What Does Success Look Like for Bill Belichick at UNC
Bill Belichick's first year at North Carolina did not go as planned. What's in store for his second season and what would be considered a success?
Video Transcript
So a couple things can be true at the same time.
Bill Belichick can be the greatest football coach that ever lived, and his time in North Carolina can be a train wreck, a time when the unstoppable force veered off the tracks, crashed and burned in epic, and possibly hilarious, fashion, if you're someone who doesn't care for Bill Belichick.
On Saturday, the Tar Heels will get another chance to get off on the right foot in the Belichick era when they play TCU in Dublin, Ireland.
It's the biggest game of week zero.
It's candidly the only game of week zero.
Last year, North Carolina went four and eight, and eked out two ACC wins.
It's a far cry from the decades of dominance that Belichick put up with the New England Patriots, and the conversation around the legendary coach has not been great in the subsequent months, and few people are expecting bigger and better things.
But let's just, for the sake of argument and conversation, so we're all having the same one, discuss what success would be for Bill Belichick in his second year at North Carolina.
Five wins would technically be an improvement.
Six would get North Carolina to a bowl game.
But are we really going to sit here in the year of our Lord 2026 and pat the hoodie on the back for going six and six and making a bowl game that everybody forgets is even happening, unless they're sick of their family around the holidays?
I don't think so.
I think the bar for him has to be eight wins, and the problem is, I don't even think that's reasonable.
I don't think that's an appropriate ask.
Yes, the ACC tends to be a top-heavy conference with some easier games against the back half of the schedule.
But still, eight wins, that's a top 25 team.
And yes, I know that they think that they've got the quarterback situation figured out, and yes, I know that every new season begins with no care for the one that preceded it, because once you step inside those white lines, anything can happen.
But imagine, if you will, a regression.
Imagine a worse season than last year for North Carolina.
Imagine three and nine.
Imagine the sideshows getting louder and more distracting.
It could happen.
Belichick, in his 70s now, has an expiration date when it comes to coaching.
How soon that's coming is anybody's guess, and I think that this year will go a long way in determining when that decision is ultimately made.
It's one of those things where you sit back and you just wonder how we got to this place, how North Carolina is so desperate for a singular win on Saturday to get the momentum moving in the right direction, when they have an all-time great on their sidelines.
By that metric, it's not great, and I don't think by any real metric, whatever North Carolina does this year is gonna be seen as a massive success.
Making a bowl game will help.
Seven and five keeps them there comfortably.
Anything more than that, he's done a great job, and everybody will pat him on the back for what has been an impressive, albeit slightly delayed, turnaround.
It's just funny to have that conversation when this guy has been the standard, to see that his have to be dropped, that expectations have to be lowered.
So we're gonna learn a lot on Saturday, and we're gonna learn a lot about Belichick this season.
I wouldn't bet against him, even if everything on paper says that that's the right bet.
