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College football has changed drastically over the years, from the NIL, which allows collegiate athletes to get paid, to the transfer portal, which enables players to be eligible to play immediately instead of having to redshirt a year. We’ve seen the sport change even more when NFL legend Deion Sanders came to the college ranks to coach in Colorado, who nearly made the college football playoffs in his second season. Sanders has been the “rockstar” of college football, bringing massive appeal to the sport and installing a culture.
However, the most significant seismic shift might have happened in college football this week, and that is UNC Tar Heels Football signing the greatest head coach in NFL history, Bill Belichick, to become their newest football coach.
Who Are the Tar Heels Getting?
Belichick began his career in 1975, first as an assistant for the Baltimore Colts. In 1985, he became the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, where he won two Super Bowls under Bill Parcells. From there, he was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1991 and was at the helm for five seasons. After his stint in Cleveland, he’d become the assistant coach for the New England Patriots and New York Jets before taking the Patriots head coaching job at the turn of the century.
He’s a bonafide winner, boasting an NFL record of Super Bowl wins (six with the New England Patriots as head coach and two with the New York Giants as defensive coordinator).
In his 24 seasons as the Patriots head coach, the organization won 17 AFC East titles, made 13 AFC Championship games, and made nine Super Bowl appearances under him and Tom Brady.
Belichick is a three-time AP NFL Coach of the Year (2003, 2007, 2010), with an all-time NFL head coaching record of 333-178 (.652). He was only 14 NFL wins, shy of the overall wins record before his Patriots departure. He is a member of the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 2000s and 2010s and the NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team while holding the record for most NFL Playoff victories (31).
His father, Steve, has ties to North Carolina as a former assistant football coach from 1953-55 before leaving for the Navy for three decades, where Belichick learned his football intellect as a kid from attending team meetings and film sessions that led him to become a master of the game.
Contract Details
Belichick signed a five-year deal, a $ 10 million deal with the Tar Heels. The deal is guaranteed for the first three years and becomes non-guaranteed in years four and five. According to the New York Post, Belichick will receive a $1 million base salary and $9 million supplemental income.
Belichick can earn $3.5 million in bonuses based on the program's number of wins in a season. For example, if he leads the Tar Heels to eight wins in a season—North Carolina won six games in 2024—he will receive $150,000. The bonus increases by $50,000 for every win after that, topping out at $350,000 for a 12-win season. An ACC title would bring the bonus to $300,000.
Belichick's contract has a $10 million buyout until June 1, 2025, when it reduces to $1 million, a number any NFL team would be willing to pay if it wants to hire him, per the Athletic’s Chris Vanninni.
A Struggling Program & Why He Fits
The Tar Heels football program has always been an afterthought regarding athletics on campus, behind the men’s basketball and women’s soccer teams. The women’s soccer team just won its 23rd national championship over Wake Forest, while the men’s basketball team has won six national championships.
The football team has none.
Since the program started in 1888, it has never won a national championship. The Tar Heels haven’t won 10 games in a season since 2015 while losing in 12 of their 16 Bowl appearances since 2000. That's also not including not taking home the ACC crown since 1980.
Add an unattractive track record of producing high-level NFL quarterbacks-names such as Mitch Trubisky, Sam Howell, and TJ Yates come to mind– not exactly a stellar list. Drake Maye is the most recent of the pack. He’s been having a promising rookie season for the Patriots, but time will tell how he ultimately pans out. Adding Belichick to a program as someone with experience turning an organization into a winner en route to titles is a win-win.
Of course, no one is or will be Brady walking through that door, but with Belichick now at the helm, the Tar Heels should be a hot spot for top high school quarterbacks/transfers to want to learn under the man who coached the greatest quarterback ever. His attention to detail and intellect to know what his opposition is doing beforehand will rub off on his players and help take the program to new heights and his players individual games and football IQ.
“I’ve always wanted to coach in college football,” he said. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL so that was OK, but this was really a dream come true. I grew up in college football with my dad, who was in it for 50 years.
“All I knew was college football. It’s great to be back in Carolina, an environment I grew up in.”
Get ready, Tar Heel fans. It’s the dawn of a new era.
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