Bill Belichick’s Patriots Admission On Beginning Of Tenure With North Carolina

The football world was dealt a shock when former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick decided to dive into the world of college football for the first time in his career with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

After taking a year off from coaching in 2024, the overarching expectation was that Belichick would return to the NFL in 2025. Instead, he opted to latch on with North Carolina, making them one of the most intriguing teams in the nation heading into the new season.

While Belichick has never been a head coach at the collegiate level, he has a wealth of experience from his time in the NFL that he will be able to fall back on as he makes this transition. And as it turns out, he’s already showing his new team some old Patriots film as they prepare for the upcoming campaign.

“We’ve shown a lot of Patriots film,” Belichick said on ACC Network. “Here’s what we want you to do, here’s how to do it. Watch (Dont’a) Hightower, watch (Tom) Brady, watch (Rob) Gronkowski, watch (Julian) Edelman … watch these guys do it, because they were great at it. Stephon Gilmore, Ty Law, (Aqib) Talib, all those guys.”

“It’s actually been fun to go back and watch some of those guys and show them how good they were and why they were so good, because of the way they played, the technique, and how they understood the game.”

Throughout his legendary coaching career, Belichick has worked with quite a few great players. And while they had the talent to go out on the field and perform, Belichick had a habit of finding the way to get the most out of every player who suited up for him.

The goal with the Tar Heels will be the same, but the circumstances will be a bit different. Rather than working with professionals, Belichick will now have to manage college students who may view the game differently.

Whether or not he will be successful in his quest to get the Tar Heels’ football program back on track remains to be seen. Hopes are high, though, and Belichick is having a great time looking back at some old Patriots film as he prepares for his latest quest.