During Bill Belichick’s introductory press conference at North Carolina, we saw the usual choreographed moment in which a new coach is formally presented with the colors of his new team.

But the famously gruff coach unveiled a surprise of his own. The 72-year-old theatrically pulled out a decades-old Tar Heels sweatshirt worn by his late father, Steve Belichick, when he was an assistant coach at Chapel Hill from 1953 to 1955. 

“I had some good years in the NFL and that was O.K., but this is really a dream come true. … As a kid, all I knew was college football,” said Belichick.

From that moment, the famous curmudgeon had the crowd eating out of his hand.

This is not your father’s Bill Belichick. On Thursday, the former NFL coach famous for boring, monosyllabic answers (“We’re on to Cincinnati”) was missing in action. Instead, we saw a garrulous grandfather figure who described UNC as a “dream come true.” He told a story about how, as a toddler, his first words were supposedly, “Beat Duke.” For one day, at least, Belichick charmed his old foes in the media as well as Tar Heels fans—and disarmed his many critics. For that, we can thank his experience with media over the past year.  

After splitting with the Patriots in December 2023, Belichick embraced the proverbial dark side, appearing weekly on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show and the ManningCast, appearing on The CW’s Inside the NFL and hosting a podcast with longtime front-office colleague Michael Lombardi. 

To the surprise of many, Belichick was often quite interesting. We all knew he was a walking football encyclopedia. But who knew he could be funny, incisive, even entertaining on TV? Once Belichick stopped acting the fool and let viewers in, we finally saw the leader and teacher who inspired the Patriots to a record six Super Bowl victories, plus another two as a Giants assistant. In fact, North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham told The News & Observer that Belichick plans to continue his remote media gigs with McAfee and the ManningCast while running UNC’s football program. New UW–Green Bay basketball coach Doug Gottlieb also kept his show on Fox Sports Radio.

Belichick’s new ease at press conferences was on full display at Chapel Hill, with several of his pithy answers going viral. When asked whether he would return to the NFL if he succeeded at UNC, Belichick deadpanned: “I didn’t come here to leave.” Another reporter asked why he wants to keep coaching at age 72. “Beats working,” quipped Belichick. “My dad told me this: When you love what you do, it’s not work.”

There’s plenty of skepticism about the ability of the second-winningest coach in NFL history to succeed at the college level. A lot of that comes down to his ability to relate to 18-year-old athletes, as well as the vagaries of recruiting, NIL payments, and obnoxious boosters.

Perspective From a Peer

To get a read on Belichick’s prospects, I talked to Herm Edwards of ESPN. Edwards previously blazed Belichick’s career path as an NFL head coach for the Jets and Chiefs, was then an NFL analyst at ESPN, became a college football coach at Arizona State—and then returned to ESPN last year.

Edwards believes Belichick’s “love-hate” relationship with the media experience will help him. For one thing, he’ll know the questions that are coming and probably have all his answers in mind by the fourth quarter. As for recruiting, Edwards says college athletes will want to play for Belichick. 

“He’ll be fine. Athletes are athletes. Those guys will be excited about playing for Coach. All of them want to go to the NFL,” Edwards told me. “It’s no different than when I took over [ASU]. He’s going to have a pro model. He’s going to do everything he did in pro football.”

The art of TV trains people to speak in short, cogent sentences, noted Edwards. That will help Belichick communicate with today’s college athletes, many of whom have a short attention span. 

During his stint coaching the Sun Devils, Edwards limited his team meetings to 20 minutes. Any longer than that, and his young players would get itchy fingers searching for their ever-present phones. The downside? Belichick won’t be able to growl about the “Patriot Way” and impose secrecy on kids who spend their lives on social media platforms.

“It’s almost like their hands are shaking if they don’t have their phones in their hands after 10 minutes,” says Edwards, who delivered one of the great postgame rants with his “You Play to Win the Game” presser as Jets coach.