CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The day was almost done. Bill Belichick had finished tackling 26 minutes of questions from a room of 70 reporters and 22 cameras.
He stopped to grab some ESPN-branded boxes of popcorn at a booth in the hallway.
There was a problem, though.
“You got one that’s not empty?” he asked with a laugh.
The booth attendant handed him a pair of boxes filled to the brim, an apology for the unwitting prank on North Carolina’s new coach, who also happens to be the most accomplished NFL coach of all time and the biggest new face in college football.
Talking season was complete. Six hours of mostly uninterrupted media obligations were more than enough for the famously terse coach.
Time to celebrate with a snack.
Belichick has arrived at the ACC Kickoff pic.twitter.com/Vktuf1oJR7
— Matt Baker (@MattBakerCFB) July 24, 2025
At 8:47 a.m., Belichick exited a black SUV parked under a bridge and ambled into a side street entrance of the Hilton Uptown Charlotte holding a black backpack.
There are no NFL media days. Thursday’s ACC media days marathon was the latest new experience for Belichick, a uniquely college-football-in-July tradition. If he were ranking the responsibilities of his new job, it probably wouldn’t be high on the list.
But this is Belichick’s new world, and the first-time college coach handled it … like any other college coach.
“I always wanted to coach in college football. I grew up in college football. I tried to go into college football,” Belichick said, “and that didn’t work out.”
In 1975, Lou Holtz hired Belichick as a 23-year-old graduate assistant at NC State but before Belichick could start the job, his position was eliminated amid the institution of Title IX.
The Baltimore Colts hired him later that year as a special assistant, diverting his career into the NFL for almost five decades.
“That worked out fine,” Belichick said.
At 73, he’s finally in college football. To his peers, it’s surreal.
“There was more than one occasion that I went, ‘Yep, that’s Bill Belichick right there, right here in the ACC head coaches meetings,’” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “It’s the most 2025 thing ever.”
Swinney noted how much he’s learned from Belichick since his arrival in the league.
Later, Belichick scoffed at the awe from the two-time national champion.
“Ah, come on,” Belichick said with a laugh. “We’re all learning from Dabo.”
Bill Belichick experienced a rite of passage for any college football coach Thursday: media days. (Matt Kelley / Getty Images)
A few minutes after Belichick arrived, he met with a small group of local media in a tight conference room for 14 minutes before leaving the table to turn the room over to “our stars right here,” referring to his players.
Belichick noted that he has attended more than 10 donor events with general manager Michael Lombardi, his longtime assistant who later pivoted to a career in media and hosted a podcast with Belichick last season before joining him in Chapel Hill.
Asked about his future at North Carolina, Belichick, whose ensemble included a Carolina blue handkerchief and a dark blue “BB” monogram on his shirt cuff, tapped into his signature short wind. He declined any examination of what lies ahead.
“The future right now for us is the start of camp,” he said.
He also discussed another quirk of being a college coach: Poring over class reports from his players.
He never had to worry about Tom Brady’s class attendance or grades. He does now with every one of his players, more than 70 of whom are new, including quarterback Gio Lopez, a transfer from South Alabama. Belichick said he and Lombardi are personally involved in keeping up with daily academic reports on his roster.
“We don’t want players to fall behind,” Belichick said. “Once you fall two or three weeks behind academically, it’s hard to keep up.”
Belichick avoided the rows of radio reporters in the hotel lobby and spent much of the morning in a hallway outside the green room for players and coaches, down the hall from private rooms for interviews with ESPN.com, SiriusXM and the ACC Digital Network.
Most coaches and players sat for requested interviews on the event’s lower level. Belichick abstained.
A little after 11 a.m., Belichick took a lengthy phone call. As he spoke, a group of people approached.
They lingered in the hallway waiting for Belichick and began to leave before a UNC official stopped them and made sure they got time with the head Tar Heel.
Dream On 3 is a Charlotte nonprofit that helps fulfill “sports-themed dreams” for kids with life-altering conditions, disabilities and mental health challenges, according to its website. It works closely with the ACC, and on Thursday, hosted the Burrell family.
Belichick rewarded their patience when he found a break in his obligations. He spent a few quiet moments with the family, taking photos and signing footballs.
“That was pretty much the coolest thing ever,” said Cameron Burrell, a Clemson fan and Charlotte resident who said his son suffers from a third-degree heart block and his daughter suffers from epilepsy.
