Dabo Swinney: ‘Bill Belichick doesn’t need any words of encouragement from me’

North Carolina‘s disastrous start to the Bill Belichick era continued last Saturday with a 38-10 home loss to Clemson. The Tigers led 28-3 at the end of the first quarter, leading to Kenan Stadium being a desolate wasteland by the end of the first half.

The Tar Heels are 2-3 start to the season, which actually doesn’t seem that horrible. However, both wins have come against GO5 teams and the three losses (all to Power-Four teams) have come by an average of 29 points.

Following Clemson‘s blowout victory over the Heels, two-time National Championship winning head coach Dabo Swinney was asked about Belichick’s situation. He kept it short and sweet when discussing the legendary NFL head coach.

“Bill Belichick doesn’t need any words of encouragement from me,” Swinney said with a chuckle. “He’s been doing this a lot longer than me. It’s not his first rodeo. I’ve seen it (empty stadiums) and lived it and that’s the unfortunate side of this.

“It’s what we all sign up for and we understand that. You gotta take the good and bad with it and just do the work everyday. Don’t think there’s anyone better at that than him and he’s gonna show up and do the work.”

Paul Finebaum implored Belichick to ‘step down’ on Wednesday

During Wednesday’s edition of ‘The Paul Finebaum Show,’ Paul Finebaum went in on Belichick and implored him to quit before things get even worse for the future Pro Football Hall of Famer. He also took offense to the report that Belichick took a vacation during Carolina’s bye week, which led to multiple coaches being unable to get hold of him.

“I’m not against anyone having a vacation, but I have never heard of a college football coach taking more than maybe a day off,” Finebaum said. “And I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of that. (Steve) Spurrier used to get criticized for playing golf on the Friday of the bye week.

“We heard Brian Kelly talking about how on Saturday he went shopping with his wife. That’s as far as it goes. Now I realize there’s never been a 73-year-old coach who has a 24-year-old girlfriend and I don’t really think that should be a factor here if I could offer my opinion.

“It feels like the end is near for Bill Belichick, and I would suggest to Bill that he should quit now before his legacy gets worse and he becomes even more humiliated than he already is. He’s on track to already become the worst college football coach ever. That’s pretty bad when you’re considered the greatest NFL coach as well.”

Entering Week 7, North Carolina ranks 133rd out of 136 in the nation in total offense, averaging 263.8 yards to start the year. The Tar Heels also rank last in the ACC in scoring with just 18.8 points per game so far this season.