You don’t hire Bill Belichick for joy. While leading the greatest dynasty in NFL history, he proved with the New England Patriots that success and fun don’t need to be compatible. He created a dour legacy with his irritable genius, a triumphant enigma the Patriots spurned soon after his six-championship glow faded and the rest of the NFL rejected during the most recent hiring cycle.
Belichick may be the best coach football has ever known, or at least he was when Tom Brady was the quarterback caretaking his vision. But he knows only one way. He must operate with ruthless rigor. Apparently, his style has become too cutthroat and outdated for the merciless NFL. So he’s poised to take his act to the last place that you would think could handle him: college.
At 72 years old, Belichick is about to coach the North Carolina Tar Heels. He’s probably trimming the sleeves on a Carolina blue hoodie at this very minute. When he started stacking losses during his final years in New England, Belichick was having trouble relating to a locker room of men in their mid-20s. Now, most of his players won’t be of legal drinking age.
Oh, this is going to be fun. For the first time with Belichick, it’s going to be fun.
Who knew he wanted to turn the end of his career into a sitcom?
Oh, this is going to be funny.
It’s doubtful North Carolina will enjoy it as much as the rubbernecking outsiders. Belichick could win big and make it an awkward, miserable experience. He could win a little — in that eight-win range that defines most good seasons for the Tar Heels — and make it an awkward, miserable experience. Or he could be a disaster and make it an especially awkward, miserable experience.
Belichick could shock the sport more than he already has if he turned into a chatty, grandfatherly figure and told better stories than Mack Brown, the 73-year-old coach he’s replacing. He’s a pleasure to listen to when he decides to share. Out of coaching this season for the first time since 1975, Belichick has been an entertaining and insightful media member, but the mumbling grump is about to return.
But now, he won’t be doing it as the coach and personnel chief of an NFL team, which needs him only to obsess about football because that business model is bulletproof. At North Carolina, he will have to charm — or at least acknowledge — boosters and make an effort to sell the program. He will need to persuade the community to contribute to name, image and likeness funds to compensate players. And while he doesn’t figure to hit the recruiting trail the way Nick Saban did, he must establish some relationships with high school players, their parents, coaches, agents and handlers.
It’s a gripping experiment for Belichick and for college football. A man with little tolerance now has an annoyingly long chore list, and those items are just as urgent as schemes, strategy and player development. His success depends on much more than his football brain now. He must motivate and retain young players during a time in which they can transfer freely. He must inspire them to commit to excellence when the vultures are circling and hoping that a little bit of money and a nicer coach can convince kids to flee.
The college game is different, but coaching won’t be an issue for Belichick. The pace of play is faster, and the styles of play are more diverse. Practice time is limited, and teaching methods must be simplified. There’s also a wider spectrum of aspiration among the players; not everyone expects to go pro. Belichick, who never stops learning, will revel in adjusting to those challenges.
But is he wired to be diplomatic when a potential program-changing 19-year-old wants to talk about greater NIL compensation? Where do academics factor into his football obsession?
Belichick reportedly was drawn to college football for the same reasons that are driving older college coaches from the sport. He’s attracted to the professionalization of it. He envisions treating the North Carolina program like an NFL franchise, and he will structure his staff accordingly. He’s not the first coach to view it this way, to talk about the transfer portal as free agency and have no qualms about players earning significant money. But he’s the first Hall of Fame-bound NFL coach to bring this level of expertise and nuance to the enterprise. His approach will be thoughtful, and he will stretch North Carolina’s football budget as much as he can to hire the best people to help him. He will create an intriguing fiefdom, and his power will be unchallenged if he can deliver.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
