For UNC, the risk of hiring Bill Belichick is worth it

Bill Belichick will become the new head coach of the University of North Carolina, a surprising move to the college ranks for arguably the best coach in the NFL.

The move is a leap of faith on both sides.

First for the 72-year-old, who owns eight Super Bowl rings, including six as head coach of the New England Patriots, but has never worked as a college coach, much less a recruiter, nor has he shown much natural acumen for it. .

Second, by an ACC program that will hope for a new jolt in the short term can pump sustained life into a football program that has been mired under a roof of Good but Never Great, struggling for relevance not only in sports, but in sport. Your own basketball-obsessed campus.

It also illustrates the new era of college football, where player acquisition relies less on chasing teenage recruits out of high school and more on bringing more focused, mature talent out of the transfer portal backed by direct compensation and payouts. null.

It’s that change that makes Belichick an intriguing candidate, impossible to ignore even, for a UNC program that will go from often ignored (only one 10-win season since 1997) to the center of the spotlight. With Belichick at the helm, expect endless national television broadcasts, sold-out stadiums and massive hype and fan food upon arrival.

If nothing else, this is fascinating.

What would have been silly even half a decade ago, Belichick suddenly working the traditional recruiting circuit, now makes a lot of sense and possibly a lot of success. UNC couldn’t say no.

“Let me put this in all caps, if, ‘if’ I was in a college program, that college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for players who had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said earlier this week on the Pat McAfee Show.

“I feel very confident that I have the contacts in the NFL to pave the way for those players who would have the opportunity to compete in the National Football League.”

Many NFL and NBA coaches have gone into the college ranks and tried to make that throw, it rarely worked.

High school recruiting was as much about gadal and long-standing relationships, the branding of your program, the location of your school (both geographic and conference), as well as knowing how to work a payment system under the table. In basketball, Nike and Adidas controlled everything.

Not anymore.

Nil allows any school with adequate backing to sign almost any prospect: No. 1 basketball recruit in the country just committed to BYU.

In football, Deion Sanders has shown at Colorado that good teams can be built with older players who are eager to transfer. Coach Prime doesn’t make home visits with parents or show up at the high schools of recruits looking to make a personal connection. He sits in Boulder and makes them come to him, attracted by his NFL pedigree and his promise of preparation.

He has even dismissed the importance of high school recruiting, pointing out the low panning rate of impeccable prospects.

Belichick isn’t as charismatic as Coach Prime and the son he’s likely to bring to Chapel Hill, Stephen, isn’t an elite quarterback like Shadeur Sanders, but when it comes to attracting transfers looking to make the final jump to the professionals, your launch can have even more weight.

Belichick, the coach is unquestionable. The same with Belichick, the master of the game. No NFL team was more prepared than his over the years. None more innovative, intelligent or effective.

Yes, he had Tom Brady, and many other all-time greats, during that two-decade run in Foxborough, but for a man he is also praised for simplifying the game and maximizing its potential.

This could work. This should work. Getting players shouldn’t be too problematic, and don’t compare incoming college classes, sometimes 40-50 deep, to the precise, limited nature of the NFL draft.

No, UNC’s roster may not reach the status of Ohio State or Georgia, tradition still matters, but it should be an upgrade to what is already a decent situation.

Transfers with a couple of years of college experience are very different people than the impressionable high school recruits, which was once the only way to stock a team. Gone are a lot of the extraneous considerations, like proximity to parents, uniform colors, or how great the recruiting visit was.

Caught up in the business of sports, the smart ones make business decisions. Play time. Chance. Development. Not all, of course, but enough to get into the best position to make the NFL is the first consideration.

That should lead them to at least consider Belichick, who can be as likable as necessary, especially in one-on-one sessions.

With the ability to have a general manager of the program to handle the details and the money, Belichick can stay out of things like photo shoots to visit and focus on selling himself as something else: the training Messiah with a rack full of Lombardis to prove it. .

If you are serious, then come be trained by a serious man.

Potential obstacles are everywhere, of course. Belichick talking to parents who call to complain about playing time? Does Belichick have to spend too much on zero for someone who hasn’t proven anything? Belichick Coaching in his biting, sarcastic way to a generation that may not appreciate him?

This is going to be wild to watch.

Works? Maybe? Probably?

No one really really knows when it comes to a new hire.

For UNC, which has been treading water for decades, the risk is worth it.

They just got the best coach in football. It stands to reason that it should be enough in this modern era for some of the best players in football to continue.