Bill Belichick has surprised the football world by taking his coaching talents to college football and not the NFL.
The eight-time Super Bowl champion will become the next head coach for the University of North Carolina football team, the school announced Wednesday.
Belichick has no college coaching experience, but he is arguably the greatest head coach in pro football history.
The legendary coach has a lot of work to do in his first season. North Carolina went 6-6 (3-5 conference record) under former head coach Mack Brown in the 2024 season.
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That was good enough for a 12th place finish in the 16-team ACC. UNC hasn't won a postseason game since beating Temple in the 2019 Military Bowl. However, the Tar Heels can end that drought at Fenway Park in Boston when they play UConn in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28.
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Which schools will Belichick and his staff need to gameplan for during his first season running the Tar Heels program?
Here's a look at UNC's 2025 football schedule:
- Aug. 30: vs. TCU
- Sept. 6: at Charlotte
- Sept. 13: vs. Richmond
- Sept. 20: at UCF
- Date TBA: vs. Clemson
- Date TBA: vs. Duke
- Date TBA: vs. Stanford
- Date TBA: vs. Virginia
- Date TBA: at California
- Date TBA: at N.C. State
- Date TBA: at Syracuse
- Date TBA: at Wake Forest
TCU and UCF could be somewhat challenging non-conference matchups, but neither Big 12 school impressed this past season.
The Tar Heels do have to play reigning ACC champion Clemson, but the game is at home. They don't have to play Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Louisville or conference title game runner-up SMU. The only schools on UNC's 2025 schedule that finished top-six in the 2024 ACC regular season standings are Clemson and Syracuse.
Unfortunately for New England Patriots fans, North Carolina's next scheduled game against Boston College isn't until 2028, and that matchup will be played in Chapel Hill.
Overall, it's not a very tough 2025 schedule for North Carolina, but the roster does need to be improved, so Belichick and his staff will have to excel at getting top-tier players through recruiting and the transfer portal.
