North Carolina State announced Wednesday that Bill Belichick, perhaps the greatest coach in NFL history, will be coming to Chapel Hill, completing the greatest college football recruitment of the past 30 years.
Belichick took the job because he wanted to get back to his roots, coaching in a program where his father was an assistant and whose only major postseason appearance in the past 20 years came in the Orange in 2020. It was a challenge to revitalize the UNC team, which had only been around for a while. bowl. Surprising to be sure, but not as shocking as seeing the Tar Heels effectively transform all About their approach and ethos in making these jobs happen.
carolina way
The DNA of Tar Heel athletics is encapsulated in Dean Smith's leadership and coaching ethos, the “Carolina Way,” a book published in 2004. The desegregation of Tar Heel athletics by then-revolutionary Smith was a major stepping stone for the progressive movement. North Carolina Politics. Smith believed in equal rights, shared responsibility, and above all, ultimate teamwork, while driving his basketball players to an unprecedented 96.6% graduation rate.
The Carolina Way has been the foundation for everything in UNC athletics since Smith became coach in 1961. For more than 60 years, questions about everything from competition expenses to coach hiring and recruitment methods have always been accompanied by the following question: “Is this the Carolina Way?” ”
Functionally, it's a great theory. Sports idealism at its best. The problem is that the Carolina Way has been out of line for many years. It is no longer about building a foundational program and has crossed the line into patronizing elitism. In basketball, Duke became a school that embraced the one-and-done culture, which led to the production of NBA stars to enhance recruiting. Meanwhile, one-third of Tobacco Road, N.C., outrecruited the Tar Heels, taking in athletes who may not have outstanding grades or dreams of graduating college, instead using track and field as a stepping stone to the pros. By doing so, they surpassed Chapel Hill in football success.
There was a push and pull between the old school and the new school here. Legacy Tar Heel boosters who want to hold on to Smith's vision and the prestige they felt athletics has taken a step forward, modernized and competed on a playing field that they feel has become less unequal. UNC's younger generation also voiced their hopes for this. The school honors the Carolina Way.
How Belichick will change all that
Other than age, you can't find two players whose approaches are more similar than Mack Brown and Bill Belichick. Brown cut his teeth at UNC during the height of Dean Smith's reign, and his rehiring and return to Chapel Hill in 2019 was grounded in that old tradition. There's no question that Brown was a great recruiter, but his approach was very ritual-bound, with a widespread belief that there was a “right way” to do things. .
When it comes to coaching, Bill Belichick has no sentimentality whatsoever. His career is characterized by his only interest. That's a victory. The player is a tool to achieve this goal. Decisions are made without emotion. If the team wins, in Belichick's mind he has accomplished his goal and everything else is secondary.
Now it's clear who won the battle for the future of the Carolina Athletics. Rumor has it that the Tar Heels could hire Tulane's John Sumrall, which would be typical of the old-school “Carolina Way” team building. It would have been a lot like hiring Larry Fedora in 2012, acquiring a young, up-and-coming coach in hopes of upholding tradition. This is the guy the old guys in Carolina wanted, and it's clear they lost out on hiring Belichick.
But will this work?
This is the part of the equation that I think is not as important as many people think. On the surface, Belichick is a truly odd recruit, with neither the experience in the college football world nor the personality traits that would make him a great recruiter or indulging his young ego.
All the Bills need to do is be better than Mack Brown, but the bar to get there is very low. At the very least, Belichick's name carries infinitely more weight in the transfer portal than Brown's, which could lead to quick success.
Most importantly, North Carolina has put an end to the status quo. They are tired of clinging to their own traditions. By hiring Bill Belichick, the school hopes to establish itself as a serious, legitimate football school focused on winning the Carolina Way. Even if Bill doesn't become the Tar Heels' first legendary head coach, it will have a far greater impact down the road than Belichick will have during his three-year contract.
This is no longer Dean Smith's school. It's Bill Belichick's.
