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Bill Belichick confirms talks with UNC, maps out vision for college football program
"It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching techniques — that would transfer to the NFL."
As rumors continue to swirl around Bill Belichick and his interest in the University of North Carolina’s head-coaching vacancy, the former Patriots head coach confirmed his conversations with the university on Monday afternoon.
“I’ve had a chance this year to take a longer look at college football, it’s been interesting,” Belichick said during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. “It’s been a good year for me. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve had an opportunity to chat with Chancellor (Lee H.) Roberts and we’ve had a couple of good conversations. So we’ll see how it goes.”
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Ahead of Belichick’s appearance, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on the same show that “talks are real” between Belichick and UNC, adding that Belichick met with university officials for five hours on Sunday.
Belichick remained mum on the topic when asked about an extended meeting on Sunday with the Tar Heels.
“Let’s just leave it at that, Pat,” Belichick said when asked to confirm the meeting. “I don’t want to give out too much information. I want to get my press conference aura back.”
Even if Belichick does not have any experience coaching college football, he does have ties to UNC. Belichick’s father, Steve, was an assistant coach with the Tar Heels from 1953-55.
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Along with the desire to get back into the coaching ranks, a report from Ollie Connolly of The Guardian last week noted that Belichick wanted to have his son, Stephen, named as his successor as the Tar Heels head coach prior to accepting the deal.
While Belichick didn’t want to go into specifics about his meeting with UNC, it’s clear that he’s done his homework about how he’d craft a collegiate program if given the reins at Chapel Hill.
“If, and let me put it in capital letters: I-F. If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said Monday. “It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching techniques — that would transfer to the NFL.
“It would be an NFL program at a college level and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football, whether that was the end of their college career or at the end of their pro career. But it would be geared toward developing the player, time management, discipline, structure and all that.”
Given how Belichick envisions the future of collegiate athletics and the pipeline he can carve out to the NFL ranks, he believes his resume in the NFL and connections at football’s highest level will help him if he makes the switch to the college game.
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“I feel very confident I have the contacts in the NFL to pave the way for those players that would have the ability to have the opportunity to compete in the NFL. Whether they’re good enough or not, I don’t know, but they would be ready for it — I don’t have any doubt about that. That would be the first comment I would make relative to the structure of the program. It would be an NFL program but not at the NFL level.”
It appears as though a resolution to UNC’s courtship with Belichick will be reached in the near future. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday that a decision made by the university will be “expected this week.”
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