Bill Belichick is preparing to start his first season as North Carolina’s head coach after leaving the NFL following his departure from the New England Patriots.
The Patriots and owner Robert Kraft mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the 2023 season. Most expected the future Hall of Fame coach to land another NFL position.
Belichick interviewed with several teams, including the Atlanta Falcons, but no offers materialized.
Instead, he took a year off and visited college programs like Washington, where his son Stephen Belichick served as defensive coordinator. Now he’s preparing to lead the Tar Heels in his first college coaching role.
When asked about the biggest differences between the NFL and college football, Belichick offered pointed comments about his previous situation.
“It’s a much more cohesive, and I’d say unified, view of what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to do it,” Belichick told The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin this week. “It’s a lot of football, and there’s not much in your way.”
“There’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son,” he continued. “There’s no cap, everything that goes with the marketing and everything else, which I’m all for that. But it’s way less of what it was at that level.”
The comments appear to reference Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his son Jonathan directly.
The back-and-forth between Belichick and Kraft has continued through media interviews since their split.
Kraft told former Patriots Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski last month that hiring Belichick was a “big risk” when he did. Belichick responded that taking the Patriots job carried equal risk for him.
“As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job,” Belichick said. “I already had an opportunity to be the head coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable.”
Belichick’s move to college football represents a significant shift for a coach who spent decades in the NFL.
North Carolina is known primarily for its men’s basketball program rather than football success among Power Four conferences. Whether Belichick chose college football to avoid NFL ownership structures or found limited NFL interest remains unclear.
