UNC and Bill Belichick have been making the rounds in college football again. And this time, it’s not for having some big recruiting flash in the new coaching room under the NFL biggies. The conference revamp is receiving a lot of attention these days as large-scale financial agreements aim to resolve tensions between schools in a realignment effort. As far as B1G is concerned, they are awaiting a heavy turnout, adding some big schools to the board and doubling their financial position from their running $7 billion contract. Whom do they look for? Well, on a disappointing note for the Tar Heels, it’s not North Carolina for Tony Petitti.

The conference battle is shaping the college football reality, heading into a compelling postseason. ACC seems to be there just for the participation trophy. They have already rubbed FSU and Clemson the wrong way with a legal stride involved. UNC also voted against their expansion last summer. So, the room to revive is slim. It remains to be seen how the recent ESPN deal of $6.5 million serves as damage control, if at all, but the B1G is in a dominant position, offering the schools a massive $80 to 100 million per year. Florida and Miami have been deemed the two high-voltage schools most likely to join the elite Big 10 list this year, but UNC hasn’t gotten any boost to their hope so far.

Adding to their tension, analyst JY noted, ”Basically, UNC doesn’t control their own fate anymore. There is a large board of regents in North Carolina, I think. They basically control the public schools and universities in that state, as well as all the schools and universities in the state. They want to make sure all the schools are well taken care of, and really, the politicians there would rather see their schools stay in the ACC; now we saw some politics happen in the state of Texas, with Texas A$M, eventually people writing the big cheques, got their way and the University of Texas came to the SEC,” said Big Mountain podcast host JY.

As per the recent debate, ESPN doesn’t want to lose UNC and make a push for them to slide into the SEC, the other program they are running apart from the ACC. But the SEC might escape the Tar Heels to avoid potential backlash, disrupting the current conference landscape. Well, what about the other big fish, the B1G?

‘They have to bring NC State with them just because of the political landscape; I can tell you from the Big 10 perspective that is a non-starter, it’s a no-no, and it’s never going to happen,” JY gave an ultimatum to Bill Belichick’s BIG 10 dream. There are some reasons why North Carolina might not come off as a lucrative catch to the Big 10 stakeholders.

First and foremost, they are pretty average in drawing eyeballs on TV, culminating in consistently low ratings. Second, they are indifferent to the political escapade and don’t have a say in it, and last but not least, they would like to avoid any litigation issues. Things seem to be largely unsettling for Bill Belichick and his new college football home amidst the heavy conference catastrophe. Will the veteran coach choose to back off getting no VIP pass to the big chunk of money-land?

Beli Belichick has a way to escape the chaotic conference scenario 

The veteran NFL coach is adept at attracting attention. Be it his stories coaching at New England Patriots or the bittersweet equation with Tom Brady, a 24-year-old love interest, Bill Belichick is simply not out of trend. When he joined UNC after spending decades in the NFL, it came as one more addition to his usual quirks list. Fans took a lot of time to get accustomed to calling him the new Tar Heels head coach. There have been plenty of doubts regarding whether or not he can gel with the different transfer portal practices in CFB. He did and proved all the naysayers wrong.

He signed a $10 million per year contract with UNC, cementing his tenure. But there have still been doubts floating in the air. The nature of his contract suggested it would be too easy for him to get out of this deal and go back to the NFL if the league wanted him back. A month later, the conference uncertainty again resurfaced the rumor.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelisser said, “I don’t believe that Bill’s never going back,” he said, flat-out rejecting the idea that Belichick’s college experiment is perpetual. ”Bill has never said, ‘I never want to go back to the NFL… I wonder if Bill never takes that North Carolina job if he’s the head coach of the Raiders right now,” Pelisser added to the Tar Heels’ concern.

It would be interesting to see how much the conference jeopardy impacts Belichick’s college football commitment in the long run.