CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WGHP) — As the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s coaching search continues into its second week, one name is currently dominating the headlines.
That name is of course former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
Belichick met with Carolina a second time in New York on Thursday, according to InsideCarolina.
Belichick, 72, is considered by many to be the greatest NFL head coach of all time and was the architect of the New England Patriots dynasty from 2001-2019.
Belichick served as New England’s coach and general manager during those years and led the team to six championships. He also won the two Super Bowls as the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator in the 1980s.
Belichick despite his professional accolades has never coached on a full-time basis at the college level.
That fact left many fans to wonder how a coach of Belichick’s status could be connected to UNC’s open coaching position.
These are all of Bill Belichick’s known ties to UNC.
His father Steve
Belichick’s father, Steve Belichick served as an assistant coach at UNC in the 1950s before spending over 30 years as an assistant coach at United States Naval Academy.
Belichick has cited his father as the man who inspired him to become a football coach.
“He wanted to be with me, and I wanted to be with him,” Steve said of a young Belichick to the Washington Post in 2005. “He was probably 5 or 6 years old when he started to get interested. The three of us drove down to William & Mary to scout a spring game because we were going to play them in the next year, and that’s when I remember him showing his first interest. I’d take him to games with me when I could. He was always interested in what I was doing. He was never a bother.”
Steve died in Nov. 2005, but Belichick still strives to keep his father’s legacy alive many years later.
He wore his father’s fedora ahead of the Patriots’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
“It’s my dad’s hat,” Belichick said to the media during the opening night festivities, according to ESPN. “That’s who I learned from, working hard, doing your job, paying attention to details, treating the players as fairly and honestly as you can treat them. If it’s good, it’s good, if it’s bad, it’s bad. Just being honest with them. I would say all of those things I got from a lot of coaches, but I certainly got it from him.”
Belichick’s potential arrival to North Carolina would grant him the chance to win at a place where his father cut his teeth as a young coach.
Schefter reported on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday that; “There’s a sentimental tie with his father having been there [at UNC].”
A photo of Belichick as a child inside Kenan Stadium was even revealed during Belichick’s appearance on the show.
Lawrence Taylor
As mentioned earlier, Belichick made his name in professional coaching as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants in the 1980s working under Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells.
During that time, Belichick got to coach Lawrence Taylor, a player that many consider to be the greatest defensive player in the history of football.
Belichick holds great reverance for Taylor. That showed when he was asked to compare him to Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons in 2023
“I would just say I wouldn’t put anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor, period,” Belichick said, according to CBS Sports. “Maybe I’m prejudiced but I saw that guy every day for over a decade and he tilted the field for a decade. Until somebody does that, and there’s a lot of great players. I’m not taking anything away from anybody else. There’s a lot of great players that have been in this league, that are in this league, but personally, I’m not putting anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor. Not yet.”
Before he starred in the NFL though, Lawrence Taylor spent his college days in Chapel Hill.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
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