After the Spygate docuseries, Bill Belichick will again be spotted on the big screen. The North Carolina football is slated to be released on Disney’s Hulu streaming service, multiple sources told Front Office Sports. This came after HBO’s Hard Knocks: Offseason snubbed Belichick and North Carolina at the eleventh hour over the creative differences involving the Tar Heels’ head coach and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. 

Amidst their television fame, all eyes are on how Belichick’s debut season is going to unfold. Sure, his NFL resume speaks for itself, as he’s a Hall of Fame coach with six Super Bowl rings to prove it. However, college football is no NFL. Belichick is yet to wade through the college waters. Sporting News thus ranked the top 135 coaches leading up to the 2025 season. In that list, Bill Bender believes that Belichick fits perfectly at the No.18 spot.  

On this year’s Labor Day, Belichick’s boys will take on TCU in the only game that will be on television. Definitely, the Horned Frogs are not a brand program such as Alabama or Ohio State; their name still holds weight. Here comes their history, that Belichick needs to take note of. Since 2000, the Horned Frogs have a 220-95 overall record, 13 10-win seasons, 10 11-win seasons, six AP Top 10 finishes, five BCS/New Year Six/CFP bowl games and a national runner-up finish in 2022. Plus, Sonny Dykes’ TCU is now coming off a 9-4 season. That’s when Josh Pate shared his expectations from the game. On the July 22nd episode of the Gramlich & Mac Lain podcast, Pate shared, “I don’t think it’s going to work. Okay. I don’t have have very high expectations for it.”

Pate then continued giving a funny analogy. “I just think one of the laziest takes out there has been ‘Belichick will succeed at North Carolina.’ And the reason is college football is just like the NFL. Now, college football is not just like the NFL. Like, at what point the mechanism of the fact that we pay players? Well, that’s broadstrokes. That’s like saying my little niece in preschool art class and Van Gogh were both artists. Cause they painted. I could say that. It’s ignorant.” What Pate tries to point out is that coaching in the NFL is not the same as coaching in college football, regardless of how many Super Bowls you’ve won. Unlike the pro league, Belichick’s program needs to be its best version to make it to the postseason. 

In the past 20 years, UNC has posted just one double-digit win season under Larry Fedora with an 11-3 finish in 2015. That’s where Belichick stands in the college football playoff conversation comes to picture. As Pate shared, “What I’m picking up from people is Belichick’s the guy that can contend for a playoff spot in North Carolina. Well, I don’t think he can.” But what made Pate to push back on Belichick? Well, the gap is too wide for the debut coach to fill. The last time UNC made it to the ACC title game was under Mack Brown in 2022. But they lost to Clemson in a 39-10 disastrous feat. So, when was the last time Tar Heels won an ACC title? Back in 1980.

Now, you know where Pate came from when he claimed,  “I don’t think he’s cut out for it. I don’t think they fully understand the task at hand. And I got immense respect. Now, if he’s going, if he’s taken an NFL job, if Michael Lombardi, if those guys he has in the front office are taking an NFL job, my mouth is shut cuz they’ve proven themselves. They have not proven themselves in college football. And I think as much as people look and say Bellich’s about to teach a lesson or two to college football, I think college football’s about to teach a couple dozen lessons to Bill Belichick and the folks at North Carolina.” So, if Pate’s analysis comes true, Belichick’s Plan B will be a bed full of thorns.  

The important Tar Heels trail for Bill Belichick’s future path 

Belichick has not yet called a single game in North Carolina, and already there is buzz about him returning to the NFL? The former New England Patriots head coach had signed a deal worth $50 million over five years, with the first three seasons guaranteed. This also included a buyout worth $10 million if the contract was terminated prior to June 1, 2025. However, something unusual happened. On June 1, Belichick’s buyout dropped from $10 million to $1 million. That’s when theories started to come up that Belichick would consider swapping his college football role for the NFL. Even though we are heading towards August, the NFL buzz is not dampening at all.

That’s when new California general manager and former NFL coach Ron Rivera chose to stir the pot a little. To him, there are chances that Belichick would again turn himself into an NFL-attention magnet. But it depends on his success coming from the 2025 run.  In an interview with WCNC’s Nick Carboni at ACC Media Days, Rivera shared, “I think it’s been a really good boost for college football, for the ACC to have coach come back. I don’t know how long he’ll do this. I mean, if he turns the program around instantly, I would not be surprised to see an NFL team reach out to him — I really wouldn’t. But, having him in college football is a very good thing.” But is it going to be possible for Bill Belichick to pull off a successful 2025 run?

While it’s possible, it won’t be easy. After all, North Carolina has lost notable weapons like running back Omarion Hampton and leading receiver J.J. Jones. But at the same time, Belichick and co. Compiled the No. 9 transfer portal class this offseason. Belichick’s Tar Heel trial could be the launchpad—ace it, and he either locks down the UNC throne or rides the wave back to the NFL.