Bill Belichick on UNC’s QB Battle, Bobby Petrino and Year Two in College Football

Brian Fisher here for Sports Illustrated at ACC Media Day is joined by UNC head coach Bill Belichick.

Bill, you've been going to a lot of training camps over the years and over the decades.

Do you still get the same feeling, uh , going into that first practice?

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

It's, uh, always good to start the season, you know, get out there and, and, uh, you know, put the pads on and go through plays and start getting ready for, um, you know, games in the fall.

So it's, it's a fun time, a lot of work that goes into that.

Getting to that point, but actually getting started is, uh, I always look forward to it.

You always reflect certainly in the offseason about what went wrong, what went right in the season.

What would you kind of take away from your first season in college football?

Well, I mean, just as a football team, there are a lot of things that we need to do better, um, you know, starting with me and, you know, just schematically and things like that.

But the biggest thing was just we had, you know, so much transition on the team last year and so many guys came in during the summer and You know, in June and, and this year, it's been a whole different story.

Guys have been there since January.

Um, we're much further along in every area, whether it's training, execution, terminology, fundamentals, um, situational football, you name it.

So, um, uh, we're, I'm excited to see that process build.

There was a lot of talk about, you know, how would you adjust to college football, you know, last year.

Now that you've been in the sport for, for well over 1 year at this point, what, what, what were your kind of takeaways?

Um, well, yeah, look, I, I mean, I learn every day, and, uh, certainly there's some differences in college football between the hash marks and some of the formation rules and things like that.

But, um, you know, in the end, the fundamentals are pretty similar.

Um, and, you know, I, I see what we try to, try to do what we can do well.

Um, I see what our opponents can do and things we have to stop.

So, um, you know, there's a lot of good running backs in college football.

There's a lot of good running quarterbacks in college football.

And, um, You know, certainly the running quarterback is more of an issue in college football than it is in the NFL.

I mean, you've got Lamar Jacksons and guys like that in the NFL, but, um, in college , most everybody fits into that category.

So, um, you know, tackling is an important thing defensively and, um, you know, offensively, you know, there's teams that give you an opportunity to get the ball down the field.

Um, the question is whether you can hit them, you know, and so whether your, your quarterback and receivers and passing game can execute well enough to hit some of those big plays and so.

Um, you know, hopefully we can hit more of those this year.

If I had to pick a staff meeting to, to be in, I, it might be yours, uh , given that you have a new offensive coordinator in Bobby Petrino.

What, what, what are those staff meetings like between you and him?

Um, great, yeah, I love working with Bobby.

Uh, you know, I've known him for a long time, uh, both in college football in Arkansas , Louisville, places he's been, as well as Atlanta.

Um, you know, he's got a great offensive mind.

His offense is similar to what we ran in New England.

Um, and so we've kind of merged those together and, and, um, you know, it was very, very competitive in the spring, uh, between the offense and the defense, and, you know, hopefully we'll be able to continue that this fall.

As somebody who has that defensive mind, where does his offense give, give defenses the most problems?

Well, it's well balanced, um, you know, Bobby does a nice job of attacking all parts of the field, sideline to sideline, uh, down the field, the running game, play action, um, you know, he's an aggressive play caller, and, and, um, you know, just defense, force you defend everything, which is the hardest thing to defend.

A lot of , a lot of focus on, on your quarterback battle and, and who might that be.

Do you, do you ever have a timeline in terms of where you would ultimately want to name a guy?

No, we just don't wanna, uh, you know, still wanna reverse your field.

So once you're sure who it is, then, then you make that decision, um, you know, I don't think you wanna make it, and then next week change it, and then you're back and forth, and that's kind of hard for.

The players and the team.

So, you know, once you feel like you know who it is, then you make that decision.

Um, but at this point, you know, it's a competitive situation and, and, um, you know, until it declares, it hasn't declared, right?

I mean, you got a nice mix of guys.

You got young guys that are coming in, first time in college football, some transfers that have been around the block.

How do you kind of look at that race?

Yeah, well, very competitive, and as you said, there are different strengths and weaknesses there, but, you know, Billy Edwards certainly has the most playing experience and had a lot of production in the Big 10 at Maryland.

Um, you know, Miles is a very talented guy.

Travis Burgess, another freshman with great talent, uh, Tory Newkirk, uh, you know, guy didn't lose a game in high school.

So, um, we'll see how the competition plays out.

