Sources: Bill Belichick finalizes contract as UNC coach

Six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick is finalizing a deal to become the new head coach at North Carolina, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The expected signing of the 72-year-old Belichick will go down as one of the most impressive and compelling moves in college football history. He served in the NFL in some capacity from 1975 until his divorce from the New England Patriots after the 2023 season.

Belichick’s father, Steve, was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels in the 1950s.

Belichick’s hiring at North Carolina, which hasn’t won an ACC football title since 1980, was driven by CEO John P. Preyer, who had spent a lot of time with Belichick in recent weeks. The sides met several times and in detail, including five hours on Sunday, and those discussions ultimately culminated in Belichick completing the deal on Wednesday.

For a program riddled with apathy and mediocrity, this represents a significant and compelling departure from Mack Brown, as Belichick gives the Tar Heels an unprecedented boost in star power for 2025 and beyond.

The Patriots’ six Super Bowls under Belichick are an NFL record (he won two more as an assistant coach). He enters college football with 333 NFL wins, trailing only Don Shula’s record of 347.

North Carolina fired the 73-year-old Brown on Nov. 26 after a 6-6 season and finished his second stint at the school with a 44-33 record over six years. He coached the Tar Heels’ regular-season finale, a 35-30 loss to NC State, then said it was “a great time for me to get out.”

The expected hiring of the notoriously aloof Belichick, who joked about his press conference aura on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, represents a marked departure from Brown’s syrupy Southern charm.

Belichick spent his year off the sidelines working multiple media jobs while making it clear he wanted to return to coaching. After exploring several NFL positions last year following his departure from New England, Belichick was expected to explore the NFL market again.

However, sources told ESPN that a return to coaching in general was paramount for Belichick. He spent a lot of time with his former assistant, Washington coach Jedd Fisch, and talked college football with friends and former assistant coaches. Belichick’s son Stephen is Washington’s defensive coordinator and is expected to be involved in some capacity on North Carolina’s staff.

Through the annual draft, Belichick has built a reserve of confidants of college coaches and has shown up to college games this year at places like Washington, Rutgers and LSU.

Belichick also spent the last few days familiarizing himself with the transfer portal and NIL, and spent a lot of time learning how a college system’s organizational chart would work.

In his interview with McAfee on Monday, he made it clear that as a college coach he would create an incubator for NFL talent.

“If I were to go to a college program, the college program would be a connection to the NFL for the players that would have the opportunity to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, programming, coaching and techniques that would translate to the NFL.”

He concluded a lengthy portrait of what the program would look like by saying, “It would be an NFL program, but not at the NFL level.”

Other names that emerged in the North Carolina search included veteran NFL coach Steve Wilks, Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann, Army coach Jeff Monken and Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Smith indicated he would stay with the Steelers, and Tulane agreed in principle to a contract extension with Sumrall.