UNC Head Coach Bill Belichick Gets Real About UCF Matchup

North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick met with reporters Monday at the Kenan Football Center to preview Tuesday’s matchup with UCF. Belichick addressed the Tar Heels’ defensive progress and other key topics.

To watch, check out the video below!

Here are some of the key quotes from Bill Belichick's presser on Tuesday.

Opening Statement

UNC — Head Coach Bill Belichick; Sept. 13, 2025 | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

“First of all, I’d just like to open this up by passing along our thoughts and prayers for UCF offensive line coach, Shawn Clark. … Our thoughts to Coach (Scott) Frost and his staff and team there. To get started on UCF, this is kind of an interesting game. They played a couple games. They’ve had a bye week. They have a lot of transfers, which, if anybody can relate to that, we can. Their coaches are all from different kinds of spots.

“They have a lot of talented players. They’re very well coached. (UCF head coach) Scott (Frost) and I go back. I can’t believe it’s been over 30 years since we were together with the Jets. He was drafted, he played quarterback at Nebraska, and we drafted them as a defensive back. A safety for me, and really smart guy, tough, big kid for a quarterback, big safety too.

Sep 13, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick on the field before the game at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

And really had a great aptitude for the game, both offensively and defensively and playing the kicking game as well. So he has a lot of experience as a player and certainly as a coach, both at UCF and Nebraska. So a ton of respect for Scott and the program that he runs and the people they have down there.”

What do you remember about Scott Frost as a player specifically? I know you touched on him a little. Just how cool is it to be able to coach against someone that you coached there with the New York Jets?

Jul 8, 2025; Frisco, TX, USA; UCF head coach Scott Frost addresses the media during 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days at The Star. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Right. Well, I mean, I've coached against a few people that I've had before. So, but, yeah, Scott, again, when we drafted Scott, he was in the third round. Again, he was a college quarterback and made the conversion to safety. So, you know, he had a lot to learn, obviously, but he picked it up very quickly.

He also played in a kicking game. And so picked that up and, you know, he had a very good feel for defensively, you know, what the offense did, you know, what the quarterback was looking at and kind of what the quarterback read and things like that.

So, you know, for those players that have flipped from one side of the ball to the other, having that experience, especially as a quarterback, defensive back, kind of playing quarterback, you know, is a big advantage. So, I know Scott was a, you know, hardworking guy.

He was smart. And, again, was very versatile as a football player to be able to play in all three phases of the game. You don't see that very often these days where, you know, guys can, you know, generally line up in all three positions.

UNC — Sep 6, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels defensive lineman Melkart Abou-Jaoude (9) rushes against Charlotte 49ers offensive lineman Mason Bowers (57) during the first quarter at Jerry Richardson Stadium. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

How confident are you in the defense and the progress that they’ve made?

UNC — Rameses | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

“We’ve definitely made a lot of progress. Our fundamentals are better. We’re more consistent in our run fits and our coverage adjustments and things like that. Are we there yet? No, of course not. We have a long way to go, but we are definitely making progress. And I think as those players play together and they have more confidence in each other, our communication improves with different adjustments and challenges the offense gives us. They don’t want to make it easy for us. We have to handle the hard things, but we’re doing better at that. It’s getting better. Coach Frost, I think they led a nation in scoring when he was at UCF the last time and they threw up 60 however many points it was last week. They’re very explosive.

“So we’ll see how we’re coming along this week, but definitely getting better. And not just the linebackers, I’d say the entire unit, the defensive backs, the defensive line, just the communication between those different levels of the defense. Sometimes communicating on the same level is part of it, because we’re all sort of doing the same thing. But then communicating with the guys in front of us or behind us is sometimes a little more challenging, but they’re all important, so we stress all of it, and we’re definitely getting better.”

On Gio Lopez's Timing ...

Quarterback Gio Lopez; Sept. 13, 2025 | Jackson McCurdy, North Carolina Tar Heels On SI

“The timing really comes from two people, the person throwing and the person catching, but then also the distribution of the players around them. So if there’s good spacing, and that one route doesn’t get it, sometimes you need it to complement the other route, sometimes you need it to complement it by creating space so that the players can work into open areas. If a receiver is half second quicker or half second slower, then throws off the quarterback’s timing. Sometimes the quarterback has to move around a player to throw a ball into an open lane or avoid a rush, or whatever. And so those things, just those little things can be the difference between a big play and an interception, honestly. So there’s no, I would say, magic wand to it. It’s just doing it over and over again and having that confidence where you can, as a quarterback, let the ball go just a split second early.

“And so we just build that through repetition. So again, we’re not there yet, but I feel like we’re getting closer each week, and things come up in the game, or things come up in practice that we correct or talk about and say, ‘okay, here’s how we’re going to do this.’ And then we do it, and then we gain confidence in it, and then hopefully we’ll be able to do it again in game situations.”

Can you see confidence in a quarterback?

UNC — Sep 13, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Gio Lopez (7) looks to pass in the third quarter at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“When the ball comes out on time, there’s confidence. And so I think a couple of Gio’s throws, like to Jake (Johnson), came out real quick. They got there just in time. And Jake was able to squirt forward for a first down a couple times. Things like that where, if you just hesitate another split second, maybe he makes a catch, maybe doesn’t get that extra two yards for the first down, things like that. So those are just there’s a difference between anticipating the receiver being open and then seeing him open and then throwing the ball. A lot of times it’s too late, and if you can anticipate the receiver creating separation and getting open, then you hit him. If you wait till he gets open a lot of times, that window closes by the time you get him the ball?

UNC — Sep 1, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Max Johnson (14) looks to pass in the third quarter at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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