North Carolina is heading toward its season opener with a major question still hanging over the defense. Steve Belichick remains away from the Tar Heels while on medical leave, and his father, head coach Bill Belichick, still has no update on when he will return. That uncertainty has left Bill with another decision to make.
Who calls the defense if Steve is not back?
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When a reporter asked him at the August 24 presser whether he could step in and handle those duties himself, Belichick made one thing clear: he has done it before and has no concerns about doing it again. “Yeah, absolutely. I’ve called as a coach; I’ve called plays on offense, defense, and the kicking game,” Belichick said.
“But we have a really good staff. I have a lot of confidence in them. But, you know, if I need to do anything, I feel confident in doing it.”
That is about as close as Belichick is likely to get to announcing a contingency plan. He was then asked directly about Steve and whether his son would be allowed to call plays if he returns. “Yeah, no update,” Belichick replied. “Yeah, not really going to talk about that situation. We’ll work it out.”
For UNC, the timing could hardly be more interesting. The Tar Heels open the 2026 season against TCU on Aug. 29 in Dublin. That leaves little room for uncertainty, especially on a defense that already has to adjust to the absence of the man who designed and ran it. The only thing that might favor UNC? Bill has done this before.
The possibility of Bill taking over defensive play-calling is not some emergency experiment pulled out of thin air. During his NFL career, Belichick called offensive, defensive, and special-teams plays at different points. His reputation was built largely on defense, and he remained deeply involved in defensive game planning even when he was not personally calling every play.
Steve, meanwhile, has been the defensive coordinator at UNC since 2025 after spending the 2024 season as Washington’s defensive coordinator. Before that, he worked alongside his father with the New England Patriots and served as the team’s defensive play caller from 2020 through 2023. So there is a natural succession already sitting inside the staff.
If Steve cannot return, Bill does not need to invent a defensive philosophy overnight. He knows the system. He knows the terminology. More importantly, he has coached with Steve for years. The bigger question is how much responsibility he wants to add to his own plate. Thankfully, UNC is already operating without Steve.
When Belichick first announced Steve’s medical leave on Aug. 6, he said only that the program hoped to get him back “as soon as possible.” He declined to discuss the nature of the medical issue or whether Steve would be available for the opener. The staff initially planned to handle the defense collectively. That approach has continued during Steve’s absence.