How Bill Belichick plans to run his college program at North Carolina: ‘Pipeline to the NFL’

Bill Belichick’s UNC football program may look a lot like the “Patriot Way.”

Before agreeing to become the Tar Heels’ next head coach, Belichick pulled back the curtain a bit on how he’d run a college football team during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday.

“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,” Belichick said during the interview. “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.”

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The 72-year-old NFL coaching legend is moving to the college ranks after spending this season in various media roles. 

Belichick split from the Patriots after the 2023 NFL season following 24 years and six Super Bowl victories.

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He had been in the NFL in one capacity or another since 1975, when he became a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts.

His deal with UNC is for three years and $30 million, according to The Athletic.

Belichick is looking to add to his staff and potentially make acquisitions in the transfer portal, per ESPN, though his former New England assistant Michael Lombardi — most recently an analyst and podcaster for VSiN — will be joining him as the football team’s GM.

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He takes over a program that just fired Mack Brown after he went 6-6 this season and 44-31 in 75 games over six seasons.

The Tar Heels football program has just one double-digit-win season in the last 27 years and hasn’t won the ACC title since 1980.

Although he has no personal ties to the school, Belichick’s father, Steve, was an assistant coach at UNC in the 1950s.

“I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill,” Belichick said in a statement on Wednesday. “I grew up around college football with my dad and treasured those time. I have always wanted to coach in college and how I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.”