We’re roughly six months away from Bill Belichick taking the sideline to coach his first game in college football. Regardless of how he ended up in Chapel Hill, the legendary mind is trying to lead the revival of a middling Tar Heel program.
Although the level of play is a step down in quality, the landscape of the sport is vastly different. On top of recruiting, NIL and the transfer portal have made the collegiate game an unpredictable machine, with even the brightest minds struggling to adapt.
Young men coming into this wild west environment from high school is difficult enough, let alone for a 72-year-old future Hall of Famer.
In an interview with The Daily Tar Heel, Belichick discussed the transition to UNC and how his son, Steve, has helped the experience.
He also shouted out the programs that molded his first-year coaching staff: his son and defensive coordinator Stephen’s short-term collegiate coaching home after Bill’s Patriots retirement, Washington, and then Louisville, Oregon, LSU, Arizona, and Western Kentucky in one breath.
“There is a significant carryover from the NFL to college football, but there are many differences, too,” Belichick said. “Steve has been helpful with his experience at Washington in recruiting, staffing, and general planning. I also have several staff members who were in college football last season at major football programs: Louisville, Oregon, LSU, Arizona, Western Kentucky, and UNC.”
In typical Belichick fashion, his anecdote was fairly vanilla. However, his last point did have some value as it shows the support system he’s surrounded by.
All of those schools have played in bowl games in the previous few years and have had significant expectations in their various conferences.
It’s naive even for Belichick to think he can come right in and do everything his way. If he’s going to be successful in this role, he’ll have to do something he was unwilling to do in New England: collaborate and not always be in complete control.
In an ever-changing ACC, enough alignment from the top down could bring big things to Chapel “Bill.”
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