Bill Belichick confirmed had talks with UNC to be the next coach of the Tar Heels. He did not go into details or how long the two parties met, but the first New England Patriots The coach offered up what a college program would look like under him while emphasizing that it was a hypothetical.
“Yes, and let me say it in all caps: YES. If he was in a college program, the college program would be a conduit to the NFL for players who had the ability to play in the NFL.” Belichick said during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. “It would be a professional program (training, nutrition, scheme, training techniques) that would transfer 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, either at the end of his college career or at the end of his professional career. But he would focus on developing the player, the time management, the discipline, the structure and all that.”
Belichick has never coached at the college level, but the 72-year-old is confident that wouldn’t hinder his ability to do so and do it well.
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“… I’m very confident that I have contacts in the National Football League to pave the way for those players who would have the ability to have an opportunity to compete in the National Football League.” he said. “Whether it’s good enough or not, I don’t know, but they would be ready for it. I have no doubt about it.”
Belichick has a sentimental connection to North Carolina as Belichick’s father was an assistant coach at the school from 1953 to 1955. And while going to college would keep him away from breaking everyone’s NFL wins record times Don Shula, ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes the record is not the driving force for Belichick to coach.
“He wants to coach. … He’s a football coach,” Schefter told McAfee about 30 minutes before Belichick made his appearance. “He doesn’t want to wait and count on something he doesn’t know is safe when he wants to train.”
The reports have drawn mixed reactions from those who know Belichick best. Tom Brady he said forcefully on Sunday that he can’t see Belichick coaching at the college level because of the recruiting process. Nick Saban, meanwhile, believes Belichick would be a good fit and that recruiting is not as big a process because of NIL as it used to be.
But it’s clear Belichick, an eight-time Super Bowl champion, is confident in his ability to coach football regardless of the level.