 months later, my confidence degree has not budged.
(Picture: Peyton Williams / Getty Photographs)
