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Bill Belichick’s predecessor says UNC ‘lowered’ academic standards to help ex-Patriots coach
"There's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be successful."
Bill Belichick’s UNC football predecessor, Mack Brown, says the school has taken steps to make things easier on the former Patriots coach.
Belichick, the second-winningest NFL head coach of all-time, has never coached college football before.
But, he shouldn’t have any excuses if the program doesn’t live up to its expectations, Brown said during a recent appearance on Sirius XM.
“As far as North Carolina and Bill Belichick, he’s arguably the best coach ever,” Brown said. “They’ve committed money to it. They’ve helped him with academics, they’ve lowered those standards some. So, there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t be successful.”
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“They’ve changed the roster,” he added. “I think they’ve signed maybe 60-something new transfers. So, you’ve got a chance to succeed at the highest level and I expect them to do that and I’m proud for them.”
Brown left North Carolina last November after a 6-6 finish, marking the end of his second stint at UNC. He coached the Tar Heels from 1988-1997 before spending the next 15 years at Texas. Brown went 20-3 with UNC in the two seasons leading up to his hiring at Texas.
He returned to Chapel Hill in 2019. The highlight of his later years was in 2022, when the Tar Heels finished 9-5 with future Patriots quarterback Drake Maye under center.
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The Tar Heels lost four consecutive bowl games in the lead up to Brown’s firing. Recruiting had become an issue, he said. According to 247Sports, UNC had finished at least 16th in the national recruiting rankings from 2020-2022. UNC was 32nd last year, and its 2025 class is currently ranked 29th.
“It was time for me. North Carolina didn’t have NIL money and I said we were kind of at a slow bleed,” Brown said. “We weren’t able to recruit the top kids like we were when we first got there, so it was time for them and it was time for me. It was kind of like a divorce. Everybody was ready. It was just who and how you split at the end, so it was best for me to get out.”
“In our last couple of years there we were having to get parents with money, we were trying to get kids with over a 3.0 (GPA) because that’s who we could get,” Brown said. “We signed 26 players at North Carolina our next to last year, high-school players, and didn’t pay them a penny.”
As a part of its effort to land Belichick, UNC pledged to increase its NIL package from $4 million to $20 million, according to USA Today’s Matt Hayes.
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Taking over a 6-6 college football team will be a different experience than Belichick had gotten used to during his many playoff appearances as an NFL coach.
UNC will kick off its football schedule on Sept. 1 with a home game against Texas Christian University.
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