Bill Belichick is under immense pressure for the nightmare unfolding at North Carolina everywhere it seems… except for the set of College GameDay.
Belichick has piloted a disastrous start to the season against power four competition at UNC. The Tar Heels’ overall 2-3 record covers up the fact that they are 0-3 against major conference opponents with a cringeworthy -87 point differential.
The dam burst this week on the Chapel Bill era as multiple reports came out in national and local media about just how chaotic, unprepared, and lost the program currently is. Both Bill Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi have fallen under the microscope thanks not just to poor performances off the field, but questions about their judgment off the field and abilities to work in a college football environment.
And all of this comes after a truly bizarre offseason where headlines about the role of Belichick’s 24 year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson is playing at North Carolina was the lead storyline. To add insult to injury, the much-hyped Hulu documentary about Belichick’s entry was abruptly canceled because things have gotten so bad.
It all culminated in Belichick and UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham making public statements about their commitment to pressing forward, in spite of reports that they could already be negotiating an exit path after just five games.
But if you watched the College GameDay segment on Bill Belichick and North Carolina, you would think it was just a minor bump in the road compared to a four alarm fire.
It all started with a truly strange moment when Pat McAfee suggested that Kirk Herbstreit was getting a phone call from Belichick himself just as the segment began. Was that for real or was McAfee just joking? The crazy thing is that both are equally possible.
Answer that phone 😂😂
That is Bill Belichick calling @KirkHerbstreit right now #CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/FdBp8fAlm4
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 11, 2025
As the segment continued, excuses were offered up. Nick Saban started by saying that Belichick needed time to establish his culture and recruit his players. He even offered up an example of his own coaching career when Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe during his first season in Tuscaloosa.
“When you change coaches you’re going to lose players, so you’ve got to replace those players and I think they missed the window, which is probably affecting this year. But they won’t miss it next year and they’re doing a great job of recruiting,” Saban said.
— Big TIme Sports Vids (@SuperSportsVids) October 11, 2025
To Saban’s credit, UNC is currently 17th in the class of 2026 24/7 recruiting rankings with a massive 36 recruits, the most of any other school. Now, whether or not Belichick will be there to coach those recruits or they stick around is another story altogether.
Desmond Howard followed with a unique analogy comparing Bill Belichick to Iron Chefs, which may be the first time the legendary head coach has been mentioned alongside Masaharu Morimoto.
Pat McAfee then took a moment to call out media reports and defend his old buddy Michael Lombardi, who was a frequent guest on The Pat McAfee Show before taking the North Carolina job. He did so in a bit of a mocking tone about the reports surrounding Belichick, which isn’t a surprise given his disdain for the media and unnamed sources.
“Sports journalists outside of North Carolina have certainly had their sources and their story they’re trying to tell. But what I think what Pete said there is, ‘industry sources are saying that if you’re making a statement five weeks into something it’s not good.’ I think they felt obligated to make a statement because everyone said ‘they’re leaving, they’re leaving, they’re leaving,” McAfee said.
“I talked to Lombardi the other day, he was driving through Charleston, West Virginia trying to get an offensive lineman. Inside the building it feels like they are fully committed to ball. Outside it’s very loud. Will their system work through the draft, through recruiting, that’s going to be a three or four year process,” he continued.
But it’s not just the national media that is coming like sharks for Belichick after smelling blood in the water. The seminal report on the dysfunction inside the UNC program came from local Raleigh station WRAL. That report goes into deep detail about the already-fractured state of the program showing strife between players, coaches, and even parents. It sounds like a program that is anything but “fully committed to ball.”
Kirk Herbstreit then launched the most unequivocal defense and belief in Bill Belichick. He started by asking his castmates if they had confidence it was going to work for the six-time Super Bowl winner in Chapel Hill. But he then gave them the answer to his own question by stating that it will work out for him at UNC.
“Knowing the buy in of Belichick and Lombardi, will this work? We thought in August it was definitely going to work. I’m asking you guys, do we have confidence it’s going to work. The fact that he’s all in, to me, tells me it’s going to work,” Hebrstreit said.
It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Belichick appeared on College GameDay last week and exchanged pleasantries with former co-worker Nick Saban and both obviously still have a ton of respect and admiration for each other. On top of that, Belichick worked with McAfee for his year in the media last season and is obviously close to him. And if Belichick actually has Herbstreit’s number, there must be a decently close relationship there.
But to just gloss over Belichick’s horrific results so far? To not go into any details about any report about Belichick’s extended vacation, locker room fights, questions about the coaching staff, or any number of off-field distractions brought by Belichick himself? Let alone the fact that the College GameDay set is preaching patience and a rebuilding project for a head coach that is 73 years old. It presented a total disconnect from reality and a group whose top objective was toeing the Carolina blue company line.
Jordon Hudson couldn’t have written a better segment when it comes to propping up Bill Belichick and trying to save face for the job currently being done at North Carolina.