This offseason, the North Carolina Tar Heels made a massive gamble, hiring Bill Belichick after his year off from coaching. Everyone knew it was a massive risk as Belichick never coached at the College level and if the NFL wasn't willing to hire him there had to be a reason. When this offseason was filled with drama surrounding Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson it showed everyone that our expectations should be low.
Through 4 games, the North Carolina Tar Heels are 2-2 but, the record doesn't tell the story of how bad this team is. The Tar Heels two wins came against Charlotte and Richmond, two programs that even a disaster North Carolina team should have no problem beating.
Belichick's team has played a pair of Power 4 games and the Tar Heels have went 0-2 in miserable fashion. In the season opener, North Carolina fans and famous alumni showed up to pack the stadium just for Sonny Dykes' TCU team to embarrass Belichick in a 48-14 game that felt closer to 70-0. The Horned Frogs averaged 7.7 yards per pass and 7.4 yards per rush an embarrassing mark for a defensive minded Head Coach like Belichick.
This weekend, the Tar Heels faced the UCF Knights, a team that went 4-8 last season leading to Gus Malzahn's firing and a ton of turnover. The Knights dominated the game winning 34-9 in a game where once again the Tar Heels looked like they didn't even belong on the field.
Blame Bill Belichick for assembling a terrible coaching staff
When you look at where North Carolina and Bill Belichick went wrong you can look past the players they brought in and look at the coaching staff. When Bill Belichick assembled this staff it's clear he went with friends and former players rather than proven coaches.
- GM Mike Lombardi - Former Belichick staffer, last served as GM in 2013 going 5-11
- OC Freddie Kitchens - Last called plays in 2021 in interim role for the Giants with 1-6 record
- DC Steve Belichick - Experience as Washington Huskies DC
- OL Coach Will Friend - 22 years experience as College offensive line coach
- QB Coach Matt Lombardi - Son of the GM, experience as analyst and assistant QB Coach
- RB Coach Natrone Means - 1st year as FBS Position Coach
- DB Coach Brian Belichick - Experience as Patriots Safeties coach
- CB Coach Armond Hawkins - 1st year as a position coach
- ILB Coach Jamie Collins - 1st coaching job
- OLB Coach Ty Nichols - 1st year as position coach
- ST Coach Mike Priefer - Last coached in College in 2001
The Tar Heels brought in a ton of new players using the transfer portal and while taking risks on coaches could pan out, it wasn't the smartest move for Belichick in his first season at the College level. Belichick clearly thought he could walk into the sport and out-smart his opponents but, he's quickly learning how wrong he was.
While he could certainly turn things around, this team has a clear lack of ability and they may be in the wrong position to succeed. The Tar Heels struggle tackling on defense and they can't run the football which Belichick would tell you himself are the two keys to playing competent football.
The rest of the season is going to be interesting to watch as this team could reach disaster levels in ACC Play.
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