Bill Belichick established himself as the best coach in the NFL based mostly on his 24 years in Foxboro. A villain to most NFL teams, Belichick created a dynasty by being a stickler for the details. A master of situational football. Owner of six Super Bowl titles and 17 AFC East titles, Belichick has the NFL resume to be considered the best to ever do it. That was until the 2025 North Carolina Tar Heels football season.
Belichick almost always pushed the discussion needle while in the NFL, despite and sometime because of his “Belichickian” approach. From deadpan one-line answers that didn’t answer the question to his cutoff hoodie and standoffish temperament, Belichick was almost always discussion worthy. Especially late in his NFL career when most teams moved to an operational formula in direct conflict with how Belichick wants to run his teams.
Most of the NFL currently use a model where the front office and coaching staff operate independent of one another. Belichick has always embraced the Parcells way of thinking. “If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought a let you shop for some of the groceries.” Belichick’s approach has almost always been, if he’s going to cook the meal, no one else gets a say in the groceries. An idea, it seems, the NFL was no longer a fan of.
At the end of his time in Foxboro, there was a belief that Belichick could almost write his own ticket to any number of struggling franchises in the NFL. Speculation grew as to why no team seemed motivated to sign arguably the best coach of all time. Is it possible the modern game passed him by or were teams no longer willing to give complete control to any one person? Even if that person was Belichick.
His approach, success, and a lack of future NFL prospects kept Belichick on the minds of NFL personnel. Belichick created an intended focus on the minds of NFL people to see if he could replicate his New England success in college. That trend, according to ESPN, is continuing during his abysmal start in Chapel Hill.
"I don't think there is a conversation these days where what is happening with Bill doesn't get mentioned within the first five minutes," one NFC player personnel director said.
Immediate success was a bad expectation to set
Belichick and Michael Lombardi made comments leading into this season that would suggest they expected immediate success. Calling UNC the “33rd NFL team” is a notion that has aged like milk. Another curious notion was Belichick would create a development pipeline to the NFL that the league would take full advantage of. Belichick rarely chose the best talent and instead chose players that fit what he wanted to do. In a college game that puts a premium on top tier recruiting, that method was not a lock to be successful.
The largest issue with expectations from Belichick as well as pundits and fans alike were the assumption that former NFL excellence directly translates to college football success. Belichick is not the first successful NFL head coach to try his hand at college football post NFL career. In most of those cases, the NFL coaches moving to college have been typically unsuccessful. Conversely, coaches who made a name for themselves in college, have struggled to excel at the NFL level. While both are football, they are not the same.
"It's a learning curve," Belichick admitted Monday. "We're all in it together. But we're making a lot of progress, and the process will eventually produce the results we want like they have everywhere else I've been."
Belichick could remain on the minds of NFL personnel for a while. Despite plenty of noise to the contrary, Belichick recently condemned reports that he is looking to depart the program. For the coach that focused on details, demanded disciplined players, and who won consistently, Belichick is leading a college program that is neither detail oriented, focused, disciplined or winning many games. All of which should keep the North Carolina head coach at the forefront of NFL minds.
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