Bill Belichick Is Standing By UNC, Declining NFL Pitches From Tom Brady And Others

New UNC football head coach Bill Belichick has reportedly declined several opportunities to return to the NFL next season, including a position with the Las Vegas Raiders. Minority owner Tom Brady is said to have personally delivered a pitch to Belichick, but the 72-year-old coach is standing by the Tar Heels.

At Belichick’s introductory press conference last month, he told reporters that he didn’t “come here to leave,” expressing a deep interest in coaching at the collegiate level.

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“I always wanted to coach in college football but it never really worked out,” Belichick said. “I did some good years in the NFL, and that went OK, but this is really kind of a dream come true.” 

With the game of coaching musical chairs starting up at the end of the NFL’s regular season, it’s natural that Belichick would be one of many coaches to receive calls from rebuilding teams. He has not been afraid to quickly jump ship in the past; his decision to leave the Jets in 2000 without ever having coached a game for the team led directly to his dynastic years in New England. 

Within two days of the 2024 season ending, the Jaguars, Patriots and Raiders all parted ways with their head coaches. The Jets, Bears and Saints did so earlier in the season and are looking for ways forward as well. All six teams are at some stage of a rebuild, as opposed to the relatively clean slate Belichick is receiving at UNC.

Some speculated that Belichick, the oldest coach in college football when he steps on the sidelines next fall, would struggle to adjust to the rapidly shifting NIL landscape. But the eight-time Super Bowl winner has hit the ground running, stepping directly on the recruiting trail in an effort to build a new core in Chapel Hill.  

After a moderately successful foray into the transfer portal, through which Belichick has already gained at least 13 players, he began recruiting high school prospects earlier this week. In his first stop Monday, he met with edge rusher Zavion Griffin-Haynes, a four-star recruit who decommitted from UNC when the program parted ways with head coach Mack Brown. Griffin-Haynes was reportedly impressed by his conversation with Belichick, however, and could rejoin the Tar Heels’ incoming class.

“He was telling me stuff coaches never told me,” Griffin-Haynes told Rivals. “Showing me stuff about my game, and just telling me stuff about the NFL and the program’s come up.”

Brady and others may make a few more calls to get Belichick back in the big leagues, but within a month, the future Hall-of-Famer has jumped into his new position feet-first. New talent is pouring into Chapel Hill already, and the off-season is far from over.