New England Patriots

Bill Belichick discussed adjusting to college football recruiting, transfer portal

"It's not about wins to me, it's about championships."

Bill Belichick UNC football recruiting
Bill Belichick during his UNC introductory press conference after being named as the football coach. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

By Hayden Bird

4 minutes to read

Since shocking the football world by accepting the offer to become the head coach of the University of North Carolina football team, Bill Belichick has been busily working to hit the ground running in his new home.

Belichick, 72, formally accepted the Tar Heels’ offer less than a week ago, yet he’s already signed a four-star recruit, quarterback Bryce Baker. With the college football recruiting and transfer portal season in full swing, the longtime NFL coach hasn’t wasted time.

During his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, Belichick gave an update in his early experience with recruiting. Given the new NIL (name, image, and likeness) implications for players — and the money involved — the eight-time Super Bowl champion noted that he has some familiarity with the process despite having never coached in college.

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“It’s been an interesting process, but it’s very similar — [UNC general manager] Mike Lombardi and I were just talking about it — it’s very similar to what we went through with the post-draft process, and and right at the beginning of free agency process all combined into one with the transfer portal,” Belichick explained.

“It’s exciting to put together a team,” he added. “Offensive line and quarterbacks, we’ve got a lot of guys. Now I think we’ll really be looking to add some skill players to the roster, whether that’s tight ends, receivers, running backs, really want to add those into our roster.

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“You know I’ll never pass up a good defensive player,” he added.

UNC currently has seven three-star recruits signed as commitments in 2025, with two verbal commits from four-star recruits (including Baker), according to college sports recruiting site Rivals.

The pace will continue to stay high for Belichick and UNC in the coming days.

“We’ve been talking to a number of players, and we have more coming in this week as part of the portal. That closes on Sunday, so we have guys coming in really pretty much everyday this week,” he told McAfee.

While UNC hasn’t been a historic powerhouse in football, Belichick claimed that his arrival has triggered some interest from possible recruits and transfers.

“We’re selling the program, but quite honestly, a lot of players and agents are coming to us saying, ‘We want to be a part of the program, is there a spot for us? Would you take this player, that player, and so forth,” he said. “A lot of agents that are also representing players in the transfer portal that we’ve dealt with in the National Football League, and a lot of those relationships now carry over into college football. So it’s been an interesting process. It’s going fast, but it’s fun. It’s great to be at North Carolina.”

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Notably, the new era of college athletics includes building a roster on a budget.

“We’re spending money. Not as much as we spent in the NFL, but we’re tossing around a little bit of money,” Belichick joked. “I kind of enjoy seeing the players getting compensated for the arrangement that they’re going to be going into. So it’s a new landscape in college football, but honestly not too different — it’s different — but this part of the process isn’t too different than we’ve dealt with in the NFL.”

Given the legendary coach’s love for the sport — and the history of Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan — McAfee couldn’t resist humorously asking Belichick “how many lacrosse players are going to be catching balls for the UNC Tar Heels this upcoming season?”

“We have two players on the team, and a couple of baseball players,” Belichick responded. “I had a little negotiation there, whether they’re going to be in spring [football], baseball, lacrosse, but we’ll work that out.”

Asked about his proximity to the NFL all-time wins record (as a head coach) — and whether or not that factored into his decision to join the college ranks — Belichick made a clear distinction.

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“I never really gave that one a lot of thought to be completely honest with you,” Belichick said of the record. “It’s not about wins to me, it’s about championships. That’s what I want to do is win championships.

“The wins are great, and you’ve got to win games to win championships, I get that, but to me it’s about championships,” he continued. “That’s what I’m most proud of is not how many games we won — it’s hard to win in the NFL, I am proud of the games that we won, and the teams that won those — but I’m proud of the championships that I was a member of and contributed to. Teams win championships.”

As for what he had planned for the rest of the day, Belichick closed with a quick glimpse at his fast-paced schedule.

“Yes sir, we’ve got a lot of recruiting left today. All through the week, all the way till Sunday. We’ve got a big week here.”

Hayden Bird

Sports Staff

Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.

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