Mack Brown appears to subtweet Bill Belichick amid backlash over UNC's reported ban

The Bill Belichick era is off to a rocky start at North Carolina. UNC is still looking for the program's first win against a Power 4 opponent with Belichick as head coach.

Not only are the Tar Heels struggling on the field, but Belichick appears to be holding a grudge based on the end of his NFL tenure. Patriots scouts are banned from North Carolina facilities, a decision that can only hurt Tar Heels players looking to improve their NFL draft stock.

Now, it appears Belichick has also banned North Carolina staffers from mentioning anything Patriots related on social media, including Drake Maye. The Pats quarterback is a proud North Carolina alum, and social media teams often post notable NFL highlights from past players.

"According to sources inside the UNC football program, it is a directive from the staff (Bill Belichick) to not tweet/retweet anything Patriots-related," 247Sports' Ross Martin detailed on Monday.

"That's clearly why UNC football has not posted anything from Drake Maye's electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills."

So Happy for Drake. Fun to watch him win last night in Buffalo like he did so many times at UNC. Love ❤️ and Appreciate you my friend! Keep it rolling! pic.twitter.com/BlfuJOGSto
— Mack Brown (@CoachMackBrown) October 6, 2025

All this makes for interesting timing for former North Carolina's Mack Brown's social media post.

Mack Brown posted a photo with Drake Maye amid reports of Bill Belichick's Patriots ban

North Carolina staffers may not be able to mention Maye, but nothing is stopping Brown from sharing his thoughts. Hours after news broke of Belichick's potential ban on mentioning Patriots players, Brown took to social media to post a lengthy message on Maye.

"So Happy for Drake," Brown noted in a Monday message on X while posting a photo alongside Maye. "Fun to watch him win last night in Buffalo like he did so many times at UNC.

"Love and Appreciate you my friend! Keep it rolling!"

Perhaps it is just coincidental timing from Brown, but the former coach's post has social media buzzing.

Mack Brown has been supportive of North Carolina's hiring of Bill Belichick

Publicly, Brown has been supportive of North Carolina's hiring of Belichick. Throughout the offseason, Brown expressed optimism that Belichcik can have success at Chapel Hill.

Former UNC coach Mack Brown tweeted this shortly after reports about Bill Belichick directing North Carolina staff not to post or repost anything related to the Patriots 👀

Interesting timing 😅 pic.twitter.com/WB5F9OFy2w
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) October 6, 2025

"Bill is arguably the best coach of any sport," Brown noted during an Aug. interview on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," per CBS Sports. "You win that many Super Bowls -- at whatever level, the man can coach. He can evaluate, because he had to bring in all those kids at the Patriots.

"And now, administrators don't like to say it, but we have pro football at some level in college. We no longer have amateurism. … The fact that we are much more like the NFL than ever before will really help Bill with this transition."

North Carolina Eventually Posted About Drake Maye

North Carolina's football account was quick to react to the chatter about Maye. On Monday, the Tar Heels posted a highlight video of Maye from the Patriots' win over the Bills.

It remains to be seen if Belichick truly does not want Maye being mentioned. Worth noting is that these posts were not made until after reports about Belichick's perceived ban surfaced.

.@DrakeMaye2 pulling off some magic, where have we seen this before 🤔

🔟➡️8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/qTd8sqorsc
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) October 6, 2025