Steve Belichick addresses reports of fighting inside UNC locker room

It’s hard to imagine the first season for Bill Belichick going any worse at North Carolina. After opening 2-3 and under constant scrutiny from the outside, there have now been reports of issues within the program too. In particular, there have been reports that the program is both disorganized and full of infighting.

According to Pat Welter of WRAL News, it’s a divided locker room. Earlier in October, a source within the program told WRAL, “It’s an unstructured mess. There’s no culture, no organization. It’s a complete disaster.” A parent, meanwhile, would fault the team’s leadership.

One member of the staff who knows the head coach better than anyone is Steve Belichick, his son. Now the UNC defensive coordinator, Belichick admitted there was frustration recently, but dismissed it as being more than a side effect of losing.

“Yeah, I think we’ve had a really good week of practice,” Steve Belichick said. “I think anybody who’s a competitor is frustrated when they lose. So, it starts with me on defense. I’ve got to do a better job. Trickles down through everybody. So, we’ve all got to do better, but I appreciate the frustration to a point just because it means they care. We’re putting in a lot of work to go out there and compete at a high level. It hasn’t always shown. So, we’ll try to get out there and do better, but it should be frustrating when you lose.”

UNC is off to a 2-3 start this season. That comes after hopes that they would be immediately competitive in the ACC under Belichick. Worse, all three losses have come in blowout fashion. Meanwhile, off the field stories from Jordan Hudson’s involvement in the program and the head coach going to Nantucket during the bye week have kept a spotlight on the program.

Steve Belichick would quickly be asked a follow up on the infighting specifically. However, he brushed aside, saying, “I don’t know anything about fights, or anything like that.”

UNC needs to turn things around quickly. Amid reports that Bill Belichick and UNC have had preliminary conversations about his future with the program, both the head coach and AD Bubba Cunningham recently released statements that there is a commitment to making things work. Of course, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum called out those statements as being “totally bogus.”

Amid all of that turmoil off the field, UNC still has seven games to play this season and a chance to get bowl eligible if all goes well. So, that is where Belichick and the Tar Heels are going to want to be focused going into Friday night’s game against Cal.