Bill Belichick will become the new head coach of the University of North Carolina, a stunning move into the college ranks by arguably the NFL’s greatest coach of all time.
The move is a leap of faith on both sides.
First by the 72-year-old, who owns eight Super Bowl rings, including six as head coach of the New England Patriots, but has never worked as a college coach, let alone a recruiter — nor has he shown much natural ability. looking forward to it.
Second, by an ACC program hoping that another short-term jolt can inject lasting life into a football program that has long been stuck under a ceiling of good but never great, that is fighting for relevance not just in sports, but also in the field of football. its own basketball-obsessed campus.
Above all, it illustrates the new era of college football – where player acquisition relies less on poaching teenage recruits from high school than on plucking more focused and mature talents from the transfer portal, backed by direct compensation and NIL payments .
It’s that change that makes Belichick an intriguing — impossible to even ignore — candidate for a UNC program that will go from often ignored (just one 10-win season since 1997) to the center of the spotlight. With Belichick at the helm, expect endless national television broadcasts, sold-out stadiums and massive hype and fanfare upon his arrival.
If nothing else, this is fascinating.
What would have been foolish even half a decade ago — Belichick was suddenly working the traditional recruiting circuit — now makes perfect sense, and possibly good luck, too. UNC couldn’t say no.
“Let me put this in all caps: If I went to a college program, that college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for players who could play in the NFL,” Belichick said on The NFL earlier this week. Pat McAfee Show. “It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, schedule, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It will be a college-level NFL program.
“I am confident that I have the contacts in the NFL to pave the way for players to have the opportunity to compete in the National Football League.”
Many NFL and NBA coaches have gone to the college ranks and tried to make that pitch — rarely have they succeeded.
Recruiting high school students was as much about pleasant interactions, long-term relationships, the brand of your program, the location of your school (both geographically and conference-wise), as well as knowing how to deal with an under-the-table payment system must work. In basketball, Nike and Adidas controlled everything.
No longer.
NIL allows any school with the right backing to sign virtually any prospect – the No. 1 basketball recruit in the country who just committed to BYU.
In football, Deion Sanders has shown in Colorado that good teams can be built with older players who are eager to transfer. Coach Prime does not make home visits to parents or show up at high schools to build a personal bond. He sits in Boulder and lets them come to him – drawn by his NFL pedigree and promise of preparation.
He has even dismissed the importance of high school recruiting, noting the low panout rate of even hyped prospects.
Belichick is not as charismatic as Coach Prime and the son he will likely bring to Chapel Hill, Stephen (currently the defensive coordinator at Washington), is not an elite quarterback like Shedeur Sanders, but when it comes to recruiting transfers, make the final leap to the pros, his pitch could carry even more weight.
Belichick, the coach, is indisputable. The same goes for Belichick, the teacher of the game. No NFL team over the years has been better prepared than his. Nothing more innovative, smarter or effective.
Yes, he had Tom Brady – and many other all-time greats – during those two decades of success in Foxborough, but to a man, they also credit him for simplifying the game and maximizing their potential.
This could work. This should work. Getting players shouldn’t be too problematic, and don’t compare college’s overwhelming incoming classes — sometimes 40-50 deep — to the precise and limited nature of the NFL Draft.
No, UNC’s roster may not reach the status of Ohio State or Georgia — tradition still matters — but it should be an upgrade to what is already a decent situation.
Transfers with a few years of college experience are completely different people than impressionable high school recruits — which was once the only way to keep a team going. Gone are a lot of unnecessary considerations, like proximity to parents, uniform colors or how cool a recruiting visit was.
Anchored in the business of sports, the smart people make business decisions. Play time. Possibility. Development. Not all of it, of course, but enough to put you in the best position to make it to the NFL is the first consideration.
That should lead them to at least consider Belichick, who can be as personal as he needs to be, especially in individual sessions.
With the ability to have a program general manager handle the details and the money, Belichick can forego things like recruiting visits to photo shoots and focus on selling himself as something else: the coaching messiah with a shelf full Lombardi’s to prove it.
If you are serious, let a serious man coach you.
Potential obstacles are everywhere, of course. Belichick talks to parents who call to complain about playing time? Should Belichick spend too much on NIL for someone who hasn’t proven anything? Belichick, in his biting, sarcastic way, is coaching a generation that might not appreciate it?
This is going to be wild to watch.
Does it work? Maybe? Probably?
No one ever really knows when it comes to a new hire.
For UNC, which has been treading water for decades, the risk is worth it.
They just brought in the best coach in football. It goes without saying that in this modern era, this should be enough to get some of the best players in football following suit.
