The rout was on, and ESPN had a production decision to make late in Bill Belichick’s first game as North Carolina coach.
Belichick, or a golden retriever?
The good boy won out — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering the North Carolina product on the field.
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At least ESPN choosing to show (and talk about) analyst Kirk Herbstreit’s emotional support dog over Belichick temporarily slowed the excuse machine for Belichick’s disastrous debut. Which, of course, is the last thing anyone should be doing for the six-time Super Bowl champion coach in his new gig.
Yet there were the ESPN personalities, and anyone else in Beli’s orbit, chanting the same mantra over and over that North Carolina has ’70 new players” — and ignoring one critical factor to the meltdown on the field.
Belichick built the roster.
Football at any level – high school, college, NFL – is about roster building. It’s finding the right players and putting them in position to have success.
So North Carolina has 70 new players. So what?
Sonny Dykes, the coach on the other sideline Monday night, arrived at TCU in 2022 after a 5-7 season in 2021 got beloved Frogs coach Gary Patterson fired. Dykes added impact players from the transfer portal, and 11 months later, was playing in the national championship game.
North Carolina will be lucky this season to not finish dead last in the ACC.
“There’s no secret to it, no pill you can take,” Belichick said after Monday’s game. “Nobody’s going to do it for us. We’ll have to do it ourselves.”
Say it with me, those who screech about “70 new players” (and you know who you are): this is the team Belichick and general manager Mike Lombardi built, the players they chose.
Not a hand they were dealt and forced to play.
That “70 new players” crutch isn’t a get out of jail free card. It’s giant, flapping red flag.
If North Carolina is struggling to complete a pass, or string together first downs, or tackle and pursue defensively, that’s a personnel and coaching problem.
If North Carolina has a string of seven consecutive series in the loss to TCU that included five three-and-outs, an interception and a fumble, that’s a personnel and coaching problem.
Belichick built the roster, he’s the reason UNC has 70 new players. It wasn’t forced on him, nor was it his only option.
Let me say this one more time: Belichick built the roster.
College football, just like the NFL, is a player procurement business. Coaching, while vital, only takes programs so far.
Ask any coach from Pop Warner to the NFL, and they’ll tell you players win games. For three hours Monday night, the crew at ESPN made it sound like Belichick had no control over the roster and walked into a gutted program. Smarten up, people.
Belichick and Lombardi nearly turned over a roster that, over the previous four years, was built primarily with the Nos. 26, 31, 11 and 14th-ranked high school recruiting classes, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
Belichick’s first high school class was No. 36 in the nation, and he’s currently working on the No. 17 class in the nation. That 2026 class already has 36 commitments, and the No.17 ranking is based more on quantity than quality.
There isn’t one five-star recruit among the group, and there are 27 three-star commitments. I don’t think I’m breaking news by saying UNC isn’t winning a national title, much less the ACC, with 27 three-star recruits.
When Belichick arrived at UNC, he said the program would be run like an NFL franchise. The university committed millions in NIL dollars, and Belichick brought his good friend Lombardi on board for managing player procurement and organization.
Lombardi then said he and Belichick called UNC the “33rd team” — or the 33rd NFL team built within a college structure. Really, they said that.
Let’s not get fooled by two drastically different player procurement processes. In the NFL, you’re selecting through a draft and scouting players who have been developed by college programs.
In college football, you’re recruiting and selling yourself and your vision — to 18 year olds who haven’t remotely scratched the surface of their playing ability and growth.
Transfer portal players are more of a crapshoot: you’re either unloved or unwanted (for any number of on- and off-field reasons), or you’re trying to make a buck. Neither is an attractive alternative.
But there’s hope for those who have cash on hand, and who can convince the small percentage of impact portal players to believe in what they’re selling. You just have to, you know, convince them of your product.
A product that, after one week, doesn’t look good at North Carolina.
Even if it eventually led to friendly banter about good boys.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
