By Kyle Golik
It is rare you get ESPN’s Paul Finebaum to refer to a move as jaw-dropping and really not try to eviscerate it or spin it for his amusement. Finebaum realizes when you have a head coach the caliber of Bill Belichick, whose resume has him positioned as the greatest coach in the history of the NFL, Finebaum’s worn-out tropes take a backseat.
Finebaum can dog coaches like Lane Kiffin, Brian Kelly, and past combatants like Jim Harbaugh or Nick Saban – how many times did Finebaum predict the fall of the Alabama dynasty? With Belichick, he was the ultimate Chessmaster at the sport’s highest level, at this point in his life he can do what he wants.
While the respect is there for Belichick, it is a fair question to determine what the barometer of success would be if indeed North Carolina and Belichick agree to partner up.
When you look at Belichick, he is 72 years old and still possesses one of the sharpest minds in the history of the sport. Since Belichick’s departure from the New England Patriots back in January, he has seemingly been on an image rehabilitation tour. Whether it was roasting Tom Brady on Netflix, being on Inside The NFL, The Pat McAfee Show, or doing NFL Draft Coverage, Belichick’s chess move was to either gauge interest in returning to the NFL to chase down Don Shula’s record of 347 wins and dethrone the current dynasty that resides in Kansas City with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
It’s hard to get inside Bill Belichick’s mind and what he is thinking. I can also surmise that Belichick realizes where he is at in life and asks himself, is passing Shula going to change his status all-time amongst his NFL peers? No. Dethroning the Chiefs is a much taller task because Belichick would need to have a situation where the franchise is pretty much set and the draft is set up to add instant impact to contend.
I tend to feel, with Belichick’s actions backing my thoughts up, Belichick would like to do a passion piece at this point in his life. At any level of football, Belichick is uniquely qualified to do whatever he so desires.
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Some may ask why North Carolina? Belichick’s father Steve coached North Carolina running backs between 1953-1955.
When I watched Belichick serve as a guest picker last season for the Army-Navy Game, which was held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, you could see Belichick light up with nostalgia thinking of his father, who later served as a coach and scout at the Naval Academy between 1956 to 1989.
In recent years, Belichick was staying in tune with many college programs throughout the NFL Draft process. With his son Steve Belichick, who became a defensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies under Jedd Fisch, after an 11-year run as a Patriots assistant.
What is Bill Belichick’s vision for North Carolina?
As Belichick has been open about his ambitions to become a college coach, Belichick hasn’t shied away from what he would do if he was in charge.
“If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that would transfer to the NFL.”
I go back to my original point, Belichick will be 73 when North Carolina’s 2025 season kicks off. To think a potential dynasty and national championships, ACC Championship, even College Football Playoff berths might be out of reach by the time Belichick really gets his plan implemented. But it is that plan that has to be the ultimate gauge of success.
The wins and losses, though important, I do feel it is going to take three to five seasons for North Carolina to fully implement Belichick’s plan. I feel Belichick’s job is to oversee the implementation of the plan and with a succession plan proposed – Bill’s son Steve would be the coach “in waiting” would essentially master the plan.
With the advent of the transfer portal, NIL, revenue sharing, and most likely the elimination of Letters of Intent, every program is scrambling to get situations together. No one is going about it the same way.
Oklahoma recently brought in former AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson as an executive advisor to the president and athletic director. Stephenson will oversee football and Oklahoma’s $20 million payments to athletes due to the funds from the House settlement that is ushering in revenue sharing.
Part of Stephenson’s responsibilities include helping Oklahoma restructure its budget for the new college sports landscape, developing a football program with professional elements, such as a more expansive general manager function and a dynamic talent acquisition strategy, and devising a strategy for the university’s incoming revenue-sharing model.
All these things are part of Belichick’s master plan that he has alluded to and what is being reported.
As you begin to see how each university is approaching this new world of college football, Belichick is offering to implement the foundation from the coaching level up through the administration. It isn’t fully about wins and loss, the number of championships, it really is about building the ideal structure and culture that will make North Carolina attractive to recruits and the NFL in preparing athletes.
Belichick, even if successful with this North Carolina venture won’t be what people first think of with his legacy, the Patriots dynasty will always come up first with fans. But the lasting legacy of setting up his system with the attention to detail Belichick has may outlive anything else he has ever done. It may be the blueprint for North Carolina to fully capitalize on its fertile recruiting ground and the epicenter of player development. That is the barometer of success for Belichick and not the wins or losses.
