Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest coaching mind, has finally moved to college football after racking up record after record in the NFL. The head coach, who will be donning Carolina Blue and White, has something else altogether to wade through. The man did it in the NFL with his strategic recruiting, which led to the likes of Tom Brady and several other top talents. At Patriots, the man prioritized an extensive system over hype and never shied away from trading down consistently. But college football now presents a different ball game altogether.

As if the transfer portal hasn’t complicated things, Belichick now has a whole new NIL world to navigate. This presents an interesting scenario: Can Belichick’s pull come in handy? And will he be successful in a whole new world of recruitment? Well, for starters, the new UNC head coach inherited a recruiting class that was still reeling from the aftereffects of Mack Brown’s tenure and was largely in a deteriorating situation all over.

Belichick recruited 17 players after his arrival and wrapped up the class at the 49th position nationally by national signing day on February 5. The legendary head coach recruited prospects like Bryce Baker, the 8th-ranked QB nationally, after the young QB was aggressively pursued by Penn State. Other prospects like Austin Alexander, Chinedu Onyeagoro and Javion Butts also look decent in the class. Moreover, the transfer additions like Thaddeus Dixon (CB) and Daniel King (OT) are proof that Belichick isn’t lagging behind in the recruitment game. But what is his secret sauce?

Well, if you ask the Patriots’ legend Julian Edelman, Belichick is playing just a game of numbers. Speaking on his ‘Dudes on Dudes’ podcast, the Super Bowl LIII MVP revealed the UNC head coach’s strategy. “I don’t see him as a recruiter. I mean, I think he’s handling this like a business. Like, I think his pitch to the kid is: I’m going to get you ready for your ultimate dream. If you want to come here, here’s the price. If not, it’s a numbers game.“

The statement seems apparent when you look at UNC’s 2026 class. The class is currently ranked 23rd nationally and 5th in the ACC. Moreover, the prospects Belichick is after right now seem well-oiled and ready to perform right away. There are notable flips, too, like Trashawn Ruffin from the Aggies and Jaylen McGill from Tennessee. But Edelman thinks Belichick might not be doing justice to the recruits.

Edelman later said that the recruits won’t be too keen to jump on the Belichick bandwagon with his ‘business’ strategy. The former NFL wide receiver said, “(If) I want, I want to go to North Carolina. I’m going to say, ‘Hey, hey, coach, can you recruit me? Give me the recruit pitch, coach!“. Well, Belichick has Michael Lombardi as his GM, whom he brought to the program. The GM has been pivotal in recruiting and may have brought in some of his NFL strategies that had brought him success earlier. But recruiting for now at UNC seems to be going well, and why fix anything that isn’t broken, right?

Dissatisfaction mounts against Bill Belichick within the program

Whenever a new era begins, whenever someone tries to change things drastically, there will be some rumblings too. The UNC head coach is no stranger to that at UNC. Belichick has so far brought in a whole new flock of staff and discarded the old remnants of the Mack Brown era. . Freddie Kitchens, the former head coach of the Cleveland Browns, was made the offensive coordinator, and Steve Belichick, the head coach’s son and a former Washington DC, became the DC at UNC. But that’s where the rumblings come in.

The Athletic’s Tom Curran recently reported that all may not be green at Chapel Hill after all. “From rumblings I heard, and this is not recent, and this a month or two ago, they’re not loving the Bill Belichick experience if you’re an everyday employee down there, which is probably what a lot of the people here in 2000 felt when Bill came aboard and said, ‘I don’t know if I like this.’ It’s uncomfortable“.

It’s no secret that Belichick is trying to run the program like a professional franchise. There have been accusations that the assistants are not media-friendly and don’t even provide justification for dodging interviews. Even Michael Lombardi, the GM of the program, said that he considers the program a 33rd NFL franchise. He has also hosted former Super Bowl winners David Andrews and Rob Ninkovich. The verdict?

Everything is now being tailored to Belichick’s liking and how he is used to running a team. In contrast, that may not be too comfortable for the existing personnel at UNC. But, the man is on a $50 million contract, and if he can deliver a national title with his ‘pro-ball’, what’s the harm, right?