How North Carolina hiring Bill Belichick could actually succeed

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Blake Schuster on how Bill Belichick can succeed at UNC.

Get over the shock of Bill Belichick going to coach at North Carolina after a career as arguably the greatest NFL coach of all time. Get your jokes off now — and, really, all throughout the next few seasons, too. Yes, this is going to be awkward. It’ll probably even be uncomfortable.

There will be hurdles that lead to face-plants and bizarre scenes that live in infamy.

The marriage between the 72-year-old Belichick and a program only 64 years older than him could also work a lot better than we’re used to seeing. This isn’t quite Herm Edwards going to Arizona State or Charlie Weis at Kansas (or Les Miles at Kansas). The dynamics in college sports have completely shifted. North Carolina is trying to change with it and has tapped Belichick to modernize the program lest it get left behind in back-to-back eras.

The brutal recent history laid out by USA Today’s Dan Wolken is probably the lens through which this hire starts to make sense:

Just look at their coaching history in the 21 century. John Bunting, a beloved alum with NFL coordinator bona fides, was a disaster. They hired a proven college winner in Butch Davis, who not only failed to push the program past mediocrity, he was fired after a raft of NCAA violations. They tried the up-and-comer with Larry Fedora, who had one pretty good year and then burned out completely. And after that, they brought [Mack] Brown back for a second stint at the school that never yielded a season better than 9-5.

Is it any wonder the Tar Heels would take a decisive — if not divisive — new approach?

Over the last era of NCAA football, North Carolina tried just about every trick a Power 4 school can do to jump-start the program. Fortunately for UNC, the rules of the game changed.

Nick Saban — Belichick’s longtime friend — and a whole host of other coaches are leaving college sports because it’s becoming too much like the pros. That’s the tell here.

NFL coaches have often failed going back to college in the past because they couldn’t adapt to the NCAA. Now, the sport is in a place where college coaches have to act more like their NFL counterparts.

“We know that college athletics is changing, and those changes require new and innovative thinking,” UNC Carolina director of athletics Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “Bill Belichick is a football legend, and hiring him to lead our program represents a new approach that will ensure Carolina football can evolve, compete and win — today and in the future.”

If you believe the No. 1 priority for North Carolina is to retool the program to compete in landscape with player contracts, roster management, endorsement opportunities and career growth, you can see how a school would talk itself into the guy who wrote the modern playbook for the pros. You could even convince yourself it doesn’t matter if the team wins in the next year or two as long as its set up for the next 30.

The question at UNC is less about “can Belichick relate to these kids?” as it is “can Belichick install the type of organizational structure that sustained New England for two decades?” Unsurprisingly, the same time Belichick was announced as the head coach of the Tar Heels, longtime NFL pro personnel director Michael Lombardi announced he was joining UNC as general manager. Belichick reportedly has other staffer lined up as well, including his son, Stephen, who is coming off a decent debut season as the defensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies. He’s expected to join North Carolina in some capacity, per ESPN.

"College football is in for a rude awakening."

Even the best programs are due for a revamp if they can't keep up with the strategic evolution of NFL franchises.

It's time for NCAA teams to build a front office already! https://t.co/jEzYLl8XzU pic.twitter.com/pF7DdwEtBx

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) October 15, 2024

https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1866190590502678888

Deion Sanders rebuilt a moribund Colorado program into a premier player destination in two years. Surely Belichick — and the Tar Heels’ backers — believe he can do it even better, if not faster, at a name brand school like North Carolina.

That’s why Belichick might think this is a perfect fit. He’s 72 years old, sure, but he’s also got a massive head start on what a pro organization should look like and a blank canvas in UNC giving him five years to bring it to reality.

There are plenty of reasons why this could end in disaster for both North Carolina and Bill Belichick. It certainly doesn’t seem like either side cares. North Carolina is done trying to win playing by last generation’s rules.

The NBA’s Vegas stage is set

And then there were four, Mike Sykes writes. 

The NBA Cup semifinalists have been decided. In the Western Conference, we’ve got the Thunder (19-5) vs. the Rockets (17-8). In the East, we’ve got the Bucks (13-11) vs. the Hawks (14-12).

This is a pretty awesome competitive field. It’s exactly what the NBA Cup was always meant to be — an incredible regular season showcase for the NBA’s lesser-known commodities.

The field is chock full of teams with juicy storylines.

• The Thunder have elevated themselves from an up-and-coming team to a championship contender behind one of the league’s top stars in Shai Gilgeious-Alexander.
• The Rockets are a new, up-and-coming team looking to put themselves in the same position as the Thunder. Houston arguably has the best defense in the NBA behind it.
• The Bucks are a team trying to climb the championship ladder again. They have Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is arguably the best player in the league.
• The Hawks have Trae Young and, even when he’s not shooting it well, Young is an absolute show on the basketball court.

The league has to be happy with how this event has turned out. All the weird courts and branding aside, the basketball has been electric. The semis start on Saturday.

Can’t wait.

Jimmy Butler’s agent has had enough

Jimmy Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, has beef. The man eviscerated Shams Charania online for everyone to see after ESPN’s insider after he reported Phoenix was a new preferred trade destination for the Miami Heat star.

WHERE IS JIMMY GOING? Three possible trade destinations for Butler from Bryan Kalbrosky

He cooked this man. Y’all have to read this.

https://twitter.com/BernieoLee/status/1866995583522664852

He told Shams to tell everyone it’s Chat GPT’s fault. Yikes!

There were two more tweets, but I’m sure you get the point. Lee is mad. Really mad. He’s indicating that whatever Charania is reporting isn’t coming from the Butler camp.

We’ll see where Jimmy ends up. This will be even funnier if it winds up being Phoenix.

Quick hits: Refusing to walk away … Aaron Rodgers cooked himself … and more

— Robert Zeglinski has more on Bill Belichick and 26 other people who refused to walk away from the game when they should’ve.

— Here’s Robert again on Aaron Rodgers ripping…himself? Talk about a lack of self-awareness.

— Trae Young rolling the dice on the Knicks’ logo is incredible theater. This guy knows how to play the villain. Cory Woodroof has more.

— Here’s Christian D’Andrea with 17 other football coaches who took college jobs.

— Looking for a good White Elephant gift? We’ve got you covered. Please pick my gift.

— Here are some straight up NFL picks for the week.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. We appreciate you! Peace.

-Blake