Bill Belichick compares college transfer portal to NFL free agency

North Carolina coach Bill Belichick enters a college football world that many coaches have had to adjust to in the past few years with the transfer portal and NIL. Coming from a decades-long career in the NFL, he sees the parallels between this modern era of college sports and the pros.

It’s easy to compare the transfer portal to free agency in a professional league with players having the opportunity to join new teams and money often a major factor in their decision in both instances. However, Belichick also noted the main difference being the number of players who do so every season.

According to On3’s transfer portal wire, 4,067 players entered the portal this offseason. That is far more than Belichick had to deal with at the pro level, where he was also competing with only 32 other teams compared to 134 in the FBS.

“It’s an area that (general manager Michael Lombardi) and I are very familiar with,” Belichick said. “We’ve spent a lot of time in that free agency space over the course of our careers in the NFL. I think the biggest difference in college is the volume. There are just so many players. The college portal is in the thousands.

“Then you’re looking at a ’26 recruiting class and a ’27 recruiting class that we’re starting to build relationships with, and even some ’28. So the volume of players between a recruiting class of several thousand kids, a portal class of a similar number and then another class. It’s a lot of names to keep track of.”

Lombardi worked with Belichick as an assistant to the New England Patriots coaching staff from 2014-16. The pair won two Super Bowls together and Belichick won six Super Bowls as the coach from the Patriots from 2000-23.

Belichick was also the head coach of the Cleveland Browns (1991-95) and believes that roster-building experience at the pro level will help him with the transfer portal. One other difference the coach noted between college and the pros was the idea that you’re not only recruiting the player, but those close to them as well.

“It’s not just the player, you’re also dealing with the recruiting part of it,” he said. “So you have families and coaches and agents and people like that. So in a lot of cases, you’re looking at four, five, six, seven people that are connected with that player. In addition to recruiting him, you’re kind of recruiting a family. So I’d just say the volume of people is a little bit more than what we had. But we’re adjusting to it and we have a great staff.”

In the end, Belichick also acknowledged that his status as a legendary coach is a big advantage he can use in recruiting. The Tar Heels had the No. 8 transfer class in the country this offseason according to On3’s Transfer Portal Team Rankings, bringing in 42 players.

That suggests that the pitch is working, and it will be interesting to see how his first season in Chapel Hill plays out. North Carolina kicks things off at home on Sept. 1 with a matchup against TCU.

“What we’re selling is to be a pro,” Belichick said. “To be a pro on the field, to be a pro off the field in terms of life learning and, of course the academics here are outstanding. So we’ll get players ready to go to the next level. Whether that’s training, scheme, fundamentals, preparation, film, situation football. All those things. That’s what we do and that’s what we’re selling. Most kids are interested in that. They really are. So we’ve had great buy in.”