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On Tuesday, news broke that six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick was in talks with the University of North Carolina to take over as the program's new coach in 2025. Belichick, who was fired by the New England Patriots at the end of the 2023 season, was reportedly keen on returning to coaching in 2025 after spending 2024 as a TV analyst.
However, the common consensus was that Belichick was eyeing a return to the NFL and not pivoting to college football, making the reports about his interest in the UNC job a bit surprising.
It's unclear why he was keen on joining a college program when several NFL coaching gigs are expected to be available in the offseason. Fox Sports analyst Nick Wright believes it's out of fear of rejection.
"I have a different theory about why all of a sudden Belichick is looking at the college game. ... I think he is very nervous that if he waits for NFL jobs, he's not going to get one. That there are gonna be seven or eight openings, and they are going to pass. If that happens, his coaching career is kind of over." - Nick Wright on The Herd
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Many believed that Belichick would return to the NFL to chase the all-time wins record for a coach, currently held by Don Shula, with 347. Belichick is only 14 victories away.
However, Wright believes the former Patriots boss has no interest in breaking the record, holding the record for a year or two before seeing Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who has 296 wins, lap him.
Bill Belichick to UNC: Former Patriots HC on Tar Heels interest
On Tuesday, Bill Belichick addressed the reports about him taking over as the UNC Tar Heels' coach on the Pat McAfee Show. He revealed that the deal is yet to be closed and that there are no guarantees that he'd take up the job.
The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach also revealed what his vision was for UNC:
"If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL. It would be a professional program -- training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that would transfer to the NFL... It would be an NFL program, but not at the NFL level." - Bill Belichick on the Pat McAfee Show
Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson and Pete Carroll are the only coaches to have won the Super Bowl and a national championship. Perhaps the idea of becoming the fourth to achieve the feat is more intriguing to Bill Belichick than chasing down Don Shula or winning a seventh Super Bowl ring.