“We were all kind of starstruck,” said Maddy Fleming, the program director for Dream On 3. “We were all just like, ‘Is this real life?’”
After another interview and lunch in the green room, Belichick spent a few minutes chatting with athletic director Bubba Cunningham before sitting down with ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” Around the corner, more than 40 cameras waited. But as soon as Belichick sat for the interview, cameras swarmed.
Two veteran ACC reporters remarked they’d never witnessed a scene like it in their years covering the conference’s media days.
All eyes on Bill Belichick 👀 pic.twitter.com/i3KqCw9owd
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) July 24, 2025
Belichick smiled and laughed as “SportsCenter” showed a photo of him as a toddler from his father’s more than three decades as a coach at Navy.
Later, Belichick told a reporter he’d like to one day schedule a game with Navy.
“That’d be tough,” he said with a laugh.
As he made his way into the large news conference room, cameras and reporters followed him as if summoned by a tractor beam.
Belichick took the stage and jokingly shielded his eyes from the blinding light before making a 4 1/2-minute opening statement and taking a few questions about the role of fullbacks in the sport, why he came to North Carolina and roster building in the modern game.
Absent from Belichick’s time on stage and in the breakout room with reporters: Any discussion of his personal life, the most-talked-about topic of Belichick’s UNC tenure thus far. Jordon Hudson, his 24-year-old girlfriend, did not accompany him to the event. North Carolina has reiterated that Hudson handles Belichick’s personal engagements and is not a university employee.
After ceding the microphone to defensive back Thaddeus Dixon, Belichick sat back and relished his immediate impact on his players.
Asked about the magnitude of a season opener against TCU, certain to be watched by millions, Dixon reiterated it was just another game. Players just needed to execute.
Belichick leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smile. A few minutes later, as Dixon lauded the toughness he’s seen in the team, Belichick reached over for a fist bump from wide receiver Jordan Shipp.
“You can’t make plays on Saturday until you do it in practice,” Dixon added, drawing a large nod from his coach sitting quietly on stage.
A question about Shipp’s unfortunate childhood nickname – Duke, also North Carolina’s chief rival – drew a belly laugh from Belichick.
Later, as NC State coach Dave Doeren took the stage following Belichick, he remarked on the suddenly cavernous room, noting it got a little sleepier.
Belichick crowd vs non-BB crowd…
We are just the worst. pic.twitter.com/NKQdIHI9Tk
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) July 24, 2025
But next door, a breakout room with one row of seats on Day 1 and 2 was expanded to three rows and a riser for cameras for the final day, featuring North Carolina, NC State, Duke and conference power and title favorite Clemson.
When Belichick arrived, those 22 mounted cameras and around 70 reporters were waiting. While every other coach fielded questions himself, the crush of media required a UNC official to moderate Belichick’s session, calling on reporters who peppered the coach with questions.
He was long-winded on his recruiting strategy.
“Be authentic. This is who we are. We’re not really going to change too much. If this works for you, this is a great place. If it doesn’t, then honestly, you’re better off going somewhere else. We’re not trying to overhype or oversell something we can’t deliver. We’re trying to sell who we are,” he said. “I think a lot of people want that. But for the ones that don’t, it’s better for both of us that they go somewhere else.”
He was short on questions about the format of the College Football Playoff – ask Nick Saban or Kirk Ferentz, who would know better, he said.
He stumped for Mike Shanahan to be included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and waxed nostalgic on his relationship with Boston College coach Bill O’Brien.
He also defended the House settlement bringing an end to walk-ons in college football, arguing that adding 20 more available scholarships for programs could be a net positive for athletes and the sport, even though technically there would be no more walk-ons.
He joked with a reporter who was an alum of Foxborough High that he could no longer use his New England Patriots-era motivational tactic of warning players he could find a better player at the nearby high school.
A little after 3:30, his day was complete.
Belichick made his way back into the green room and finished his popcorn. He re-emerged and refilled his tea, squeezing a few lemons and pouring a pair of sugar packets over the ice before pouring the tea into his plastic cup.
He took a few sips, and his players joined him near the bank of elevators. He stepped inside and made his way to the black SUV waiting to take him home to Chapel Hill via Interstate 85.
The talking is over. Belichick? He’s on to training camp.
— The Athletic’s Matt Baker contributed to this report.
(Top photo: Matt Kelley / Getty Images)
