by The man who is the current State Secretary of the United States has reportedly helped start the process of Bill Belichick’s move to North Carolina.
According to a detailed ESPN story about the move from Belichick to the Tar Heels, the six-fold super bowl winner is friends with Marco Rubio and the then senator of the Florida told that he would be interested in coaching in North Carolina. Rubio then stood out for the senator of North Carolina Thom Thillis.
From ESPN:
“Rubio follows the sports world quite closely and he called me and said,” There is a chance that Belichick would come to Chapel Hill, “Tillis told ESPN. “He said:” He wants a school with a great academic reputation and he wants to try to build a program to bring them a national championship. I said, “Well, let me go [make some calls]. “”
Tillis hung the phone and immediately called Phil Berger, the Senate -President Pro Tempore in North Carolina, who had strong connections with Power Players at UNC. Berger initially laughed at the suggestion until Tillis assured him that, yes, Belichick really wanted the job.
That became the spark that illuminated the fuse, and it was not long, the Belichick Chase was a furious inferno among important stakeholders, including [UNC board chair John] Preyer. As a source put it: “The push to land Belichick all started with the politicians.”
North Carolina hired Belichick in December to replace Mack Brown after Brown was fired in November. The future of Brown had been a large of the 2024 season a source of speculation – he even told the team he had stopped when they did not believe in him after a loss for James Madison – while North Carolina moved to a wrong season.
Brown was one of only three active coaches in the University Football who had won a national title and was in his second Stint in North Carolina after he retired to replace Larry Fedora. Now he is succeeded by only the second coach to take on a university football track after winning a super bowl.
Belichick has also ensured that speculation about a return to the NFL since he took on the Carolina lane. Although his buyout made a switch back to the NFL after the 2025 season, he said during his introductory press conference that he did not come to North Carolina to leave and compiled a staff with extensive experience.
But although Belichick has had so much success in the NFL, it is no guarantee that he will also turn North Carolina into a multi -year competition. Although the college game is just as similar to the NFL as has ever been, there are still important differences. And how Belichick navigates that differences will determine how successful North Carolina is in the future. We just won’t see how it happens via “hard knocks”.
