At the Loudermilk Center for Excellence located off the south endzone of Kenan Memorial Stadium, Bill Belichick sat on a stage Thursday afternoon between UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts and Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham, grinning as Roberts held up a gift for him.
It was a hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off, with a big Carolina Blue logo in the middle of it, like the ones Belichick made popular while winning six Super Bowls across 24 seasons with the New England Patriots. Cunningham got in on the bit too, donning a new sports coat with the sleeves removed, bringing the room full of reporters and Tar Heel supporters to a crescendo of laughter.
The symbolism wasn’t subtle: By hiring Belichick, UNC is making football its top priority.
"I've said many times that we want to be the best public university in the United States, and that means excellence in everything that we do. We're going to have an excellent college football program," Roberts said. "We want to compete with the best, and we've hired the best coach."
Since becoming the full-time chancellor in August, Belichick represents the first major athletics hire Roberts has made. And the most expensive one too.
According to his contract, which was approved by the UNC Board of Trustees and the UNC System Board of Governors on Thursday, Belichick received a five-year deal to coach the Tar Heels' football team. The first three years of the contract are guaranteed, and Belichick will make a total annual salary of $10 million per year.
To put that number in perspective, it is double the salary of what former UNC football coach Mack Brown earned, and dwarfs the salaries of UNC's other coaches, including men's basketball leader Hubert Davis. The figure puts Belichick in an exclusive club of college football coaches who make at least $10 million per year. The others work at Georgia, Clemson, Texas, USC, Ohio State, Florida State and Alabama. Two of those coaches – Georgia's Kirby Smart and Clemson's Dabo Swinney – have won national championships. The rest have participated in, or come close to contending, in the College Football Playoff.
Belichick, who will turn 73 in April, has never coached in college football before. And the Tar Heels haven't won a conference title since 1980.
The questions are obvious for UNC: Why Belichick? Why now?
"In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, 'the future ain't what it used to be,' and we are embarking on an entirely new football operation, and we can't wait to have Coach Belichick leading the charge for us," Cunningham said. "The future of college athletics is changing, and we want to be in the forefront of that."
Looming changes in college athletics
Indeed, the landscape of college sports keeps evolving. Athletes can now earn money off their name, image and likeness (NIL). The transfer portal allows them to move much more freely from school-to-school. And soon, the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement will open the door to universities sharing revenue directly with athletes.
That looming factor – players finally getting a share of the money-making pie – has some universities scrambling. Where will the money to pay those athletes come from? It's why UNC is permitting alcohol sales at the Dean Smith Center for the first time this year, and why North Carolina State University is exploring the sale of the naming rights to Carter-Finley Stadium. Everyone is looking for addition avenues of income.
But the No. 1 money-maker in college sports remains TV revenue from football. The better a football team is, the more games it plays in. The more games it plays in, the more money they earn.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, which UNC is a founding member of, gave out $44.8 million per school in TV revenue in 2023. And while that number seems like quite a lot – and it is – it trails behind what schools in the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference earn by a margin of several million dollars. That's why institutions like Clemson and Florida State are suing the ACC in an attempt to join another league. Because that money doesn't just pay for football – it funds entire athletic departments, it pays for new buildings on campuses and goes toward the salaries of faculty and staff.
So, if UNC aims to be – as Roberts says – the "best public university" in the country, being better than mediocre in football is necessary to its mission.
"I think if you go all-in on those two sports (football and men's basketball), those two sports provide all of the finances for the rest of the department," Cunningham said. "The more successful we are in football, the more successful we are in basketball, the more opportunities we're going to be able to provide for everyone else here."
If and when the time comes where UNC has the opportunity to jump to another conference, Board of Trustees member Jennifer Lloyd said that Belichick's presence "should help us."
"Coach Belichick will help us take that next leap. We are absolutely 100% committed to football and committed to winning in football," Lloyd said. "We want to win a national championship in football. I said that the first day I became a trustee."
Trustees' desire to win big in football
Speaking to reporters after the press conference, Lloyd – who sat in the front row of the spectacle in the crowded room next to UNC women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart – said there's a "core group of about 20 of us" who have been working behind the scenes to increase the investment into football at UNC-Chapel Hill. Lloyd, who began her career in healthcare investment banking at Goldman Sachs, joined the Board of Trustees in 2023.
When briefed on the search, Lloyd said she first heard Belichick's name mentioned as a potential candidate the night before Thanksgiving – just a day after UNC announced it was parting ways with Mack Brown. The Tar Heels finished this past season with a 6-6 record, and a fourth consecutive loss to rival N.C. State, in the sixth year of Brown's second stint coaching the team. While Lloyd said she "loves" Brown, her comments also made it clear that she was tired of seeing the Tar Heels live in the middle class of college football.
