Bill Belichick defends how he built UNC roster: 'We did the best we could'

The season is not even half over for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Still, sitting at 2-3 in the first season under Bill Belichick, there are plenty of fans and analysts around the country looking to figure out what has gone wrong.

Part of the concern has fallen on the roster construction. That was never supposed to be a concern for UNC, though, given that Belichick was expected to bring NFL-style scouting and roster construction to college in the NIL and House Settlement era. Clearly, something needs to change. At the same time, given the situation the staff walked into, Belichick believes they did the best they possibly could to put a roster together.

“Look, when we got here, we had three defensive linemen,” Bill Belichick said. “You can’t practice with three defensive linemen. We went out and signed a lot of players. We signed players who didn’t have offers or offers that they didn’t want. Kind of slid through the cracks in terms of the recruiting process. We signed players in the transfer portal that were available. We were late in the running on a lot of them. We were late on relationships. We were late on it in contacts. We ran out of time. We did the best we could.”

Perhaps the highest profile hire Bill Belichick made when he got to UNC was his GM, Michael Lombardi. The two had previously worked together, and the hope was that he could help bring that NFL model for roster construction.

“I think Michael and his staff did a great job of upgrading the roster,” Belichick said. “And then it was upgraded again in the spring after spring ball. I mean, our football team is a lot better than what it was at the end of spring ball, I can tell you that. In terms of the opportunities we had, could we have done some things going after some different players or whatever? I’d say we got the ones we go and there were others we were after that we didn’t get. But when you come in late on the recruiting end and in the portal end — we had a better chance in the second portal that we did in the first portal. I think the results of that speak for themselves. Those are some of our best players.”

North Carolina leaned extremely heavily into the Transfer Portal this past year, bringing in 42 players in the 2025 cycle. That was part of a roster turnover that included more than 70 new players on the roster coming in throughout the offseason. Now, there’s been a push within the program to better focus on high school recruiting. There, UNC has found success. In the 2026 cycle, UNC currently has the 18th-ranked class.

“I think we’ll take advantage of every opportunity. We have to improve the team, whether that’s in recruiting or that’s in transfer, or, most importantly, developing the players that are here. This is a developmental program. Like every program is that I’ve ever been a part of, the idea is to get our players and get them better. Get the best ones we can. Then, the ones that are here, work hard, coach them, and let them improve,” Belichick said.

“In terms of bringing in new players, I would say based on what the roster was when we got here, I think we did the best that we could. Could it have been better? We did the best we could.”

While long-term UNC is going to need to put a better roster on the field, Belichick also needs to be focused on this year’s team. The Tar Heels still have seven games left and bowl eligibility to fight for. That season continues this Friday on the road against Cal.