Tom Brady Endorses Bill Belichick As UNC Head Coach, Says He Will Prep Players For NFL
With Belichick at the helm, UNC players are about to get a masterclass in football. But can the NFL icon adjust to the college game?
There's arguably no bigger story in college football entering the 2025-26 season than how the North Carolina Tar Heels will perform under their new head coach, six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick. Tom Brady, who helped lead Belichick's Patriots to those six championships, thinks Belichick will teach his players how to play football the right way.
Brady told Fox Sports' Joel Klatt he's curious about how things will unfold in Chapel Hill, but one thing Belichick will instill in his players is the fundamentals of playing football at a high level.
"What they are going to get, obviously, is the most prepared, the most hard-working coach that I've ever been around," Brady said. "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, the right techniques, he's going to have a high expectation for you, and you're going to develop a lot."
No coach knows more about what it takes to succeed in the NFL than Belichick. He started in the league as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts in 1975 and steadily held coaching jobs until parting with the New England Patriots in 2023 after 24 seasons. Spending nearly 50 years in the NFL gives Belichick a level of credibility that is unmatched among his peers.
But will that knowledge translate to success on the field for the North Carolina Tar Heels?
That's the biggest question. Plus, it's going to be very interesting to see how Belichick interacts with college players when he is used to dealing with professional athletes.
Belichick has an unmatched NFL resume, but how will it translate to college football?
Even with NIL deals, college athletes remain amateurs—generally younger, less experienced, and not always equipped for the intensity of a Belichick-run program. But that could play right into Belichick's strengths as a coach. After all, Belichick started in the NFL before many of his players' parents were even born.
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick during their Patriots dynasty run.
(Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
While there has been a lot of outside noise surrounding the UNC football program this offseason – mostly thanks to Belichick's much younger girlfriend, Jordon Hudson – none of that really matters if the team wins. However, if they get off to a slow start and start losing, expect the criticism to ramp up exponentially.
North Carolina opens the season at home against TCU, which isn't exactly a cupcake opening game. In fact, the Tar Heels are slight underdogs. The Horned Frogs are currently three-point favorites for the September 1 game at Kenan Stadium. If North Carolina manages to win that contest, the schedule lightens up with games against Charlotte and Richmond.
The biggest game on the early schedule is a showdown with #4 Clemson on October 4. The Tigers are the only preseason ranked team on North Carolina's schedule. Success would silence the skeptics—but anything less, and Belichick’s college experiment could become one of the biggest stories of the season for all the wrong reasons.