Bill Belichick spent some time talking with college coaches after leaving the NFL, offering his advice on handling new challenges at the college level that resemble pro football.
These changes include the two-minute timeout, the transfer portal acting like free agency, collectives raising money through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals for athletes, and the upcoming arrival of revenue sharing.
Belichick quickly saw how a college program could be shaped based on his NFL experience.
“I do think there are a lot of parallels,” Belichick said.
This is why the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach is now taking over at North Carolina. Years of fast changes have made college football more like professional football, with schools adjusting their staff to handle tasks once considered typical for pro teams.
UNC is making one of the boldest moves, hiring a 72-year-old coach who has never worked in college football to build a system that’s like a mini-NFL front office. Other schools may follow suit.
“I really think there’s going to be some of those guys that maybe don’t have a job in the NFL anymore,” said Clint Brown, general manager of Kansas State. “Now that this is going to be structured in a way where there is a cap, that’s going to be something they’re interested in.”
Changes in college athletics, like players transferring and playing immediately and earning NIL money, have made the game feel more like professional sports. Now, recruiting focuses just as much on signing veteran talent from the portal as it does on high school recruits, similar to the NFL’s free agency and draft.
A bigger change is coming with revenue sharing. A $2.78 billion legal settlement over antitrust lawsuits will lead to a $21.5 million pool for athletes in the first year, with a final hearing on the matter set for April 2025. Schools will decide how to distribute this money, with football likely getting a major share, just like the salary cap in professional sports.
These changes are why coaches like Florida’s Billy Napier are interviewing candidates for the position of general manager to help manage these new responsibilities.
“We’re built to do it now,” Napier said. “We’re getting ready to be in a business model. We have a cap. We have contracts. We have negotiation. We have strategy about how we distribute those funds, and it’s a major math puzzle.”
This also explains why Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule, the former head coach of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, said: “This job as a head coach is a juggernaut. There’s way more to do here than I had to do in the NFL.”
It also explains why North Carolina is betting on Belichick to succeed in this changing environment.
“If I was 16 or 17 years old, a coach who came at you and won how many Super Bowls? And he said, ‘Come play for me,’” said Joshua Ezeudu, an offensive lineman for the New York Giants and a former UNC player. “That’s pretty hard to turn down now, especially in this day and age, he’s telling you to come play for him and he’s offering you some money, too. I mean, you can’t go wrong with that choice.”
The timing worked for UNC to hire Belichick, who was passed over for some NFL jobs after leaving the New England Patriots last year. Instead, he spent months studying the college game. Conversations with coaches from major conferences made him realize that the changes in college football aligned with his experience in the NFL.
“College kind of came to me this year,” Belichick said. “I didn’t necessarily go and seek it out.”
His presence in Chapel Hill will make a difference, according to UNC’s athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who believes Belichick’s visibility will help raise advertising revenue, like sponsorships and signage. Belichick is also hiring Michael Lombardi, a former NFL general manager, as the team’s general manager.
But this approach comes with a high cost. Belichick’s contract will pay him $10 million per year in base and additional pay, with the first three years of his five-year deal guaranteed. This is nearly double what former coach Mack Brown was paid, with Brown’s salary totaling about $4.2 million before bonuses and other payments.
Belichick’s contract also includes $10 million for the assistant coaching salary pool and $5.3 million for support staff. These numbers have increased significantly from previous seasons.
UNC has already made big investments in its football facilities, including over $40 million spent on the football practice complex, with a new indoor facility and other upgrades.
Now, it’s up to Belichick to rethink how football should be approached at UNC in these changing times.
“We’re taking a risk,” Cunningham said. “We’re investing more in football with the hope and ambition that the return is going to significantly outweigh the investment.”
