Duke football fans should have potentially been more careful about what they wished for.
The North Carolina Tar Heels struggled on the gridiron this season, giving up 70 points to James Madison in Week 4 before blowing a 20-point lead to the Blue Devils in Durham one week later. UNC lost its last two games of the season to Boston College and the NC State Wolfpack to end the year with a 6-6 record, and the program announced that legendary coach Mack Brown wouldn’t return for the 2025 campaign.
Brown, a former national champion with the Texas Longhorns, had been with the UNC program since 2019, amassing a 44-33 overall record and a 5-1 mark against the Blue Devils while reaching a bowl game each year. Who could possibly replace the winningest coach in school history?
Well, apparently, six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick might.
The longtime New England Patriots coach reportedly spoke with the Tar Heels about their head coaching vacancy. InsideCarolina.com reported the news first on Thursday, and NFL reporters like ESPN’s Adam Schefter later confirmed the stunning development.
Belichick and the Patriots parted ways after the 2023 season, and he’s spent the past few months appearing as an analyst on various ESPN shows.
“Sources told ESPN that Belichick, who has spent his entire career in the NFL, wants to coach and is open to listening to people at the college and NFL level,” Schefter wrote in his story about the news.
“Sources said there is genuine interest on both sides,” Schefter continued.
Belichick and legendary quarterback Tom Brady helped guide New England to six NFL titles, and the coach also won the Super Bowl twice with the New York Giants as a defensive coordinator in 1986 and 1990. He reached the championship game nine times as the Patriots coach with four other trips to the AFC Championship game.