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Bill Belichick is set to become the new head coach of the University of North Carolina, a stunning move to the college ranks by arguably the NFL’s all-time greatest coach.
The move is a leap of faith on both sides.
First by the 72-year-old, who owns eight Super Bowl rings, including six as the head coach of the New England Patriots, but he has never worked as a college coach, let alone recruiter — nor has he shown a lot of natural acumen for it.
Second, by an ACC program that will hope a new, short-term jolt can pump sustained life into a football program that has long been stuck under a ceiling of good but never great, which fights for relevancy not just in the sport, but on its own basketball-obsessed campus.
Mainly it illustrates the new era of college football — where player procurement rests not so much in chasing teenage recruits out of high school, but plucking more focused and mature talents out of the transfer portal with the backing of direct compensation and NIL payments.
It is that change that makes Belichick an intriguing — impossible to ignore even — candidate for a UNC program that will go from often ignored (just one 10-win season since 1997) to the center of the spotlight. With Belichick at the helm, expect endless national television broadcasts, sold-out stadiums and massive hype and fan fare upon his arrival.
If nothing else, this is fascinating.
What would have been foolish even half a decade ago — Belichick suddenly working the traditional recruiting circuit — now makes plenty of sense and possibly plenty of success. UNC couldn’t say no.
“Let me put this in capital letters, if, ‘I. F.’ I was in a college program, that college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for players that had ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said earlier this week on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It will be an NFL program at a college…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/for-north-carolina-the-risk-of-hiring-bill-belichick-is-worth-it-223612958.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-12-11 22:36:00
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