It came as a surprise to many when Bill Belichick was hired as head football coach at North Carolina last December. Not many people had the former Super Bowl-winner with the New England Patriots landing a college job on their bingo card.
Well, five games into his first crack at coaching in college, the Tar Heels are 2-3 after another embarrassing loss on Saturday at home, this time to Clemson in Belichick's first ACC game. The Tigers erupted for 28 first-quarter points, which forced a majority of the crowd to leave at halftime during the 38-10 Heels loss. Not a good look.
Belichick's tenure has been something of a sideshow in Chapel Hill. His girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, has gotten more of the spotlight at times than Belichick, and to compound matters, the results on the field haven't been anywhere near what anyone expected. Now, the 73-year-old is hitting a new rock bottom in 2025.
North Carolina coach Bill Belichick makes bad PR decision
If there is one thing that Belichick needs to do, it's to build his brand at UNC and so far, he's far from doing that. College fans love to see and know what their ex-players are doing. On Sunday night, former Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye pulled off one of the biggest NFL road upsets of the season as the Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 23-20, in Orchard Park, N.Y. Maye was 22-for-30 for 273 yards and led them down the field for a game-winning drive and Andy Borregales' 52-yard field goal with 15 seconds left.
The North Carolina football X account has not mentioned Maye, his performance, or the results, as other schools, such as Virginia Tech, would and have done numerous times. There is a reason why, according to Ross Martin of 247Sports and CBS Sports.
According to sources inside the UNC football program, it is a directive from the staff (Bill Belichick) to not tweet/retweet anything Patriots-related.
— Ross Martin (@RossMartinNC) October 6, 2025
That's clearly why UNC football has not posted anything from Drake Maye's electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills.
For a coach and program looking for anything positive, this is far from it. Yes, the ending in Foxboro for Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft was ugly, and he clearly still has hard feelings for it, but that is in the rearview mirror, and Belichick needs to focus on the present, which is about as ugly as it can get in Year 1 at UNC. Things are rough in Blacksburg right now with Virginia Tech, but it gets crazier by the week, it seems in Chapel Hill.