UNC Football Reacts to Major Bill Belichick Announcement on Friday originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Bill Belichick is heading into his first season as head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels football program.
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While Belichick is making a late-career move into the college football game, he’ll always be remembered for his incredible decades-long career in the NFL.
Belichick spent 29 seasons as a head coach in the NFL, winning six Super Bowl rings during his dynastic run with the New England Patriots. With his unprecedented championship success, he’s widely regarded as the greatest NFL coach of all time.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Belichick was selected as the head coach of ESPN’s NFL All Quarter Century Team. Six of his New England players — Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski, Vince Wilfork, Darrelle Revis and Matthew Slater — were also named to the team.
“We wrestled back and forth here, considering both Belichick and Andy Reid,” ESPN’s Aaron Schatz wrote.” Reid has the advantage of sustained success with multiple quarterbacks and multiple franchises, but we went with Belichick because of his superior success in the postseason: nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl championships.”
“Belichick also won in different ways. His early Patriots teams were more about the defense, highlighted by a game plan that slowed down the 2001 Rams’ dynamic offense. The midcareer Patriots were offensive juggernauts. At the end of his New England tenure, the team went back to being defense-first, highlighted by a 13-3 victory in its final Super Bowl.”
Kyle Shanahan was recognized as offensive coordinator, and Wade Phillips as defensive coordinator behind Belichick.
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UNC football took to social media to react to this announcement on Friday.
“Congratulations to @Belichick_B on being selected as Head Coach of the @espn NFL All Quarter Century Team!” the team wrote on X.
North Carolina Tar Heels football coach Bill Belichick.Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Belichick’s college football coaching career will begin when North Carolina kicks off its regular-season schedule with a matchup against the TCU Horned Frogs on Sep. 1.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.