Outside of Billy, you might, you have the youngest roster, you know, in the ACC.

What, what are you expecting about some of those new guys and, and who's maybe caught your eye through the spring ball?

Uh, well, again, you know, spring is very much of a, a teaching foundational time.

So, um, you know, teach everybody the plays, teach them the fundamentals, the techniques, and then, um, you know, the evaluate, uh, more of the evaluation will come in the fall here when we actually get out there and, you know, and, and everybody has confidence in what they're doing .

They've had enough reps at it, they have had enough training at it, and they go out there and do it the best they can.

We'll see how that plays out.

So there's certainly a lot of attention paid to your changes in terms of how you go about building your roster and, and what Michael Lombardi, your GM, wanted to do this season.

What, what was the emphasis behind getting younger and going towards more high school guys?

Well, when we came in in 25, the 25 recruiting class was basically gone.

It was after the signing date, so there wasn't, you know, we had a small recruiting class in 25.

This is really a combination of two classes, which is why we have so many.

We had 40.

Um, I don't think that'll be the model going forward , probably somewhere in half of that, but.

Um, because we had to make up for kind of the missed class in 25, uh, that's why this one was so big.

What, what's the adjustment in terms of evaluating a guy who might be going into the draft if you, if you're in the NFL versus a guy coming out of high school or coming out of the transfer portal?

How, how does that, uh, process go about in terms of your adjusting, uh, you know, to college football?

Well, the transfer portal will be more similar to an NFL situation.

The high school kids, you know, a lot of these kids are 17 years old, and so, uh, where they are physically at 17 and where they're gonna be at 1920, uh, is, is quite different, you know, we've seen guys gain 30, 40 pounds in, you know, 6 months, things like that.

You don't see those kind of jumps in the NFL.

You don't see guys gain 40 pounds in, in an offseason or that type of thing.

That just, you know, these guys are.

21, 22, 26, 27, 28 when they get to free agency.

So they're, they're pretty fully matured and developed.

Um, but in high school, you know, we've had a lot of kids go from 4.9 to 4.6, from 4.8 to 4.4, from 52 to 4.9. And so what they are, uh, at one point, what they are a few months or a year later is quite different.

So, um, you know, a lot of it's um development and improvement and.

Um, a big part of that is work ethic and how much they want to do it.

So we'll, you know, some of that is in their hands, um, but I have a lot of confidence in our program, and I know we can improve the players to get better, and they do improve a lot.

How does the oldest coach in college football relate to the youngest roster in this league?

I don't know.

We'll find out.

You know, it's not just me.

We have a good staff.

We have a, you know, a good diversity on our staff, and so, um, you know, all of us collectively have the same goals and.

Uh, same objectives in mind.

And so we work together on that.

I don't think it's about age.

I think it's about common goals, and we have those.

You do start a little bit earlier than everybody because you're going across the pond .

What kind of logistical challenges does this going and playing in Ireland, uh, kind of pose to you?

You know, it's really just adjusting to the time change and, you know, as close as possible to the game, making things the same as they are every week, whether it's 1 hour before the game, 2 hours before the game, 4 hours before the game.

You know, so that they can get in their normal routine and be ready to go kick off.

Chapel Hill is always a special place, but especially now with, uh, you have some Super Bowl rings certainly in the closet, you, you have now, you have a men's basketball coach that has an NBA championship as well.

What are your conversations been like with, with Michael Malone there?

Yeah, Mike's been great.

Yeah, we've, uh, we've had some good conversations, um, you know, I have a ton of respect for him, and, you know, we've talked a little bit about, you know, coaching philosophies and transition, you know, from the NBA or the NFL to North Carolina, um, and it's been great.

So, um, you know, I've really enjoyed.

Uh, meeting him, talking to him, spending time with him, and have a ton of respect for what he's done and, and for our program there.

Did, did he ask you for any advice before he took the job?

Uh, no, I didn't meet him till after he took the job.

Did you have a favorite play or favorite moment from last season?

You know, it was really more of the process of just watching our team build and, and, and grow, um, how competitive they were every week.

Um, both on the practice field and, you know, and as the season wore on, you know, it's, it's a lot of little gains that in the end stack up to, you know, making a big difference, but it's just kind of that day by day grind that we embrace.

A lot of eyes on the Tar Heels going into the 2026 season.

Bill , thank you so much for stopping by here at ACC Media Days.

All right, thanks, Brian.