Of all the ugly moments so far — bad plays, blowout losses, home fans fleeing early for the exits — the most telling moment of Bill Belichick’s first season as the University of North Carolina’s football coach came this week, when the Tar Heels don’t even have a game.
It took the form of a pair of terse statements from Belichick and athletic director Bubba Cunningham posted on social media Wednesday night, reaffirming the marriage between the former longtime NFL coach — the same one who guided the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl championships — and the Atlantic Coast Conference school desperately seeking to elevate its football program beyond decades of also-ran status.
“I’m fully committed to UNC Football and the program we’re building here,” Belichick’s statement read.
The fact it came at all, though — after a day of media speculation and reports of behind-the-scenes troubles in the program — said more about how the first few weeks of Belichick’s first college season have gone.
The confident messaging about building the “33rd” NFL team with a pro-style approach at a college program has given way to school leaders and the football program’s general manager pleading for patience from fans and donors jarred by the current team’s lack of competitiveness. And now the school has suspended an assistant coach for violating rules tied to improper benefits.
It all comes amid elevated financial investments into the program, none more significant than spending at least $10 million annually to hire the 73-year-old Belichick, whose 24-season tenure in New England ended two years ago and has since been followed by simmering tension between the Patriots and their former coach.
“It’s not the kind of thing we judge after four games or even after one season,” Lee Roberts, UNC’s chancellor, told reporters after a meeting of university trustees two weeks ago. “These things take time.”
The Tar Heels — who are off for the second time in three weeks due to their second and final open date of the regular season — are 2-3 overall and 0-1 in ACC play. They have managed a total of four touchdowns in three losses to power conference opponents, each coming by at least 25 points. One of their two wins came against Richmond, which competes in NCAA Division I’s lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision.
In games against fellow Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, UNC ranks last among all 67 power conference teams in scoring offense (13.3 points per game), total offense (253.0 yards per) and third-down conversion rate (26.5%). The Tar Heels also rank amid the bottom dozen in scoring defense (30.8 points allowed per game), total defense (416.8 yards allowed per game) and third-down conversion defense (43.4%), according to SportRadar.
UNC opened Belichick’s tenure on Labor Day with a national TV spotlight on the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, only for the Big 12’s TCU Horned Frogs to roll to a 48-14 win that had the home fans largely gone from Kenan Stadium by the end of the third quarter.
Last weekend in Chapel Hill, it happened again, this time by halftime as Clemson took a 28-3 lead in the first quarter in a game that ended in a largely empty stadium.
“We’re just going to keep working every day and every week,” Belichick said afterward. “And let the guys get better. And the guys that get better will keep playing. And the guys that don’t, maybe there’s other people that can compete and move ahead of them for playing time. But we’re just going to keep grinding. I’m not going to evaluate where things are or aren’t. Just take it week by week.”
The Tar Heels return to action by visiting California on Oct. 17 in their first cross-country league trip since the ACC’s expansion last year added the Golden Bears as well as fellow former Pac-12 program Stanford and former American Conference member SMU.
UNC is also dealing with concerns away from the games themselves.
The school announced Thursday evening that cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins has been suspended. A timetable for that suspension is unclear, and UNC said in its release announcing the suspension that Hawkins would remain on leave while the school “further investigates other potential actions detrimental” to the team and school.
Additionally, a person with knowledge of the situation said planned TV show from streaming service Hulu on Belichick’s first UNC team is no longer in development. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because UNC hasn’t publicly discussed the project.
In August, the Tar Heels’ social media accounts shared video of Belichick telling his players the Tar Heels would be featured in what he described as a season-long series to “showcase” the program. The person told the AP it was unclear whether the project might go forward in any other manner.
Belichick’s relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson has generated its own tabloid-level interest. She has been a frequent sideline presence before games.
It has all generated endless fodder for opponents to deliver easy jabs via social media after sound beatings on the field.
That much showed on opening night, both with the Big 12’s official football account posting on X to mark “a 34-point win over the 33rd Team” while TCU’s official football account posted Belichick’s Hulu announcement asking “when does episode one come out?”
And then there was the 34-9 loss at UCF, with the Knights’ official program account posting a trolling photo with its mascot replicating a much-discussed beach shot of Belichick and Hudson she had previously posted on Instagram — complete with the same hashtag.
UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi, a former NFL executive, recently sent a letter to donors encouraging them to remain patient. He outlined a plan that included signing “upwards of 40” high school players in the next recruiting class to restock the program, indicating the need for a longer-term effort when it comes to building a winner.
“First and foremost, this letter isn’t an excuse or to shed blame on the past regimes,” Lombardi wrote in the letter, first reported by Football Scoop and later reviewed by the AP. “It’s meant to explain our team building blueprint moving forward, now that we have surveyed the inherited land.”
Changing course would be expensive, too.
Belichick is in the first year of a deal that guarantees $10 million in base and supplemental pay for each of the next two seasons. Lombardi is making $1.5 million for each of the next two seasons. And most members of the staff — which includes Belichick’s sons Steve and Brian, as well as Lombardi’s son Matt — hold two-year deals.
It would cost more than $30 million to buy out those staff contracts if UNC opted to make a coaching change.