Bill Belichick declined to elaborate.
But he confirmed Monday that he has spoken with North Carolina about its head football coaching vacancy. And he discussed what his vision of a college football program would be if he took a college coaching job — at UNC or elsewhere.
Belichick made the revelations on “The Pat McAfee Show” amid multiple reports that he is in talks with North Carolina, including one from his ESPN colleague Adam Schefter that he met with UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts for five hours Sunday.
“I had the opportunity to speak with Chancellor Roberts, and we had several good conversations,” Belichick told McAfee. “So, we’ll see how it goes.”
McAfee then pressed Belichick and asked about the report of his Sunday meeting with Roberts. Belichick declined to provide further details.
“Let’s just leave it at that,” Belichick said “I don’t want to give away too much information.”
So does Belichick really want to coach in college?
Belichick was more than happy to talk about the state of college football, further addressing one of the biggest questions surrounding his talks with UNC. Does Belichick — who most recently spent 24 seasons overseeing the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots dynasty — really want to deal with the headaches of college coaching?
Is he eager to navigate the shifting transfer portals and NIL landscape that coincides with the retirements of college coaching titans including Nick Saban, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams? The answer seems to be a resounding yes.
Belichick went on to discuss how the modern college landscape of team building mirrors the salary-capped NFL structure with which he is quite familiar.
“I think there are a lot of football programs that are being structured similar to NFL programs,” Belichick said. “In college, you have high school recruiting now but you have college portals. In pro football, you have the draft and pro free agency.
“So you have the salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. You have negotiations with whoever is representing the player in college, whether it’s a family member, a high school coach, an agent or some other financial advisor.
“You have players changing teams in college because you have players who can change teams in the NFL with different rules but the same general structure. And you have to value your players because you have a limited amount of money regardless of revenue share. Either.
“I think it’s a little different version of the NFL model, much more than it used to be.”
So what would Belichick’s program look like if he took a head coaching job? Belichick expressed his view on taking college jobs with an important caveat.
“If I was in a college program, it would be a pipeline to the NFL for players that had the ability to play in the NFL.
It will be a professional program at college level..
I have no doubt the players will be ready for the NFL” ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JyMDtzs2yR
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 9, 2024
“Let me put it in capital letters, if — I,F — if I were in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for players who had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It’s a professional program — training, nutrition, schemes, coaching techniques — that will transfer to the NFL.
“It’s an NFL program at the college level and an education that will prepare players for their careers after football whether it’s the end of their college career or the end of their professional career.”
This sure sounds like a person who has given a lot of thought to coaching in college and prepared his pitch to potential employers and recruiters. So does that mean he’ll be the next head coach at North Carolina — or, perhaps, another program?
It certainly remains to be seen. There are reportedly no offers on the table from UNC as of now. But, according to reports, a decision one way or another about Belichick’s future in Chapel Hill is expected this week.
