Paul Finebaum compares North Carolina's hiring of Bill Belichick to that of Deion Sanders' by Colorado

The hiring of Bill Belichick by North Carolina has continued to gain attention across the college football world. The former New England Patriots coach signed a five-year deal with the Tar Heels on Wednesday, marking his first job at the collegiate level after 49 years in the NFL.

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum compares the hiring of Bill Belichick to that of Deion Sanders in terms of impact. Coach Prime was hired by Colorado in December 2022, creating a seismic shift in the history of the program. North Carolina is bound to experience something similar with Belichick.

“When you think about the history of college football in recent years, the two biggest hires 10, 15 years ago were Urban Meyer and, of course, Nick Saban at Alabama," Finebaum said (per collegefootballnetwork). "The two biggest hires of the current NIL-transfer portal era? Deion Sanders and now Bill Belichick.”

“With all due respect to Deion Sanders, this is far more significant because of what he’s done as a head coach. “Deion did all of that as a player – and one of the greatest of all time. Belichick is the greatest NFL coach of all time. You don’t have to tell a 17-year-old who he is.”

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Paul Finebaum believes Bill Belichick will make North Carolina a CFP contender

With his exploits in the NFL, Bill Belichick is a proven winner. The coach led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowls during his 24-season tenure at the franchise. Paul Finebaum believes he will bring something like that to Chapel Hill as he transitions to college football.

“North Carolina was already a good program – not a great program but a program that could get to a championship game, I think, a couple of years ago. Now they can easily, and I mean easily, get to the CFP,” Finebaum said (per collegefootballnetwork).

“This year? We just got through talking about the ACC getting two teams in the playoffs. All you need to do is have a good season and maybe get to the championship game. In that league, he can do that.”

North Carolina will be looking to compete for the ACC championship in the 2025 college football season. The last time the Tar Heels won a conference title was in 1980 under Dick Crum. Without a doubt, Bill Belichick is a brilliant candidate to end the drought.

While there are doubts in many quarters about Belichick's ability to adapt seamlessly to the college football landscape, Finebaum is seeing no issues with the coach as he embarks on a new journey in Chapel Hill.