It seemed like a crazy rumor at first, but it’s true: NFL legend Bill Belichick is the new football coach at North Carolina. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his “On My Mind” commentary, wonders why.
The jokes write themselves.
Bill Belichick showing up at his first home game in a Carolina blue argyle sweater with the sleeves torn off.
Belichick only agreeing to coach at UNC so his famously young girlfriend could get free tuition.
Belichick throwing down his headset in disgust as he tries and fails to navigate the menu at Cook Out.
But none of the jokes are as weird as the reality that 72-year-old Bill Belichick, owner of six Super Bowl rings as a head coach and eight overall, has actually agreed to be the football coach at North Carolina.
Yes. The one in Chapel Hill. The football program that has not only never won a national championship, but has not won an Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 44 years. The one that exists in fine print while the basketball team lives in the headlines. The football team that students and alums never fully trust, like a plate of deviled eggs that’s been sitting out a while.
Road trips to Syracuse and Stanford. Late-night losses on the CW network. Recruiting visits to the dining rooms of two-star linebackers, eating mom’s special chili for the third time in a week.
To paraphrase my friends at the Channel 6 newsletter: Bill, you have a boat! Why are you doing this?
I’ve seen some people I respect and admire say that Belichick was born to be a teacher, or he’s disgusted with the NFL, or that the whole thing is just a marriage of convenience.
I think it’s probably simpler than that.
I think Belichick just doesn’t know how to stop.
I’ve seen it with so many people, mostly ones who find some success in their line of work. They can’t quit it. Their job becomes their identity. Whatever they achieve is never enough. They need more … something. More validation, more competition, more days they find meaningful. They keep working and the boat rots in the dock.
I’ve never known whether to feel sorry for people like that. I guess it depends on whether they’re running toward what brings them true happiness, or running away from what they might see as the off-ramp to oblivion.
There’s an in-between place, of course, or at least there’s supposed to be. It’s called retirement. It’s where people step away from the working grind and into a new, more relaxing life. I can’t imagine why Belichick would give away his precious free time —especially with his resources — to take on a job that will be difficult at best and a disaster at worst.
But maybe the wiring that got him all those Super Bowl rings is the same wiring that won’t let him quit until he has squeezed every last scrimmage out of his body and soul.
It sounds strange to say it, given their histories, but I suspect Bill Belichick needs North Carolina more than North Carolina needs him.
Tommy Tomlinson’s On My Mind column runs Mondays on WFAE and WFAE.org. It represents his opinion, not the opinion of WFAE. You can respond to this column in the comments section below. You can also email Tommy at ttomlinson@wfae.org.

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