By Bill Belichick affirmed Monday that he has spoken to the University of North Carolina about its football head coaching vacancy.
“I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Chancellor (Lee) Roberts,” Belichick said to Pat McAfee on ESPN. “We’ve had a couple of good conversations, so we’ll see how it goes.”
When McAfee asked for more information about the UNC talks – including the duration – Belichick declined to give details.
“Let’s just leave it at that, Pat,” Belichick joked. “I don’t want to give out too much information. I want to get my press conference aura back.”
Having won eight Super Bowls as a coach – six as head coach of the New England Patriots and two as an assistant with the New York Giants, Belichick said he thinks there are a lot of football programs that are being structured similarly to NFL teams but that it’s “a little different version of the NFL model.”
“There are a lot of changes in the college landscape,” Belichick said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I’m an expert on all of them, but I think it’s a little bit of everybody’s trying to find not only their way but what’s best for their individual situation.”
The Tar Heels are looking to fill their head coaching vacancy after the school announced Mack Brown would not return next season following UNC’s loss to in-state rivals North Carolina State last week. The Tar Heels are 6-6 and will face Connecticut in the Fenway Bowl on December 28.
UNC repeatedly has declined to comment to CNN regarding the coaching search, including following Belichick’s remarks Monday on ESPN with McAfee.
Belichick, 72, hasn’t coached since he and the Patriots – where he was the head coach for 24 seasons – parted ways in January.
“Let me put this in capital letters,” Belichick said. “IF, I-F, I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players who had the ability to play in the NFL. … It would be an NFL program at a college level.”
On whether he’d ever run a college program, Belichick closed his interview on McAfee’s show with: “We’ll see.”
