Six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick confirmed on Monday that he has discussed the vacant head-coaching position at the University of North Carolina.
"I've had an opportunity to talk to Chancellor [Lee] Roberts," Belichick said Monday during his weekly appearance on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show. "We've had a couple of good conversations. We'll see how it goes."
News broke last week that Belichick, who has never coached at the collegiate level, had interviewed with UNC, and ESPN reported on Monday that talks between the two sides and that Belichick met with the school for five hours on Sunday.
Belichick declined to discuss his weekend conversations with the school, but the former New England Patriots head coach did use his platform on Monday to outline what a hypothetical college program of his would look like.
And Belichick made it clear that hypothetical program would have a professional feel.
"Let me put this in capital letters: If -- I-F, IF -- I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL. It would be a professional program -- training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL," Belichick said on Monday.
"It would be an NFL program at a college level, and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football, whether that was at the end of their college career or at the end of their pro career. But it would be geared toward developing the player, time management, discipline, structure and all that that would be life skills regardless of whether they were in the NFL or in somewhere in business.
"I feel very confident that I have the contacts in the National Football League to pave the way for those players that would have the ability to have the opportunity to compete in the National Football League. Whether they're good enough or not, I don't know, but they would be ready for it, I don't have any doubt about that."
Belichick twice interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons during the last NFL hiring cycle after he parted ways with the Patriots after 24 seasons.
It is unclear how much interest teams in the NFL would have for Belichick in the upcoming cycle -- there are currently three NFL head-coaching openings.
In his year off the sidelines, Belichick said on Monday that he has had the opportunity to "take a longer look at college football," noting that he feels there are more similarities between the college and professional game with the advent of the transfer portal, NIL and upcoming revenue sharing.
"I think there are a lot of football programs that are being structured similar to NFL programs," Belichick said. "In college, you now have high school recruiting, but you have college portal. In pro football, you have the draft and pro free agency. So you have salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. In college, you have negotiations with whoever represents the player."
Belichick added: "I think it's a little different version of the NFL model, much more so than it's ever been before. Let's put it that way."
The position at North Carolina opened when UNC legend Mack Brown was fired on Nov. 26.
The Tar Heels went 6-6 in the 2024 season and face the University of Connecticut in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28.
