Mike Florio ,
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When Bill Belichick arrived at North Carolina, the question was, “How long will he stay?” After a 4-8 season, the question has become, “How long will they want him to stay?”
Via Greg Barnes of Inside Carolina , UNC is committed to Belichick “ for at least another year .”
The disappointing season has sparked concerns that it’s not going to work for Belichick at the college level. However, a quick scuttling of the experiment would spark a total buyout in the range of $30 million.
Not everyone agrees. Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer makes the case for writing the checks and ending it now.
“He was always a bad fit as a college coach, a role where, unlike the NFL, your public demeanor is a big part of the job,” DeCock wrote.
“What’s it going to cost North Carolina to move on? What’s it going to take for Belichick to save face? What’s the price of a reset button? Whatever it costs, it’s time to pay it. Whatever has to happen behind the scenes, it’s time to do it. They broke it. Now they’ll have to buy it.”
Or to continue to tolerate it, hopeful there’s a light switch Belichick and his consigliere, Mike Lombardi, can accidentally find in the darkness. Lombo’s plan to bloat the roster with freshmen is a bold choice. They need better players. That means finding the right ones, picking the right ones, and recruiting the right ones.
At the college level, it’s about quality of players. North Carolina was unable under Belichick and Lombardi to get enough good ones for 2025. They’ll get another chance to do it in 2026, apparently. (That said, an argument could be made to require Belichick to find a new G.M. for the second try.)
If it doesn’t work 2026, why would anyone want to see whether 2027 will be any different? Currently, some have seen enough to conclude it won’t work in 2026.
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