ESPN College GameDay weighs expectations for Bill Belichick, UNC in 2025

Two weeks from tonight, North Carolina will officially begin their tenure under Bill Belichick. Still, even with the season so close after an offseason full of attention, some still don’t know what to make of all this in Chapel Hill.

The ‘College GameDay Podcast’, with this episode featuring ESPN’s Rece Davis and Dan Wetzel along with Dave Clawson, previewed the upcoming season in the ACC on Monday. That included plenty on UNC, who Davis still doesn’t know what to make of despite having to call their opener against TCU on September 1st.

“I have no idea what to make of North Carolina,” said Davis. “I’m calling their first game against TCU on Labor Day night. I think they’ve got like 80 new players. I went practice in the spring. There were no numbers on the jerseys, so. You know, I asked Bill about that and he goes, ‘Well, you’ve got to learn your players’. I’m like, ‘But, what about us poor little media guys? We got one shot at this!’ and everybody is just in a blue or white jersey.”

“North Carolina hasn’t won the ACC title since 1980,” Davis continued. “They’ve been viewed as a sleeping giant forever. Now they bring in Belichick. They’ve got everybody in the world that’s new.”

Again, there’s a million questions here as far as the new college coach in Belichick. How will Belichick adjust to being a first-time collegiate coach rather than the NFL? How will UNC make the most of what’s an entirely new roster and program? How does the offseason storyline of Jordon Hudson potentially factor into all of this?

The answer is that no one will really know until North Carolina kick their fall off in two weeks’ time, with it anticipated to be a season-long story. That’s what Wetzel, who still can’t believe this is happening, expects this season from Belichick, with him thinking that, if nothing else, the Tar Heels will be a well-run outfit by one of the sport’s greatest coaches who wants to prove some people wrong.

“Look, this is one of the storylines of the season. I mean, it’s almost surreal. Like, is this really going to happen? Like, that, to me, is – is it going to be, oh my goodness, he’s coaching college football? I don’t know,” said Wetzel. He’s one of the great teachers of the games. He’s one of the best situational football people of the game – ahead of his time, the number of concepts, the philosophies, different things that he has invented. The players always just spoke of how much they learned about football being around him…Can that translate to 18 to 23, 24-year-old players? How quickly can he do it? It’s not the NFL where you can sit there in meetings all day long and do all these things…Look, it’s an all-new team, it’s an all-new staff and it is really an all-new concept. What would happen if they did this?…I don’t know. I don’t know whether it would work or not, but I expect a very, very well-coached team out of Bill Belichick.”

“Belichick is often at his best when he feels – I don’t know the words, quite under attack but slighted. He loves some feuds…But, you give him a little of that headwind? And, I know it has nothing to do with anyone else. Like, that might be one of the better things to happen to Bill Belichick because he’s coming in a little bit under, you know, a little bit under duress, under assault, taking barbs instead of everyone just being like, ‘This is great! He’s here!'” Wetzel added later. “He tends to be at his best when he’s feuding with somebody, and he’s kind of feuding with the world that thinks he’s not even paying attention

Clawson also thought this would be great for both sides. It’s proof that North Carolina is bought in to having a notable football program while Belichick can prove his coaching expertise will now apply outside of the National Football League.

“I really view this as North Carolina’s all-in moment in football,” said Clawson. “You know, I think they’ve always been viewed as a basketball school first. And, the level of investment they have in Bill, his staff, the strength staff, and the level of investment they have in the players is a lot different than the support that Mack (Brown) got.”

“I would not underestimate his ability to adapt. He’s arguably the greatest NFL football coach ever. And, you know, again, I keep going back to this but, they have talent, they’re going to be well-coached, and they have an extremely favorable schedule,” added Clawson.

The fact of the matter is there may not be many answers at all here until the season starts, or even by the time it finishes at North Carolina. That’s why all eyes will be on Kenan Stadium come their Labor Day opener to see what this idea looks like with Belichick as head coach of the Tar Heels.