Bill Belichick being hired as North Carolina coach shocked the football world. His next move is another stunner.
Belichick and UNC football are expected to participate in HBO’s upcoming offseason “Hard Knocks” series, multiple sources tell CBS Sports. The deal has not been signed with the university, but all indications are it will be completed. Front Office Sports first reported the news on Friday.
It will be the first time “Hard Knocks” has collaborated with a college football program, and perhaps no team is more interesting heading into the 2025 season than Belichick’s Tar Heels. Belichick, who for decades displayed a gruff demeanor with the media as coach of the New England Patriots, now continues his media blitz that began after his parting from the NFL.
“Hard Knocks” expanded its series in recent years to feature not only training camp but in-season and offseason series as well. Last year, the New York Giants were highlighted in the inaugural offseason “Hard Knocks,” and many believed the series would be one-and-done.
The show followed the Giants as they made the decision to not re-sign star running back Saquon Barkley, and it captured conversations around quarterback Daniel Jones and the team’s path to the draft. While it made for captivating sports television, many around the league thought it showed too many intimate moments of a team’s inner workings.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen said this week at the NFL Scouting Combine that no team had reached out to him about participating in the offseason “Hard Knocks.”
“I think I know what I would tell them” Schoen said with a laugh, with the implication being that he would tell the team to decline.
There have been rumors that no team wanted to participate in the offseason show, but a source said there was “more interest than I thought there’d be” in NFL circles.
“We hope it’s back,” said NFL Films vice president Keith Cossrow in a January appearance on the Pat McAfee show. “We’re talking to a bunch of teams about it. But we’ll see what happens. I mean, we need a willing participant on that one. We’re not going to force someone to do that show.”
NFL Films produces “Hard Knocks” for HBO, and that is key in understanding this union.
In 2009, Belichick allowed NFL Films to follow him and the Patriots for the entire season in what became the 90-minute program, “A Football Life: Bill Belichick.” This past year, Belichick was part of “Inside the NFL” that tapes out of the NFL Films studio and is produced by the group.
Belichick stunningly agreed to become UNC’s football coach in December. At his introductory press conference, he promised to run the Tar Heels football program “like an NFL organization.”
Pairing with “Hard Knocks” is yet another example of that mission.
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