"Why is the University of North Carolina in a JV tier? We should not be JV in anything we do, ever. And we're so excellent in every other way," Lloyd said. "The fact that we were accepting a relegated place in football was absolutely awful for most of us, and that's really (why) this core group (has) been just working so hard to try to inspire people to get us to the next level. So now, we're on the next level, and we're going to have to win, and it's not going to be a straight line, but at least we're there. I'd much rather be in the top tier, competing every day, than be relegated to kid's table."
Lloyd believes that Belichick can push the Tar Heels to that elite level of the sport. And apparently, so do many of the people signing the checks at UNC-Chapel Hill.
In addition to his eye-popping salary, Belichick's contract also includes up to $3.5 million in bonuses, much of which are triggered based on wins. For example, if the Tar Heels win a national championship under his watch, Belichick will get a $1.75 million bonus. Belichick was also granted an additional pool of $10 million to pay assistant coaches, $1 million for strength and conditioning staff, and $5.3 million for support staff which includes the position of general manager. That job has already been filled by Michael Lombardi, who worked with Belichick at the Patriots and the Cleveland Browns, and was seated in the front row of his press conference next to former UNC All-American Julius Peppers.
Belichick's contract also stipulates that UNC will put $13 million towards revenue sharing with players.
"We have to earn our way there, right? But (Belichick) gives us an opportunity for the first time, I think, to legitimately compete and to be taken seriously," Lloyd said. "Now we have the backing as well – the financial backing – to go and do the things that we've been wanting to do for so long … At the end of the day, you got to have financial support to win."
After the press conference, Lombardi shook hands and talked briefly with Board of Trustees Chairman John Preyer, who was on the search committee. Preyer, when approached by WUNC and another reporter after the press conference, declined to answer questions.
Lloyd gave kudos to Roberts for sealing the deal to land Belichick, who has won more Super Bowls than anyone else.
"He has shown bold leadership. This was his process, at the end of the day, working closely with Bubba and other members of the committee," Lloyd said. "But Chancellor Roberts deserves virtually all of the credit, ultimately, for taking this risk and making this commitment."
Belichick returns to his roots
Belichick spent this past year out of coaching and worked as a television analyst after a divorce from the Patriots last January. In addition to appearing on ESPN shows, he also spent time around the University of Washington's football team, where his 37-year-old son Stephen is the defensive coordinator. Belichick dodged a question about whether his son would join his staff at UNC.
But Belichick did say that his staff would have a "strong presence of NFL people." He also plans to retain Freddie Kitchens, who was made the interim coach of the Tar Heels after Brown was fired. Kitchens will coach the Tar Heels in the upcoming Fenway Bowl while Belichick and Lombardi begin evaluating players and assembling a coaching staff.
Two weeks ago, the thought of Belichick coaching any college football program – much less in Chapel Hill – seemed wildly unfathomable. Before his split from the Patriots, he had coached in the NFL every year in some form or fashion since 1975. He trails the late Don Shula by just 14 victories for the league's all-time wins record.
But Belichick grew up in college football. His father was an assistant coach and scout at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1956 to 1989. And there's always been a part of Belichick that's wanted to coach the game at this level.
"I've always wanted to coach in college football, and it just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK," Belichick said with a self-deprecating smile, drawing a soft laugh from the audience. "And it beats working. My dad told me this, when you love what you do, it's not work. And I love what I do. I love coaching."
While college football doesn't have a draft, a hard salary cap or contracts like the NFL, Belichick believes that there are "some parallels" to the pro game that are more prevalent at this level of the sport now that make him more suited for it than before. For Cunningham, Belichick's NFL bona fides were a big plus when he was searching for a candidate who can not only coach the Tar Heels on the field but also help them navigate all the changes off it.
"That certainly was a factor in it," Cunningham said. "We looked at a wide variety of people. When it became realistic that he was available, it certainly was a path we wanted to go down and explore. We're just really fortunate he was willing to say yes and to lend his expertise and knowledge to Carolina."
After Roberts and Belichick posed for a quick photo with the cut-off hoodie, Belichick reached under his own chair, pulling out a cream-colored sweatshirt with UNC letters on it in faded navy blue. Before Belichick's father coached at the Naval Academy, he coached running backs in Chapel Hill for three seasons when Bill was a toddler. After holding up his father's old sweatshirt, Belichick told a story that had been relayed to him many times over the years by family members about how, "Billy's first words were, 'Beat Duke.'"
"So, full circle," Belichick said.
If Belichick does run back to the NFL before June 1, 2025, the buyout of his contract is $10 million. After that date, it drops to $1 million.
He brushed aside any concern that he might desert the Tar Heels should an NFL team call: "I didn't come here to leave."
