It’s no more than in the ancient era of CFB when recruiting was often about how much a coach praises your mom’s cooking when they visit your family home. The advent of the transfer portal and NIL has made it a completely different proposition. This phenomenon is translative to Bill Belichick’s and the UNC Tar Heels. Not everyone is great with change. As someone who coached one team for over 2 decades, it’s rational to think Belichick understood this. Therefore he set a plan in motion to acclimatize to CFB. As it transpires, he took aid from a coach and then proverbially stabbed him in the back.

People who are skeptical of Bill Belichick’s foray into this echelon of the sport with UNC don’t think he’s in over his head from a tactical standpoint. They’re unsure if Belichick, who didn’t have great success towards the end in New England, can adapt effectively. Well, it does help that his footprint across the sport affords him more aid than the usual first-year coach.

Steve Belichick, son of Bill, became the defensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies before the 2024 season. Although he took over this role mere months ago, his father’s arrival in Chapel Hill instigated murmurs that he’ll join him at UNC. Lo and behold, he did. But the timeline of this move recontextualizes Bill Belichick as a bit of a villain.

Belichick guested on “The Pat McAfee Show”, as he tends to often do. The show’s namesake asked him about his initial discernment of how everything is unraveling in his move back into coaching, as well as how he prepared for it. “Was there anything that you learned from any other teams this past year, whenever you’re watching how they operate? Because the assumption is everybody would want to learn from you,” asked McAfee. “Oh yeah, absolutely,” said Belichick. He proceeded to shout out the Washington Huskies and HC Jedd Fisch, who are probably rueing the day they invited him out to Seattle!

“I’m very appreciative of coach [Jedd] Fisch for giving me the opportunity to come out to Washington and spend a little time out there with him…that really showed me how exciting and interesting college football is,” said Belichick. That’s gotta be a low blow, even if it’s heartfelt gratitude for coach Fisch. Not only did Bill Belichick uproot his DC after Jedd Fisch lent him a helping hand, he even nabbed at least 4 of his players. In fact, there were even conspiracies about insider trading and tampering. These stemmed from linebacker Khmori House leaving Washington via the portal for UNC. Even before Steve Belichick’s own move was confirmed. Since House, 3 more players have followed suit.

Those would be cornerback Thaddeus Dixon, safety Peyton Waters, and WR Jason Robinson. Interestingly, 3 of these 4 players play on defense. Both Belichick’s forte. It’s not a far cry to suggest there was some foul play involved to get them to come to UNC since Steve already had an existent relationship with them. A bunch of players left Washington after their huge downturn from last season’s Natty appearance. However, the consensus around the program is that Khmori House’s departure, in particular, came as a huge shock. The allure of playing for arguably the greatest defensive mind in the history of the sport is strong after all. Alas, Jedd Fisch is left to lick his wounds now. At least Bill Belichick is acknowledging the help, eh? These tampering calls and rather back-handed compliments are far from the only controversies Belichick’s time in North Carolina has entailed.

The wrinkle in Bill Belichick’s UNC contract potentially points to his ulterior motives

There’s an underlying yet prevalent belief that Bill Belichick won’t last long in Chapel Hill. Now, his actions do suggest otherwise to be fair. For starters, He has already hit the road and visited potential recruits. As aforementioned, he’s brought Steve on board. He has even tagged along long-tenured NFL exec Michael Lombardi to be GM of the Tar Heels, as he tries to change the fortunes of the program. Despite all this in the affirmative, a few facets of his contractual situation have kept people on edge.

In a sensational revelation that was equal parts damning and shrewd, Belichick’s UNC contract has a buy-out clause. That is not out of the ordinary, but its conditions sure are. Initially, the figure sits at $10 million. But this is rather fallacious. It drops down to $1 million on June 1st, 2025. Before the NFL and CFB seasons even begin. There’s little to no chance it actually happens, given most vacancies are now filled. But Belichick did include a stipulation, in case he ever needed it, that would allow him to leave for the NFL before coaching a single game for UNC.

Bill Belichick has never carried simultaneous reverence from everyone in the football world. For all his success and greatness, he’s always shed reasons to not be a fan. It’s almost as if used to revel in the hate he got from certain factions during his prime. It’ll be an understatement to say Bill Belichick’s coaching career, especially in New England, was marred by frequent controversy. The infamous “SpyGate” comes to mind as the epitome. Even as Belichick enters this new leg of his career, and life, the elder statesman is not quite walking a linear, conventional path.