Football has never known a control freak like Bill Belichick, the Nixonian figure who ran the New England Patriots as if their facility was a CIA black site. But four months into Belichick’s new coaching tenure, at the University of North Carolina, there is a stunning lack of clarity about who’s actually in charge.
Belichick was not the obvious choice to revitalize the Tar Heels. Not only does he lack any college coaching experience, he is dour, cold and gruff – traits you imagine might turn off a high school prospect who could choose to play for Deion Sanders, Lane Kiffin or another charismatic sideline general instead. Belichick is also 73 and deeply set in his ways, part of the reason why the Patriots fired him in 2023 after 24 years of service. No other NFL team has hired him since: the Atlanta Falcons considered Belichick for their head coaching vacancy in 2024, but wound up passing after Patriots owner Bob Kraft reportedly warned his Falcons counterpart, Arthur Blank, “not to trust Bill”. (The Patriots deny the allegation.)
