Bill Belichick bringing ‘Patriot Way’ to UNC, from showing old Patriots film to minimizing weekly radio appearances
Unlike most other coaches, Belichick will only appear on his program's weekly radio show once in the 2025 season.
Bill Belichick is embracing his Patriots past in his first year in Chapel Hill.
The first-year North Carolina head coach has been showing his Tar Heels players tape of some Patriots greats ahead of the 2025 season. Belichick’s also taking an approach he had with the media during his time in New England to UNC as well, opting not to appear on the team’s coach’s radio show on a weekly basis this season, the program shared on Friday.
Belichick will appear on the first episode of “Carolina Football Live” ahead of UNC’s season-opening matchup against TCU on Sept. 1. However, general manager Mike Lombardi will appear in the head coach’s spot in every episode for the remainder of the season, according to a news release.
The vast majority of college head coaches have weekly appearances on radio shows that include their name in the title, as noted by The Athletic’s Chris Vannini. Nick Saban was among that group, even taking calls from fans until he retired from his post at Alabama following the 2023 season. Mack Brown, who was UNC’s coach before Belichick, also had his own weekly radio show called, “Mack Brown Live.”
Belichick wasn’t a stranger to making weekly radio appearances during his time with the Patriots, either. He appeared on WEEI shows the day after Patriots games over his two dozen years with the team.
Still, even as he made regular appearances on multiple shows in his year away from the game in 2024, Belichick’s distaste for making media appearances a part of his brand during his time with the Patriots. So, it isn’t much of a surprise that he’s opting to do the team’s weekly radio show as little as possible.
As for on-field matters, Belichick was willing to do an interview with the ACC Network and shared which former Patriots players and NFL greats UNC has studied to help the Tar Heels in 2025.
“In all honesty, we’ve shown a lot of Patriots film and other great players in the NFL too,” Belichick said. “But, a lot of Patriots film on here’s what we want you to do and here’s how to do it. Watch [Dont’a] Hightower, watch [Tom] Brady, watch [Rob] Gronkowski, watch [Julian] Edelman, watch Lawrence Taylor, watch these guys do it because they were great at it.”
Of course, those players helped Belichick achieve great success with the Patriots, or in the case of Taylor, with the Giants. Beyond re-living the glory days, though, there is a reason why Belichick is using film of those players at Chapel Hill.
“It’s actually been fun to go back and watch some of those guys,” Belichick said. “Show them how good they were and why they were so good because of the way they played, the technique, and how they understood the game.”
While those players helped Belichick win eight total Super Bowls in his coaching career, he isn’t dealing with championship expectations in his first year at UNC. The Tar Heels were picked to finish eighth in the ACC’s preseason poll and their projected win total sits at 7.5 wins at DraftKings Sportsbook.
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