Often, to change the results, a course correction is needed. And that’s what was attempted with Bill Belichick’s arrival at North Carolina Tar Heels, as he takes on the role of the new head coach ahead of the upcoming NCAAF season. While the former Patriots knows results are what matter, he also made it clear that he has other goals in Chapel Hill.
In a recent interview with Carolina Insider, the former New England Patriots HC and multiple-time Super Bowl champion made it clear that he aims to make Chapel Hill the place where everyone dreams of going.
“We want to be a national school, and we are a national school. It is a national brand, and everybody wants to go to Carolina,” Belichick started. “We know it’s very difficult to get acceptance into the school as an out of state student, but … we’ve had tremendous interest from student athletes nationally that have great interest in the program. And so we’re, you know, we’re everywhere. We’re gonna recruit North Carolina hard, that’s the most important state, but we also want to have a national presence for student athletes that want to come here.”
Additionally, Belichick spoke about the NFL approach when it comes to recruiting players for his roster: “Well, it’s a little different than than what I did with draft prospects, because there is a drafting element, but we also recruited a lot of players who weren’t drafted, guys like David Andrews, who wasn’t drafted, who’s the starting center for the Patriots the last nine years that Mike and I recruited out of Georgia as an undrafted player.”
Head Coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels poses during a press conference on December 12, 2024.
“So there was an element of that in the NFL. But yeah, I’ve been very impressed with all the people that have come in contact with the high school coaches, both in and out of state, do a great job with their programs, with their players and accommodating us.”
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Belichick reflected on his vision regarding high school prospects
It’s well known that Bill Belichick is obsessed with recruiting the best prospects for his team. Because of this, he shared a unique reflection on his visits to various high schools to personally scout potential candidates to join his team.
“I would say they’ve been very excited to see us in our presence in a lot of these schools that, evidently, as they have said, you know, hasn’t been that strong recently,” Belichick said. “So, you know, we’ve kind of pretty much been up and down the eastern seaboard and then in many places, from Chicago to Nashville to some of the Midwest, even though we’re recruiting nationally in Texas and California as well.
“But we, I personally, have, you know, haven’t probably gotten past the Mississippi. We’ve hit as many spots as we could during the time frame that was allotted.”
Michael Lombardi revealed his intention to become the 33rd NFL team
Becoming an elite team in College Football has become a primary goal for UNC. For this reason, the new GM, Michael Lombardi, supports the idea of training and developing as if they were an NFL team, even considering themselves as the 33rd team in the league.
“Everything we do here is predicated on building a pro team,” Lombardi said during a press conference. “We consider ourselves the (NFL’s) 33rd team because everybody that’s involved in our program has had some form or aspect in pro football.”
