Report: Bill Belichick, North Carolina expected to promote analyst Natrone Means to RBs coach

Natrone Means is expected to play a sizable role on Bill Belichick’s coaching staff at North Carolina, as he’s slated to become the Tar Heels’ running backs coach, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports/247 Sports.

“North Carolina is expected to name Natrone Means as its running backs coach, sources tell @insidecarolina and me for @cbssports/@247sports,” Zenitz posted on X. “The former Tar Heels and NFL Pro Bowl running back was previously an analyst for UNC under Mack Brown.”

As Zenitz alluded to, Means is no stranger to Chapel Hill. He played for North Carolina as a running back, and worked under Mack Brown as an analyst. Now, as Belichick takes over the program, he’ll have a bigger role with the program.

It’s part of a fascinating staff Belichick is building with the Tar Heels. When he first took the job, Belichick pointed out that he would draw inspiration from Nick Saban’s tenure at Alabama for how he’s going to build out his staff, and it’s evident Means fits the bill.

“I appreciate Coach Saban’s comments about the evaluations that we did in Cleveland,” Belichick said on ESPN College GameDay Friday night. “I think I learned a lot more from him than he did from me. He’s a great evaluator. And then, I watched him at Alabama put together essentially his scouting and evaluation staff. Now, I’m copying a lot of things that I watched him do there and learned from the system that he installed there. It’s been, really, each day, more players come into the portal. As these bowl games are completed, I’m sure there’ll continue to be more.

“We’re on top of each guy – evaluating the players that we think will be coming in, but also some declare that maybe we didn’t expect or you start to hear players that are rumored to come in. We’re digging through all those guys. We have a lot to offer here at Carolina, both academically with this institution and the football program, and what we have to offer.”

Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see how Bill Belichick and his staff adjust to the college world, but they’ve been firing on all cylinders throughout the offseason. The hype is growing, and the Tar Heels are hoping to make a run in 2025.