North Carolina is making major changes to ensure that new coach Bill Belichick succeeds in his role with the football program — according to his predecessor, Mack Brown, at least.
Brown said during a recent interview on SiriusXM Sports Radio that North Carolina has overhauled its approach to name, image and likeness (NIL) deals and its rigorous academic standards to aid Belichick in his transition.
“As far as North Carolina and Bill Belichick, he’s arguably the best coach ever,” Brown said. “They’ve committed money to it, they’ve helped him with academics, they’ve lowered those standards some. So there’s absolutely no reason they shouldn’t be successful.”
Brown claims that he did not have the same resources. His second stint with the Tar Heels began in 2019 on the cusp of the NCAA’s sweeping NIL and transfer portal reforms. He went 15-10, with consecutive bowl appearances, in 2019 and 2020.
But in 2021, the first season after the NCAA allowed athletes to profit off of their NIL, Brown’s Tar Heels fell to 6-7.
“We always built programs on fit, and in our last couple years there, we were having to get parents with money,” Brown said. “We were trying to get kids over a 3.0 (GPA) because that’s who we could get. We signed 26 players at North Carolina our next-to-last year — high school players — and didn’t pay them a penny. I felt guilty.”
In spite of North Carolina’s financial woes, the Tar Heels rebounded with a nine-win season and an appearance in the ACC Championship Game — the high watermark of Brown’s second tenure — and produced a respectable eight wins in 2023.
Through it all, the Tar Heels still struggled to pay their top stars. Brown said that running back Omarion Hampton, a two-time CBS Sports All-American and a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, turned down offers over $1 million to transfer and stayed with UNC through 2024 for $300,000.
“I told him he should leave because it was just crazy as you were looking at those things.” Brown said.
North Carolina gradually lost ground in the ACC, and in 2024 fell back to 6-6 with a paltry 3-5 showing in conference play. As a result, North Carolina decided to move on from Brown.
“It was time for me — North Carolina didn’t have NIL money,” Brown said. “I said we’re kind of a slow bleed. We weren’t able to recruit the top kids like we were when we first got there. So it was time for them and it was time for me, so it was kind of like a divorce. Everybody was ready.”
North Carolina’s administration replaced the 73-year-old Brown with 73-year-old Belichick, who comes to Chapel Hill with eight Super Bowl rings as an assistant and head coach at the NFL level. Though this is Belichick’s first go around as an on-field collegiate coach, it hasn’t taken him long to adjust to recruiting.
He quickly went about overhauling North Carolina’s roster in his image with a robust 40-transfer signing class during the 2025 cycle. The Tar Heels also inked 29 high school prospects that will be freshmen this season.
“You’ve got a chance to succeed at the highest level and I expect them to do that and I’m proud for them.” Brown said.
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