'Real Reason' For Bill Belichick's Interest In UNC Job Has Been Revealed
Bill Belichick is considering a move to college football.
The six-time Super Bowl champion interviewed for North Carolina's head coaching vacancy last week. On Monday's The Pat McAfee Show, Belichick confirmed that he spoke to UNC chancellor Lee Roberts about the job.
The pairing has shocked many football fans who assumed Belichick would return to an NFL sideline in pursuit of the league's all-time coaching wins record. One source claimed that's still the 72-year-old's plan.
According to The Daily Mail, an anonymous insider said Belichick is pursuing a college position because he's worried about not getting hired by an NFL team this offseason.
"Bill wants to coach again, and he wants to coach again in the NFL. The problem is that there aren't many teams that want to offer him a job for one reason or another," the source said. "That is why he is entertaining a temporary college job, as it might be another year before more teams in the NFL have an opportunity and open window to offer Belichick a job."
The report said Belichick identified the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans as five potential NFL teams of interest. Mike McCarthy is the only head coach not under contract beyond the 2024 season among those organizations.
12 November 2023, Hesse, Frankfurt/M.: American Football: Professional League NFL, New England Patriots - Indianapolis Colts, Main Round, Main Round Games, Matchday 10, Deutsche Bank Park. Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots, before the game. Photo: Federico Gambarini/dpa (Photo by Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The Daily Mail also claimed Belichick is "90 percent ready" to take the North Carolina position if offered an annual salary in the $20 million vicinity. If the Tar Heels meet that asking price, he'd comfortably surpass Kirby Smart ($13 million) as the highest-paid college head coach.
According to The Athletic, no deal is imminent. The two sides "remain apart on multiple key terms," but they're continuing to negotiate.
Belichick seemed to take the possibility seriously when detailing what a college program would look like under his leadership.
"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, techniques that would transfer to the NFL," Belichick told McAfee on Monday. "It would be an NFL program at a college level and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football."
