Joel Klatt picks New York Giants' game as pressure point for Bill Belichick in Year 1 as UNC coach

Bill Belichick is a dozen weeks out from his collegiate coaching debut at North Carolina. However, depending on how things go this season in the National Football League, Joel Klatt thinks, three months after that, that the Tar Heels could already be looking for a new head coach again.

Klatt assessed the pressure index on ten college coaches, including Belichick, during his show on Monday. Of them all, Belichick had the least amount of pressure considering how little this one season would affect his overall resumé as a coach. That puts all of the pressure on those in Chapel Hill considering what this move means for UNC Football.

“This one’s an interesting one and an easy one for now – We’re just happy you’re here. We’re just happy you’re here,” decided Klatt.

“This is going to be a little bit different than the rest of the coaches on this one because I think that the pressure index is not actually on Bill Belichick. Let’s be honest. Like, Bill Belichick is not going to feel a lot of pressure at North Carolina. If this doesn’t go his way, he doesn’t seem like a guy that, like, is going to lose a lot of sleep over this,” Klatt said. “The pressure index is more so on the fanbase because you can tell that the fanbase, not all that dissimilar to Colorado, is kind of like, invested in this. It’s like, oh my gosh, we went way outside of the box and we hired The GOAT, the greatest NFL coach maybe in history! And we brought him here to coach college football at North Carolina so we’re just happy he’s here.”

Regardless of their season goes, though, nothing North Carolina does may necessarily decide if Belichick will be back for a second season. That’s because, to Klatt, how this season goes for the New York Giants will. He thinks, if the Giants are looking for a new head coach by the end of this year or even before this next season is out, Belichick could make a return to the NFL, especially after his buyout with the Tar Heels dropped from ten million dollars to one million dollars on June 1st.

“Guess where the pressure gets ratcheted up? Not in their schedule but in the Giants’ schedule – the New York Giants,” said Klatt. “The Giants, very well, could be a really bad team. Belichick can absolutely pay the one million dollars to get out of his contract. So, if he all of the sudden has an opportunity to go back to the NFL, and go back and coach the New York Giants where he has a history? Granted, there’s some hard feelings here and there. We all watched 30 for 30 on the Bills, The Two Bills.”

“I’m going to go with December 1st – the Giants at Patriots. Last game before the Giants’ bye. It’s against the Patriots. So, here’s the five before the bye week. So, you’ve got San Francisco, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, and then New England. So let’s just say, sake of argument, what if the Giants are, like, 2-11 at that point? Do you think (Brian) Daboll is getting fired? Probably. Right at the end of the college football season, right in a bye week for the Giants. That’s where the pressure is ratcheted up,” Klatt explained. “So, we’re happy you’re here! But, guess what? The fanbase is going to feel an immense amount of pressure in that bye week after, potentially, a Monday Night victory for the New England Patriots over the New York Giants. That’s the one. That’s the pressure game.”

North Carolina has to focus on their debut under Belichick with a schedule that could allow for a successful-enough season under him in 2025. That said, Klatt thinks the Tar Heels will have to keep an eye on as much professional football as they do collegiate as ‘Chapel Bill’ could be short-lived pending the next coaching carousel.

“So, we’re happy you’re here – but we hope you’re here after December 1st,” Klatt said.