5 reasons why Bill Belichick coaching college football is a terrible idea

It was a move that no one really saw coming. Largely considered the great NFL coach of all-time, Bill Belichick decided to take his talents to college football, where he accepted the University of North Carolina’s vacant head coaching position. There’s a chance this could go very badly for Belichick for five main reasons. All statistics are sourced from Sports Reference (college) or Football Reference(NFL).

There’s no question that Bill Belichick felt in his mind like he had to make a move to get back into football sooner rather than later. He’s appeared on a variety of media outlets during the course of the 2024 regular season, but it was always doubtful that this is what he wanted to do for the foreseeable future.

With that said, this was not on anyone’s radar in the last few months, perhaps not even Belichick’s. It always seemed like he wanted to get back into the NFL, but interviews and discussion with the Atlanta Falcons last offseason went south. Radio host Dan Patrick said in February 2024, “Nobody wanted Bill Belichick, at least what came with Bill Belichick.”

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It’s hard to tell anyone who has spent a lifetime in a certain industry or sport that they should hang it up, especially someone whose accomplishments are as sparkling as Belichick’s. However, there is no reason he had to take any job in the NFL or in college at this stage of his career. Belichick doesn’t have anything left to prove, although he might feel otherwise.

As has been said multiple times since the Belichick to UNC news broke, college football is not exactly like the NFL. For starters, head coaches are dealing with 18 to 22-year-old student athletes, whereas the NFL is composed of players who are a little more seasoned in life. That age gap might entail a little bit more than what Belichick bargained for.

Keith Reed from MSNBC wrote, “He will be trying to make the transition from coaching pros who could be his sons to college players who could be his grandsons.” Belichick will have to find ways to connect with individuals who may not view football as their job, because in reality, it won’t be their occupation.

The vast majority of Belichick’s Tar Heels will go pro in something other than sports, unless he builds a historic powerhouse at North Carolina. That means that he’ll have to find ways to get the best out of them, in ways he’s not really used to. Belichick might need to take a greater interest in the personal lives of his players, who are still coming into their own as young men.

Belichick knows the NFL system like the back of his hand. The NFL Draft comes around every year in April, and it's proceeded by free agency a month earlier in March. It became like clockwork; Belichick was known for trading back in NFL drafts in order to acquire more picks to use as future currency. What will he do now that he’s not in a system he’s known for decades?

Of course, this is where NIL and the new world of college football comes in. Belichick told The Pat McAfee Show shortly after he took the job that a lot of players and agents were coming to him saying that they wanted to be part of the program. Morningstar’s Weston Blasi wrote that the program is expected to spend nearly $20 million on football player payments to help Belichick field a strong team.

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Will Belichick and newly appointed North Carolina football general manager Mike Lombardi cower to teenagers demanding large sums of money? It’s a legitimate question, as Belichick often decided to jettison players in the NFL one or two years early in order to avoid paying them lucrative contracts with the New England Patriots.

Tom Brady’s father, Tom Brady senior, had some critical words about Belichick’s demeanor. He told The Boston Globe, “Bill is a great, great, great coach. But his interpersonal skills are horrible. That’s the bottom line.” He’s not the only one that feels that way, as the entire NFL has not bent over backwards to hire the six-time Super Bowl winning head coach, who also won two championships as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.

Granted, money will do a lot of the talking when it comes to attracting talent to the Tar Heels football program. With that said, Belichick is still going to have to speak with prospects coming in from high school and who may want to join via the transfer portal. Is Belichick going to have the personality to convince parents and players alike that UNC is the best place for them?

Brady Sr. also said, “He runs a military system. It’s a different generation.” We’ll find out soon enough whether Belichick will come to terms with that in his new job, but it stands to reason that after decades of operating one way, it’ll be difficult for the tiger to change his stripes in his seventies.

When Belichick goes into the living rooms of high school prospects entering college football, he’ll try to sell them on the campus experience they’ll have once they get to UNC. However, it’s fair to point out that Belichick himself will have no idea what that entails, since he’ll be getting his first taste of it at the coaching level.

Granted, perhaps the biggest draw a player might have to play for Belichick at UNC would be to leverage the legendary coach’s NFL experience. Belichick would know an NFL player when he saw one, but it will be fascinating to see if he can balance keeping promises of NFL dreams to elite talent while still connecting with the other players on the roster.

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Part of what made Bill Belichick one of the greatest coaches in NFL history was his supreme attention to detail, and the fact that he seemed more prepared than his counterparts. Belichick was always in lockstep with changes made by the NFL’s competition committee, which allowed him to get his players ready for every contingency. It’ll be interesting to see if he becomes a savant of the college rule book as well.