Bill Belichick confirms he plans to remain at UNC despite NFL interest

From almost the moment Bill Belichick got to the North Carolina Tar Heels, there’s been rumors that he could be on the move to an NFL job. After all, no coach has had the success that Belichick did in the NFL, winning six Super Bowls. Now, that interest has kicked back up.

Unsurprisingly, with the end of the NFL regular season and coach firings around the league, Belichick has heard his name. Despite that, he isn’t planning on going anywhere. Belichick recently told Jim Gray on SiriusXM that nothing has changed and he intends on staying with UNC.

“Nothing’s changed,” Bill Belichick said. “I’m where I was a month ago. I’m here at North Carolina. … We’re building a good program and I’m excited about the direction we’re headed in.”

Part of why the rumors around Belichick and the NFL have never left goes back to his buyout. It was widely reported that on June 1st of 2025, Belichick saw his buyout drop to just $1 million. It had previously been $10 million. In the modern landscape of college sports, that is relatively easy to move on from.

At the NFL level, Bill Belichick has a record of 302-165 in the regular season and a 31-13 postseason record. That postseason record comes with those six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots.

Belichick would join North Carolina ahead of the 2025 season. However, it was a difficult first season. The Tar Heels would go just 4-8 overall and 2-6 in ACC play. That has, in turn, led to some staff changes, with Bobby Petrino now coming in to be the team’s next offensive coordinator. Along with that, several changes are expected to come to the roster in the Transfer Portal.

Kirk Herbstreit offers his view of North Carolina entering second year of Bill Belichick era

Because of the presence of Bill Belichick, there has been a magnifying glass on the North Carolina program. With that, expectations are high in year two for the Tar Heels amid some of those changes, as Kirk Herbstreit explained recently.

“I’m sure North Carolina is going to be incredibly active on trying to bring in quarterbacks and skill players and offensive linemen. They’ve got to get their offense going,” Herbstreit said. “As far as drawing up plays, Bobby Petrino — you talk to the coaching fraternity across the country, there’s skill people that look at him as one of the better offensive minds in the game.”