Year two of North Carolina football in the Bill Belichick era will be “a lot different,” the six-time Super Bowl winner told reporters at ACC Kickoff on Friday.
Tar Heels fans certainly hope so after UNC was one of the most disappointing teams in college football in Belichick’s first season. North Carolina finished 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC, losing decisively to Clemson and NC State. However, the Tar Heels did play close games against Virginia and Duke, the top two finishers in the conference.
But the football program had a proper offseason, unlike when Belichick was hired in December 2025 after the high school recruiting window had effectively closed. The coach says that made a significant difference in how the roster was assembled.
“The biggest thing last year was just how behind we were,” Belichick said (via the Fayetteville Observer’s Rodd Baxley). “Very behind in recruiting. A lot of players had signed in December, so we’re picking up leftovers there. We’re picking up leftovers in the portal.”
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This year, UNC added 20 players through the transfer portal compared to 40 the previous year. Additionally, 31 of 40 freshmen enrolled early to get a head start on joining the program.
“Last year we didn’t have any player-run practices,” Belichick said about summer workouts (via WRAL). “We couldn’t actually line up a team and run against another team without the coaches being out there because we didn’t have anybody that knew enough on either side of the ball to do that. Whereas this year, these guys have done it all — all spring and all summer.
“So culture is a lot different, work ethic’s different,” he added. “Not taking anything away from the guys that were here, but compared to a year ago, we know a lot more about what we’re doing and how to do it and our culture’s a lot different.”
Something else that will have to be different is UNC’s offense. The Tar Heels finished No. 129 in the nation in total offense.
“We took some steps, but we’re nowhere close to where we wanted to be,” Belichick said (via ESPN’s Pete Thamel). “We had too many penalties, we had too many turnovers. We couldn’t convert on third down…”
Hiring veteran coach Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator, while adding transfer quarterbacks Billy Edwards Jr. (from Wisconsin) and Miles O’Neill (from Texas A&M) will hopefully improve those numbers. Four-star recruit Travis Burgess could also be in the QB mix.
Like last season, North Carolina will open its schedule against TCU. That got Belichick’s debut off to a bad start, losing 48-14 on the Tar Heels’ home field (with the Horned Frogs scoring 41 unanswered points).
This year, UNC will face TCU overseas in Dublin, Ireland. There would be no better way to show this season is different than a better performance in a season-opening rematch.
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