North Carolina announces deal with Bill Belichick to coach the Tar Heels
Dec 11, 2024, 7:14 PM | Updated: 7:18 pm
Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots speaks to the media during a press conference at Gillette Stadium on January 11, 2024 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer, Getty Images)
(Maddie Meyer, Getty Images)
Six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick has agreed to a five-year deal to become the next coach at North Carolina.
The school announced the hiring Wednesday night. It was roughly a week after the 72-year-old Belichick’s name surfaced as an unlikely candidate to replace the program’s winningest all-time coach in Mack Brown.
The deal requires approval by UNC trustees, though that board hadn’t announced a new meeting as of Wednesday night. An introductory news conference has yet to be scheduled.
“We know that college athletics is changing. That those changes require new and innovative thinking,” UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “Bill Belichick is a football legend, and hiring him to lead our program represents a new approach. [It] will ensure Carolina football can evolve, compete and win — today and in the future.”
The school announced Nov. 26 that Brown wouldn’t return for a seventh season in his second stint in Chapel Hill. The firing became effective after the program’s all-time wins leader coached his finale in the Nov. 30 loss to rival N.C. State.
UNC is turning to a coach who has never worked at the college level. Yet, Belichick had incredible success in the NFL alongside quarterback Tom Brady throughout most of his 24-year tenure with the Patriots, which ended last season.
