North Carolina football made quite the splash with the hiring of Bill Belichick in December 2024, giving the six-time Super Bowl winner his first college football head coaching opportunity, past the age of 70.
Now, with a little less than three weeks before the start of the Tar Heels’ season, it remains to be seen what to expect from the Belichick-led Tar Heels this year.
One person, however, at least has an idea of what UNC football players can expect from the first-year college football coach. Tom Brady, Belichick’s quarterback from 2000-19 with the New England Patriots, believes the Tar Heels can expect to be run like an NFL-style program.
‘What they are going to get is obviously the most prepared, the most hardworking coach that I’d ever been around,’ said Brady, appearing on Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt’s podcast on Monday, Aug. 11. ‘If you go to that school, you will be prepared to play at the next level. He’s going to teach you the right fundamentals and the right techniques. He’s going to have a high expectation for you and you are going to grow.’
It’s well documented how Brady, now an NFL broadcaster for Fox and limited partner of the Las Vegas Raiders, developed from a sixth-round pick into one of the greatest NFL players ever under Belichick during their 20 seasons together in New England.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion (he won one more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020) also shared some of his thoughts on what challenges his former coach could experience in the college ranks.
‘I think the challenge for him is he’s dealing with a lot of underdeveloped players because he’s dealt with guys that are four, five, six years further along than what he’s normally had to deal with,’ Brady said. ‘So I think there’s probably a learning curve for him. …’
Brady also mentioned the amount of time Belichick will have with his players between games to go through film and work on their skills, considering they have to balance their workload as student-athletes.
‘What makes Coach Belichick so unbelievable, tactically, (is how) he can break down an opponent. He watches so much film. He’s so smart in how he approaches defensive schemes and offensive schemes,’ Brady said. ‘How much can these young kids retain (that)?
‘That may be an interesting challenge, as well, because in some ways they’re not professionals. They don’t have as much time as we had as professional athletes to go in there and study film and practice and meet. They don’t have that amount of time at the college level.’
Here’s a look at Brady’s appearance on Klatt’s podcast:
The ACC preseason poll picked UNC to finish eighth among the 17 ACC teams under Belichick this season. Moreover, the Tar Heels were neither ranked nor received votes in either of the US LBM Coaches Poll or AP Top 25’s preseason rankings.
UNC is set to open the Belichick era on Monday, Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. ET against TCU at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
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