Bill Belichick opens up on poor relationship with first UNC team: 'Wasn't a great one'

It wasn’t a great first year at UNC for Bill Belichick and company by any stretch of the imagination. A first-year college coach after going through an eventual Hall of Fame career in the NFL was certainly a different look for Belichick.

But roster turnover, not having all of his guys and simple, fundamental mistakes on the field led to a 4-8 record. Not to mention the off-the-field drama and gossip about Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, coming into the year.

Still, Belichick was honest about his first campaign and ready to turn the page for 2026. There seems to be a little bit of that old swagger back from the long-time head coach.

“Well, what I expect is for us and them to get better every day, you know, to get stronger, to get faster, to be more explosive, to be better fundamentally, to be, you know, better technique football players. That’s what I expect from them,” Belichick said on Pardon My Take. “We have a good group of kids, they work hard, they are, you know, they’re pretty smart. I mean, they, you know, go to class, they do well academically, they, you know, they try to do what we ask them to do. 

“And the group last year, I mean, I wouldn’t say they were like disrespectful, that’s not the right word, but it was just different. It was like they were recruited by somebody else; they came here for somebody else. I was new, they were leaving, you know … It wasn’t a bad relationship, but it wasn’t a great one … There wasn’t the same kind of adhesion that there is to guys that you bring in, that come there because of you, because they want to be with you. And then you grow together.”

There’s pressure on Belichick to deliver, considering he did not get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot, he struggled at the tail end with the Patriots without Tom Brady and his first college season was a borderline disaster. Still, with what UNC brought to the table in terms of recruiting, the portal and what the coaches are cooking up, the Tar Heels could be more successful in 2026.

“Our strength program is good, our nutrition, our chef is good, they have good food, good rest, good recovery, good training. Physically, they’ll be much better, and they already are much better,” Belichick said. “And then, from a football standpoint, like our fundamentals and the techniques that we’ve used and coached the greatest players from the Tom Brays, the Randy Mosses, the Dont’a Hightowers, the Stephone Gilmores, (Aqib) Talib, Ty Law, (Richard) Seymour. I mean, guys in the Hall of Fame, guys are some of the greatest players ever. 

“This is how we taught them, this is how they did it, and these are the plays that we’re running. We’re running the same plays that they ran, and watch them do it. And they’re very receptive to that, you know. They’re like, they’re receptive, and I say appreciative of, like, okay, you know, I’m learning from somebody who is really, really good at this skill, whether it’s a guard, a tight end, you know, quarterback, whatever, but you know we have great players, literally at every position, that can exemplify how to do certain skills.”

The resume is there for Belichick in terms of what he’s done: six Super Bowls as a head coach and eight overall. But he still has to prove it at this level. “The Hoodie” certainly seems rejuvenated as he goes into a new year at Chapel Hill.