Greg McElroy expresses optimism about Bill Belichick 'running a program' at UNC

By bringing in Bill Belichick to replace Mack Brown, North Carolina landed one of the most decorated football coaches in history. But Belichick still has never coached at the college level – although Greg McElroy expressed optimism about how he’ll adjust.

Belichick won eight Super Bowls during his time in the NFL. Two of those came as an assistant, and six were as the head coach of the New England Patriots alongside Tom Brady. The two sides parted ways after the 2023 season, and Belichick is 16 wins away from Don Shula’s all-time wins record.

That added to the surprise he’d make the jump to college. But McElroy noted the fact football is football at any level. However, he pointed out the areas Belichick will have to adjust – specifically, when it comes to daily schedules.

“Ball is ball,” McElroy said on SportsCenter Thursday night. “Xs and Os are Xs and Os, and they work on every level. Here’s the thing. In the NFL, there’s a lot of teaching that is allowed because there is no 20-hour rule. You can basically spend all day, overnight if you’d like to, being with your players. So that’s going to be different – how quickly he teaches the players, how much he can expect the players to actually understand, grasp and be able to apply what they learned in the classroom to the field. That’s going to be a change, as well, and I think a lot of guys that go from the NFL to college take for granted what the college athletes know. That’s ball.”

“As far as running a program, I actually am pretty optimistic about his ability to manage the salary cap, understand that there are costs and ways of doing things and creating a culture in which, hey, if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, there’s the door. I think all that can be beneficial.”

Bill Belichick’s arrival on the college football scene comes as the landscape is preparing for massive change. The House v. NCAA settlement – if fully approved – would usher in the revenue-sharing era, and Belichick’s contract shows North Carolina is preparing to share $13 million in revenue with its football program.

In 2025, the revenue-share cap is projected to be $20.5 million. But navigating effectively a “salary cap” is something Belichick did as head coach and general manager in New England. In college, though, the transfer portal opens every year. Amid the NIL landscape, McElroy wondered what would happen if players wanted to adjust their earnings mid-season.

“But I think one thing that will take a little while for him to get used to is the fact that the guys on his roster are not under a perpetual contract,” McElroy said. “There can be guys on a week-to-week basis that might be trying to actively renegotiate their NIL deal, and that will probably be a little bit frustrating for Bill Belichick coming from where he came from where the contracts and the language in the contracts are a little bit more easily understood.”