Bill Belichick is head coach again.
According to ESPNBelichick is finalizing a deal to become head coach at North Carolina. Terms of the deal were not initially disclosed, but the report said a contract is imminent.
The agreement between Belichick and the school comes after talks between the two sides regarding the Tar Heels’ open head coaching job became public a week ago.
Belichick, 72, replaces Mack Brown, who was fired after six seasons in his second stint as head coach in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels finished 6-6 in 2024. Run game coordinator and tight end coach Freddie Kitchens will coach UNC in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28.
Belichick parted ways with the New England Patriots after last season after 24 seasons in which he won a record six Super Bowl championships. He was expected to be a candidate for the seven available head coaching openings this offseason, but he was only interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons ultimately selected Raheem Morris.
The New York Jets, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints currently have interim head coaches, but none of those teams have contacted Belichick about their openings yet, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Another handful of teams could make coaching changes after the season, and it’s unclear whether Belichick would have been seriously considered by an NFL team that has yet to make a move.
North Carolina is the best head coaching job available at the highest level of college football this season, as there is limited coaching movement between the power conference schools. If North Carolina is Belichick’s final coaching stop, his pursuit of Don Shula’s record is now over. Belichick, who has 351 wins as an NFL head coach, is 18 wins away from passing Shula as the winningest NFL coach of all time.
Belichick is about eight months younger than the 73-year-old Brown, who was in his second stint as head coach of the Tar Heels. Belichick, meanwhile, has no experience coaching college football. Although he grew up watching the college game.
Belichick’s father was an assistant in Navy and coached running backs at UNC from 1953-55. His son, Stephen, is currently the defensive coordinator at Washington. He is a close friend of former Alabama coach Nick Saban, the most successful coach in modern college football history. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was also an assistant to Belichick with the Cleveland Browns.
The college football world has also changed significantly over the past five seasons. College football has become more like the NFL in that players can make money through name, image and likeness deals – and will make money directly from schools starting in 2025 – while also having the option to transfer to another school without a to sit out the season.
After reports emerged that Belichick had held discussions with North Carolina officials about the head coaching vacancy, he confirmed those reports during a Dec. 9 appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” Belichick said he met with UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts and discussed the changes in college football that have made the sport more like the NFL than ever before.
“You have a salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. In college you have negotiations with whoever represents the player, whether that’s a family member, a high school coach, an agent or some other financial advisor, whoever it is.
“You have players who can change teams in college, just like you have players who can change teams in the NFL with different rules but the same general structure. And you have to value your players somehow because you have a limited amount of money anyway, the revenue share is.”
Additionally, Belichick indicated the kind of thought he has put into building a college program and what he would do to appeal to recruits who want to play in the NFL.
“If I was in a College program, it would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the opportunity to play in the NFL.
It would be a professional program at the university level.
I have no doubt the players would be ready for the NFL” ~Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JyMDtzs2yR
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 9, 2024
“If I was going to a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the opportunity to play in the NFL,” Belichick added. “It would be a professional program – training, nutrition, schedule, coaching technique – that would be transferred to the NFL.
“It would be an NFL program at the college level and an education that would prepare the players for their careers after football, whether that would be the end of their college career or the end of their pro career.”
North Carolina announced it would fire Brown prior to the final game of the regular season. The program had seen declining win totals in each of the past two seasons after a 9-5 campaign in 2022. UNC went 8-5 in 2023, before a 2024 season that included a 70-50 home loss to James Madison and a shocking loss against James Madison. Georgia Tech after North Carolina gave up a 68-yard TD run with 16 seconds left in a tied game.
While Clemson is still at the top of the ACC and SMU made the College Football Playoff after an ACC regular season title, there is an opening for North Carolina as Florida State failed in 2024 and Miami has many key contributors in 2025 will have to replace. UNC is clearly hoping Belichick’s success in the NFL and his ability to develop talent will keep players coming to Chapel Hill.
