A disastrous four-win debut and roster-building struggles have sparked a scathing assessment of legendary coach Bill Belichick with North Carolina, igniting a fierce debate over his future value in Chapel Hill.
For his faults during his second tenure with North Carolina, Mack Brown never had a losing season.
However, UNC decided to take a risk after going 6-6 in 2024 by moving on from Brown and hiring six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick. Belichick's first season in Chapel Hill was a disaster, as the program finished 4-8 overall.
To Belichick's credit, UNC didn't finish with the worst record in the ACC. The Tar Heels won conference games, finishing ahead of Stanford and Syracuse.
While Belichick deserved criticism for a poor start to his college coaching career, Austin Curtright of USA Today had a ridiculous ranking for UNC's head coach.
Curtright ranked him as the No. 17 coach in the ACC, the lowest in the conference.
"Everyone knows Bill Belichick's resume with the New England Patriots, winning six Super Bowls as head coach from 2001-23," he wrote. "He's one of the best NFL coaches ever, but his one season so far at North Carolina was far from a success, as the Tar Heels went 4-8 and looked largely unorganized and dysfunctional at times.
"The 74-year-old is also the oldest coach in college football, and still has a lot to prove at the college level. It was an experiment hire for North Carolina, but paired with his large salary making him one of the highest-paid coaches in college football, he'll need to start winning games."
If we're going by money spent, Belichick was the most underwhelming coach in the conference last season, though Curtright has Dabo Swinney ranked No. 12 despite the sixth-highest paid coach in the country only winning seven games in 2025.
Putting Belichick behind Boston College's Bill O'Brien is goofy.
What killed North Carolina last season was Belichick's inability to build a roster in the transfer portal. UNC is better there this season, though it remains to be seen if it can overcome a tough schedule.
There is no argument that Belichick made great adjustments with his players last year, and the veteran coach still has the acumen to lead a team.
There's no reason to rank Belichick as the worst coach in the ACC other than to take a shot at the coach for a subpar season.
