North Carolina Hires Bill Belichick While UW Braces to Lose His Son

Looks like Bill Belichick will have to trade all of that purple University of Washington football gear he wore this past year for something more in a powder blue shade.

On Wednesday night, North Carolina finalized a deal to bring the six-time Super Bowl winner and former New England Patriots leader back into coaching, only on the college level, multiple news outlets reported, including ESPN.

And more than likely, it could mean the Huskies will need to find a new defensive coordinator.

After multiple days of negotiating, Bill Belichick, 72, will take over an ACC program that once employed his father, Steve, as an assistant coach in the 1950s.

Reports along the way have suggested that son Steve, defensive coordinator for Jedd Fisch's UW football team, could join his father's staff at North Carolina, and, though unconfirmed, might become a head coach in waiting in some sort of arrangement.

The younger Belichick, 37, has been with the Huskies for 12 months and has been busy preparing his defense for the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl against Louisville.

Fisch served as the Patriots quarterback coach working with both Belichicks during the 2020 NFL season.

"He is the greatest coach of all time," Fisch said of Bill Belichik earlier this week. "If he goes and coaches somewhere, he will make a decision, and Steve will make a decision, and we'll figure it out from there."

The idea of Bill Belichick, who parted way with the Patriots following the 2023 season, would the college game became a compelling development that captivated everyone watching it unfold since the Tar Heels began looking for a successor for the fired Mack Brown.

Yet with the NCAA football more resembling the NFL all the time, with players getting paid in some cases exorbitant amounts and able to move freely from team to team with its own free agency, the hiring of Belichick actually made sense.

"If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL," Belichick told the Pat McAfee radio show. "It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that would transfer to the NFL."

Bill and Steve Belichick worked together for a dozen years with the Patriots, with the son heading up the linebackers, safeties and defensive backs among his various jobs on his dad's coaching staff. They seem to get along extremely well while side by side on the sideline.

Bill Belichick coached the Patriots for 24 seasons before he and the franchise mutaully agreed to part ways following the 2023 campaign.

The younger Belichick generally has received positive reviews fromHusky players acknowledging they are big fans of his aggressive and creative coaching style, plus his wry and droll sense of humor.

Bill Belichick cut a lasting image at Husky Stadium all dressed in UW football gear while attending practices and even was in attendance for the UW-Michigan game.

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