Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was introduced as the new head football coach at the University of North Carolina on Thursday afternoon.
UNC’s trustees approved terms of the deal to hire Belichick as the new football coach on Thursday. Specific terms have yet to be released, though the school said Wednesday there was a five-year agreement.
The board of governors for the state’s public university system was still scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon regarding the hiring as a final logistical step, though that comes after Belichick's on-campus news conference.
"I'm not making any predictions. I'm just saying I'm going to come in here and do the best I can," Belichick said Thursday.
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"Success is a day by day process," he added. "The only thing we can really do anything about is today, tomorrow, what's in front of us. Take advantage of every opportunity to improve the team, and the results will come."
Belichick had just been introduced as North Carolina's next football coach when chancellor Lee Roberts came armed with a gift: a short-sleeved gray hoodie — a bit of a trademark from Belichick's NFL coaching days — bearing a blue interlocking “NC” logo.
Belichick arrived wearing a dark suit, a light blue dress shirt and a tie bearing a white-and-light-blue pattern. He sat between Roberts and athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who paid his own tribute by donning a suit jacket with the sleeves cut off to mimic Belichick's cut-off sideline look.
“I’m here to, as Bubba said, teach, develop and build a program in the way that I believe in,” Belichick said.
Asked why at age 72 he wants to keep coaching, Belichick laughed and said, "Beats working. You know, when you love what you do, and my dad told me this, when you love what you do, it's not work. I love coaching."
Moving on from the 73-year-old Mack Brown to hire Belichick means UNC is turning to a coach who has never worked at the college level, yet had incredible success in the NFL alongside quarterback Tom Brady throughout most of his 24-year tenure with the Patriots, which ended last season.
There’s also at least a small family tie to the UNC program for Belichick; his late father, Steve, was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 1953-55.
"I've always wanted to coach in college football. It just never really worked out," Belichick said Thursday. "Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. This is really kind of a dream come true. I grew up in college football with my dad. As a kid all I knew was college football. It's great to come back home to Carolina, back to an environment I really grew up in."
He said he was very young when his father coached at UNC, so he doesn't remember much about that time, but he said one story he always heard was that his first words were "Beat Duke."
"So... full circle," Belichick said. "Again, I'm very grateful and appreciative for the opportunity... This is obviously a great educational school and the kids here are outstanding, and we want to transfer that over to the football field and have an outstanding football team."
He also said he is bringing longtime friend and associate Michael Lombardi with him as his general manager, and indicated that he plans to bring back interim UNC coach Freddie Kitchens as a member of his coaching staff. He also said his staff will include a "strong presence" of NFL coaches.
Belichick is arriving on campus at a time of rapid changes in college athletics, from free player movement through the transfer portal and athletes’ ability to cash in on endorsements to the looming arrival of revenue sharing. And he's taking over a program that for a school with a national name-brand — particularly as a tradition-rich blueblood in college basketball — has never sustained elite football success in its long history. It's last conference championship was in 1980.
"It's been a while," Belichick said. "Kinda hasn't been to that point since. There's a lot of pride in this program, and I want to do everything I can to take it to the highest level."
