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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Bill Belichick is back on the practice sidelines again, a familiar home for the man who won six Super Bowls as an NFL head coach.
Only now the setting is a small college town. And instead of that familiar hoodie, he was instead decked in a navy blue short-sleeved quarter-zip top and ballcap, along with mesh shorts in that distinctive shade of Carolina blue.
The 72-year-old is a rookie in college coaching, opening his first set of spring practices since taking over at North Carolina as part of that school’s audacious bet to upgrade its football program.
“That’s the great thing about being a head coach — I can coach anybody I want,” Belichick quipped at his pre-practice news conference. “I can coach the line, I can yell at the tight ends, I can yell at the DBs, I can yell at the kickers.
“I can go to any group I want and coach them. And honestly, that’s the fun part.”
When the news conference ended, Belichick started to walk away from the podium when he realized he left his whistle behind. He paused, picked it up and blew a short quick chirp — offering a bit of a symbolic start to spring drills for the media, anyway.
Belichick was hired in December and had a signed contract for a five-year deal — though only the first three years are guaranteed with $10 million annually in base and supplemental salary — a month later. The goal is to build a pro-style model at the college level, creating what amounts to a “33rd” NFL team as general manager and former NFL executive Michael Lombardi put it.
He had continued appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show” and had been spotted in social media posts from the recruiting trail or attending men’s basketball games at the Smith Center, but he hadn’t spoken to local reporters since his introductory news conference nearly three months…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-legend-bill-belichick-coaching-171942651.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2025-03-06 17:19:00
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