AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Bill Belichick arrived fashionably late to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s spring meetings, the new North Carolina football coach’s first foray into the gathering of key figures for the league.
Still wheeling luggage around the beachside resort in Amelia Island, Belichick banged his carry-on into the door frame as he joined league athletic directors, faculty representatives and football and basketball coaches earlier this week.
It was a mildly awkward entrance for the ACC’s newest and brightest star, but if the former NFL coach who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl championships caused a distraction, no one seemed to care.
The ACC, at least publicly, welcomed Belichick, baggage and all.
“I thought I was done being tortured by him,” joked Stanford interim coach Frank Reich, who went 6-7 against Belichick, including a win in Super Bowl LII to cap the 2017 season (when Reich was offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles), during 18 seasons on NFL sidelines.
Belichick, with a new public relations representative by his side, declined most interview requests at the Ritz-Carlton. He did two football-only interviews with North Carolina reporters, sat alongside Clemson counterpart Dabo Swinney for an ESPN feature and did a brief segment on “SportsCenter.” The ESPN show’s appearance at the meetings surely had more to do with the former NFL coach than anything the conference had going on during its three-day event.
ESPN already had made North Carolina’s season opener against visiting TCU a prime-time event, with Labor Day night becoming a showcase for Belichick’s college coaching debut. It could be a launching point for the ACC, which trails the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference in brand recognition, television ratings and — most importantly — league revenue.
“I think they ran to us before we could even run to them, our partners at Disney,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said of ESPN. “Listen, it’s a great thing for the league. It’s a great thing for North Carolina. And we’re all following just the massive coverage that Coach Belichick draws.
“I don’t know that he’s got a private moment to himself at all from what I can see and read and what I follow. But I think it’s good. I think it’s good for our league. It’s good for certainly North Carolina. It’s good for college football people; it draws more interest. And it was enjoyable to have him here this week with our joint group in those meetings.”
Belichick, Reich and Boston College coach Bill O’Brien give the ACC three former NFL coaches, though none come with the titles and headaches — Spygate, Deflategate and more — of Belichick. Their experience and insight were widely regarded, no surprise considering many top programs are adapting NFL models as they navigate a changing landscape on the doorstep of paying players for use of their names, images and likenesses.
“I don’t necessarily know where college football is going, but I have an idea,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “We’re not really a full pro model, but we’re not an old-school, student-athlete-only model. We’re kind of in the middle.
“You start talking about salary caps and portal-slash-free agency and rules of the game. I don’t necessarily believe that just because the NFL does it, we should. But at the end of the day, we’re grooming guys to go to the league, so as many things as we can do that line up with them makes sense. Having Bill Belichick, Bill O’Brien, Frank Reich, it definitely adds value to the room.”
With no TV cameras chasing his every move, the 73-year-old Belichick was somewhat removed from the spotlight during the ACC’s spring meetings.
It may have been a welcome respite after the past few weeks, when he defended 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson for shutting down questions about their relationship, which has drawn outsized attention given their age gap and fed by frequent online glimpses into their relationship via social media. Earlier this month, North Carolina released a statement saying Hudson is “welcome” at Tar Heels football facilities to contradict a report that she had been banned.
“I don’t know that I concern myself with some of those things,” Phillips said. “I think about the elements that affect the ACC. Some of those other things, I really don’t even pay that much attention to.”
North Carolina hired Belichick last December, giving him a three-year, $30 million contract in hopes of reenergizing its football program. Belichick, whose 302 career wins as an NFL head coach rank third, has undoubtedly created a stir. He limited access to practices and had players working out in numberless jerseys.
“Bill’s been great to work with,” North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said. “He’s a celebrity figure, and he’s doing a great job for us.”
Swinney, whose Tigers have given the ACC a regular presence in the College Football Playoff, was focused on the on-field aspect in his welcome.
“He’s an amazing football coach,” the veteran Clemson coach said. “You don’t get lucky and do what he did, especially in the NFL where the margin is so, so small. He’s going to be great for our league.”