Report: North Carolina ready to massively expand NIL warchest for Bill Belichick

As North Carolina attempts to finalize a deal with long-time New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, one key piece of the puzzle might now be solved.

Departing coach Mack Brown made it clear that he thought it would be tough for the school to truly compete with its current NIL budget, and that might be a sticking point for Belichick. Or, rather, might have been.

According to a report from USA TODAY Sports writer Matt Hayes, North Carolina plans to increase its NIL package for football from $4 million to $20 million “in an effort to land Belichick.”

Bill Belichick could certainly be dangerous with that kind of money at his disposal.

A $20 million annual budget for NIL would put North Carolina right up near the top reported figures in the sport currently. A five-time increase would also signal a sizeable shift in how the program operates.

That’s something Brown campaigned for on his way out the door.

“I told the kids I’m sure they’ll get a great coach,” Brown said in his departing press conference. “He’ll have a better situation than we did with NIL because of revenue sharing. We had about four million dollars. He’s going to have at least twelve. So it’ll be three, four times much more money for the kids. So that should really help them.”

On top of the NIL commitment that should help Bill Belichick keep the current roster in place, should he take the job, it would also help lure attractive transfers in the future.

Both are a major component to building a roster.

“People have asked about transfers,” Brown said. “We signed 26 kids two years ago and not one of them got a penny. So all of them came out of high school here because they wanted to be here. So I don’t see them transferring.

“Now, money is different. We lost three or four recruits at the end this year just in the last two or three weeks because they got paid. We ask them and they said, ‘I got paid’. So, I mean, I got it. That’s the other reason that I think it’s a great time for me to get out. This isn’t the game that I signed up for. It has changed so much.”

At last check, Bill Belichick and North Carolina were still reportedly ironing out a few last details. The NIL warchest increase would seem to be a big one.