ESPN Analyst Projects Bill Belichick’s Impact In First UNC Season

With Bill Belichick having made the move to college football, many are very excited to see how the former New England Patriots coach fares in this new environment.

Will he thrive or will he struggle?

The season is right around the corner, and one ESPN analyst has high hopes for Belichick, believing that he will have a successful first season at the University of North Carolina.

“I do think Bill Belichick is going to elevate this program,” Paul Finebaum said on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “It’s been dormant for a while, and it’s time to regenerate. North Carolina is a very good football school. And I know that surprises most people, probably even including in the Tar Heel State.”

“Eight wins is very doable,” he continued. “Maybe more if he gets lucky.”

The Tar Heels went 6-7 last season. Mack Brown started the regular season as head coach, but was fired before the team’s bowl game, and Freddie Kitchens stepped in as interim head coach.

But hopefully Belichick can start to turn things around.

Over the past few months, Belichick has been in the spotlight, but it hasn’t been very positive. The six-time Super Bowl champion has received a lot of backlash for his relationship with Jordon Hudson, which stemmed from a controversial CBS Sunday Morning interview he did. In it, CBS’s Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick how he and Hudson met, but she walked into the camera shot and said, “We’re not talking about this.”

Since then, there have been multiple reports about the two regarding her involvement in his professional and personal affairs. Belichick has publicly said she “doesn’t have anything to do with UNC football,” but the conflicting reports make it so that the truth is unknown. 

Belichick has never cared much about how he comes across in the media, but a successful season for UNC can certainly help shine a positive light on the Tar Heels’ new head coach.