Stephen A Smith provides a scathing review for Bill Belichick’s latest UNC hiring

Legendary head coach Bill Belichick signed a five-year contract estimated to be worth up to $50 million to become the next head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. After taking a year off from coaching following his departure from New England in 2023, Belichick will be back in the field but this time, at the college level.

While Belichick has $50 million reasons to be excited about his new position, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith does not like the job for him. He spoke on SportsCenter Thursday and said that the job was beneath Belichick.

"I do think the job is beneath him. I applaud the university of North Carolina for hiring him, very smart on their part. I mean this is a team... when's the last time North Carolina football has really been relevant or in the national championship picture? I think it's not since 1980 if I remember correctly."

"They're in the ACC, it's a respectable conference, but we all know it's not the SEC, it's not the Big Ten. So I look at it from that stand point and I just say I don't blame them one bit. It's a tremenous hire on North Carolina's part and they were wise to make this move."

"For Bill Belichick I'm not going to say it was not wise for him to take the job. I'm simply saying it's beneath him, meaning that this man is the greatest ever. It's a damn shame this is the job he had to take to get back into coaching, he's Bill Belichick."

Bill Belichick become a college football head coach for the first time

While Stephen A. Smith does not think this is a job Belichick should have taken, it will be a new challenge for him. Belichick had a tremendous career in the NFL, winning six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots while coaching the team from 2000 to 2023. However, he has never coached at the college level career.

Belichick began his professional coaching career in 1975 and has not coached at the college level in any capacity. He has always been an NFL head or assistant coach.

It will be interesting to see if Belichick can adapt to a different level of play. College brings a new challenge for Belichick because of talent disparity due to roster building. There's also the challenge of recruiting, something Belichick didn't have to do much of at the professional level. While he did make personnel decisions in New England, he didn't have to go on recruiting visits or scout players regularly. That, along with NIL and transfer rules, is something he'll have to adapt to in at the college level.