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NFL world reacts with excitement, surprise, questions after Bill Belichick is hired to coach UNC

North Carolina Belichick Football
December 12, 2024

Minutes after the University of North Carolina announced it had hired Bill Belichick as its next head football coach, the Tar Heelsโ€™ Instagram account posted a photo of the legendary NFL coach โ€” at no more than 3 years old โ€” sitting in the UNC bleachers.

โ€œWelcome home, Coach,โ€ the post reads, dredging up the memory of when the young Belichick shadowed his father, Steve, who was a UNC assistant from 1953 to 1955.

As news of his hiring spread around the NFL world, the reaction ranged from excitement at seeing him back on the sideline to disbelief. The most decorated coach in NFL history after earning six Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, and two more as the defensive coordinator with the New York Giants, Belichick is officially making his next challenge college football after agreeing to a five-year deal with UNC.

NFL world reacts with excitement, surprise, questions after Bill Belichick is hired to coach UNC
North Carolina Belichick Football

โ€œI will have to see him on the sideline to believe thatโ€™s happening,โ€ Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury joked Thursday. โ€œWeโ€™ll see how the NFL job search goes and all that. I will have to see him on the sideline coaching in Chapel Hill to believe thatโ€™s happening."

While Belichickโ€™s knowledge of the sport, and his success, are unquestioned, there has been debate among those who have played for the 72-year-old coach during his 40-plus years in football about how well his style will translate to the college game.

Some of his former players believe his skill set will work at any level.

That list apparently includes Tom Brady, the quarterback during all six of Belichickโ€™s Super Bowl wins with New England.

โ€œCongrats, coach. The Tar Heel way is about to become a thing,โ€ Brady posted on Instagram on Thursday, referencing โ€œThe Patriot Wayโ€ that he popularized in New England.

Some cautioned that the players he brings into the UNC program should prepare to have their limits tested like never before.

โ€œI think heโ€™s going to do good,โ€ said Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne, who played under Belichick during his final three years in New England. โ€œBill does a good job of developing players, developing young men. I think it will be a challenge for the young man. Heโ€™s a tough coach, which we all know. But I think it will be good for certain players that have the right mindset.โ€

Bourne's advice? Always stay locked in mentally.

โ€œJust stay tough,โ€ Bourne said. โ€œHave a gritty mindset because itโ€™s not going to be easy, but in the end, itโ€™s going to be worth it."

Though some have questioned why the Tar Heels would even consider hiring Belichick after parting ways with 73-year-old Mack Brown this season, current Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said good coaching is ageless.

โ€œTo me, it doesnโ€™t matter if youโ€™re a young man or a 10-year vet in the league, heโ€™s a great teacher,โ€ said Mayo, who played eight seasons under Belichick, winning a Super Bowl during the 2014 season, and then succeeded him as head coach after last season. "I wish him nothing but the best. It doesnโ€™t really matter what level, I think heโ€™ll be successful.โ€

NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is a relative newcomer to the college game himself. He spent three seasons at Jackson State before going to Colorado in 2023. In a message posted to the X social media platform, he welcomed Belichick as a competitor.

โ€œCoach Bill Belichick is a coaches coach to all us Coaches along with my man coach (NIck) Saban,โ€ Sanders posted. โ€œTheyโ€™re game changers and they know how to move people forward. I know this is a great thing for College Football & for North Carolina. God bless u Coach, if youโ€™re happy I am 2.โ€

But former Patriots defensive back Jeโ€™Rod Cherry wonders how well Belichickโ€™s old-school coaching style will be received in an era in which in-your-face methods don't always fly as well as they did when Belichick began his career.

โ€œYou canโ€™t coach hard anymore,โ€ Cherry said during an appearance on ESPN GameNight. โ€œYou canโ€™t yell at guys, curse at guys and thatโ€™s what he does. You are going to have to find guys who are going to accept that brand of coaching and will accept someone constantly getting on them."

New York Jets safety Jalen Mills, who played for Belichick with the Patriots from 2021 to 2023, said he was surprised by the news.

โ€œI thought he definitely was going to try to wait it out until after the season and come back to the NFL,โ€ Mills said. "But I think itโ€™s gonna be a good thing for him because now you get a guy who has won and, of course, heโ€™s going to try to turn that program around. But he also gets to connect with the younger generation and kind of modify and adjust to this younger generation of football on top of what he already knows. So I think thatโ€™ll just help him as far as coaching. And then, of course, heโ€™ll give those guys, those young guys, structure as far as what the NFL looks like, too.โ€

Just how much the Belichick on the college sidelines will resemble the one in the cutoff hooded sweatshirt who patrolled NFL sidelines is unclear. Belichick hinted they will be one and the same.

During an appearance on โ€œThe Pat McAfee Showโ€ on ESPN prior to agreeing to the UNC job, Belichick laid out what his approach at the college level would be.

โ€œThe program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players than have the ability to play in the NFL,โ€ Belichick said. โ€œIt would be a professional program โ€” training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques โ€” that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level.โ€

___

AP National Writer Howard Fendrich and Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak contributed to this report.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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