New England Patriots
“The fast-rolling snowball seems to be related to accounts of potential rules violations.”
Could Bill Belichick’s tenure at Chapel Hill already be coming to a close?
The writing appears to be on the wall, according to a pair of reports on Wednesday evening.
According to Andrew Jones of 247Sports.com — a subsidiary outlet of CBS — “potential exit strategy discussions” have started at the University of North Carolina over Belichick’s future as head coach of the program amid an underwhelming 2-3 start.
Jones noted that, while those discussions may not result in Belichick being ousted, “preliminary conversations” about the possibility of the Tar Heels parting ways with the longtime Patriots head coach remain on the table.
As noted by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk — referencing Jones’ report — the focus for UNC in these discussions “would be to eliminate or minimize Belichick’s buyout” after the university signed him to a five-year, $50 million contract.
“The fast-rolling snowball seems to be related to accounts of potential rules violations,” Florio noted. “This week, reports emerged that an assistant coach was suspended for providing extra benefits to player families and that players were selling free tickets they had received for games.”
Jones noted in his report, citing unnamed sources, that “there are many other violations that have occurred, many on the recruiting front.”
Jones’ report was far from the only one released on Wednesday that offered up ominous news regarding Belichick’s future with UNC.
In a thread of posts on X, Ollie Connolly of The Guardian said that Belichick “has discussed buyout options with North Carolina’s hierarchy.” He added that Belichick has presented “a willingness to trigger his own $1 million buyout if he can find a soft landing with another team or in media.”
According to Connolly, “some [UNC] staffers believe a change will come within two weeks,” with members of Belichick’s coaching personnel already speaking to other college football programs about opportunities for later this postseason.
While Belichick has drawn headlines at Chapel Hill largely due to his relationship with Jordon Hudson and his decision to snub Patriots scouts from attending practices during the summer, the future Hall of Fame head coach and his staff have run into even more issues out on the field.
Beyond posting a pair of wins over UNC Charlotte and Richmond last month, Belichick and his team have not been competitive in matchups against Power-Four opponents — losing games to TCU, UCF, and Clemson by a combined score of 120-33.
“Right now, this is not an exaggeration to say he’s an absolute laughingstock in college football,” ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said on “The Michael Kay Show” Tuesday, adding: “Bill Belichick, six Super Bowls, goes down as the best coach in NFL history. Right now, he’s trending toward the worst coach in college football history.”
“Bill Belichick looks like he’s washed up, which by the way, he was his last couple of years in the NFL, too,” Finebaum later noted. “Let’s not kid ourselves.”
Beyond UNC’s struggles both during games and on the recruiting front, Belichick’s tenure with the Tar Heels have also reportedly been marred by a fractured locker room — one partially brought upon by Belichick and his staff bringing in 70 transfers before the start of the 2025 season.
According to a report from WRAL — a local TV station in Raleigh — UNC’s locker room has been divided amid these early-struggles, due in large part to a “disorganized” coaching staff.
“It’s an unstructured mess,” an unnamed source with first-hand knowledge of the program told WRAL. “There’s no culture, no organization. It’s a complete disaster.”
Connolly’s X thread offered up a similar sentiment regarding the breakdown in communication between Belichick and his staff.
“Belichick’s communication with his staff in the past two weeks has been described as “weird” and “distant” by multiple members of UNC’s coaching staff,” Connolly posted. “Multiple coaches were unable to get hold of him during UNC’s bye week.”
Speaking on NBC Sports Boston on Sunday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noted that a potential buyout of Belichick’s contract isn’t out of the question for the Tar Heels.
“Well, I certainly think it’s something they have to look at,” Breer said. “It’ll be expensive to move on from him, but I think you have to look at this from a big-picture perspective for the University of North Carolina. … There are so many things that they’ve done there — this is one thing you hear from a lot of NFL people that have been through there — there are so many things that they have done there that fly in the face of what you should be doing to try to attract top talent.
“There’s no question that job No. 1 for any coach is attracting top talent to North Carolina, and I think that’s where you start if you’re the North Carolina administration,” Breer added. “You look at their roster and you say, ‘You turned over 70 percent of the roster and that’s where we’re getting beat on a week-to-week basis.’ … I think there are lots of fair questions to ask in those departments.”
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