Bill Belichick had a Hall of Fame career coaching in the NFL.
Fans wondered if he would ever return to the sideline.
And Tom Brady was speechless when Bill Belichick tipped his hand about the future.
Bill Belichick interviews for open college coaching job
Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick could be moving closer to a return to football.
This was the first season that the 72-year-old Super Bowl winner spent outside of football since 1974 after he and the Patriots mutually parted ways earlier this year.
Belichick is open to returning to coach and he could be doing it in the most unlikely place.
A report from Inside Carolina said that the former Patriots coach was interviewing for the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina.
North Carolina fired head coach Mack Brown after a 6-6 season.
Belichick confirmed that he was interested in the North Carolina job during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
“We’ve had a couple of good conversations,” Belichick said. “So, we’ll see how it goes.”
He spoke to North Carolina Chancellor Lee Roberts about the job.
The famously curt coach would not give too much away about his interest in the job.
“Let’s just leave it at that,” Belichick stated. “I don’t want to give up too much information. I want to get my press conference aura back.”
Bill Belichick would be entering uncharted territory
Belichick has never coached in college football during his storied career.
His father, Steve Belichick, had a short stint coaching football at North Carolina in the 1950s and was a longtime coach at Navy.
“I grew up around college football and some great Navy teams there,” Belichick said. “And I learned a lot and really kind of patterned a lot of my pro teams off of the teams that I grew up around in the ’60s as a kid growing up at the Naval Academy.”
College football has undergone a dramatic change with the advent of the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL).
Belichick revealed that college programs are starting to become more like NFL franchises.
“I think there are a lot of football programs that are being structured similar to NFL programs,” Belichick said. “So, in college, you now have high school recruiting but you have [the] college [transfer] portal. In pro football, you have the draft and pro-free agency. So you have [the] salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. In college, you have negotiations with whoever represents the player, whether that’s a family member or a high school coach, an agent, or some other financial adviser or whoever it is.”
The future NFL Hall of Famer further compared the two levels of the sport.
“You have players changing teams in college, as you have players that can change teams in the NFL,” Belichick explained. “And you have to value your players in some way because you have a limited amount of money. … I think it’s a little different version of the NFL model, much more so than it’s ever been before.”
Belichick could also be a name on the NFL coaching carousel this season.
The former Patriots coach will be able to keep his options open about a return to football.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
