Bill Belichick did not wish to go into details.
But he confirmed Monday that he had spoken to North Carolina about its vacant head football coaching position. And he explained what his vision for a college football program would look like if he took a college coaching job — at UNC or elsewhere.
Belichick made these revelations on “The Pat McAfee Show” amid several reports that he has been in talks with North Carolina, including one from ESPN colleague Adam Schefter that he met with UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts for five hours on Sunday.
“I had the opportunity to speak to Chancellor Roberts and we had some good conversations,” Belichick told McAfee. “So we’ll see how it goes.”
McAfee then pressed Belichick and asked him about the report from his Sunday meeting with Roberts. Belichick declined to provide further details.
“Let’s leave it at that,” Belichick said. “I don’t want to give out too much information.”
So, does Belichick really want to be a college coach?
Belichick was more than happy to talk about the state of college football, additionally addressing one of the biggest questions surrounding his talks with UNC. Does Belichick – who recently spent 24 seasons overseeing the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots dynasty – really want to deal with the headaches of college coaching?
Is he interested in navigating the changing transfer portal and NIL landscape that has coincided with the retirements of college coaching titans including Nick Saban, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams? The answer seems to be a resounding yes.
Belichick then explained how the modern college landscape of team building mirrors that of the salary-cap NFL structure he knows well.
“I think there are a lot of football programs that are structured similarly to the NFL,” Belichick said. “In college, you now have high school recruiting, but you have the college portal. In professional football, you have the draft and professional free agency.
“So there’s a salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. In college, you have negotiations with whoever represents the player, whether it’s a family member, a high school coach, agent, or other financial advisor of any kind.
“You have players who change teams in college, just like you have players who can change teams in the NFL with a different set of rules but the same general structure. And you have to value your players one way or another because you have a limited amount of money, whatever the revenue share is.
“I think it’s a little different version of the NFL model, much more so than ever before.”
So what would Belichick’s program look like if he took a head coaching job? Belichick laid out his vision with an important caveat about taking an academic job.
“IF I was in a college program, it would be a pipeline to the NFL for players who had the ability to play in the NFL.
This would be a college-level professional program.
I have no doubt that the players would be ready for the NFL” ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JyMDtzs2yR
– Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 9, 2024
“Let me put this in all caps, if – I, F – if I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for players who had the ability to play in the NFL,” said Belichick. “It would be a professional program – training, nutrition, program, training technique – that would be transferred to the NFL.
“It would be an NFL program at the college level and an education that would prepare players for their careers after football, whether that’s the end of their college career or the end of their professional career.”
This certainly sounds like a man who put a lot of thought into coaching in college and prepared his pitch for potential employers and recruits. Does this mean he will be the next head coach at North Carolina – or, perhaps, another program?
That remains to be seen, of course. It appears there is no offer on the table from UNC yet. But, according to reportsa decision one way or the other regarding Belichick’s future in Chapel Hill is expected this week.
