Marcus Freeman reacts to Bill Belichick taking North Carolina job

As Marcus Freeman and his Notre Dame squad ready for the College Football Playoff, the North Carolina Tar Heels have stolen headlines, following the hiring of legendary longtime NFL coach Bill Belichick.

Since his hiring by North Carolina, Belichick has spoken about wanting to turn the Tar Heels into a NFL feeder system. He has designs on making it happen, and some of those plans overlap with what Freeman has been preaching in South Bend. During a press conference on Monday, Freeman touched on the situation as a whole in Chapel Hill.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for what Coach Belichick has done for the game of football,” Freeman started. “The success he’s had at the NFL level is unprecedented. I mean, it’s tremendous for the game of football, period. To have somebody that has had that much success in college football, and in a conference that — we obviously play multiple crossover games. It’s amazing. And you know, he’ll do great things in college, the same way he did the NFL. I look forward to seeing the success of North Carolina, and their football program.

“As far as, you know, every coach is going to — our job is to make sure that your sons are prepared, more prepared for the NFL, because of the time they spent in our program. Like, that’s a part of what our job is. Not only to help us win football games, but also to prepare them to reach their full potential as a football player. If that means that they’re ready to go to the NFL and have a long NFL career, then that’s great. But our job is to make sure that they’re the most complete football player as they can be, in terms of — because of the time they spent with us, in our football program.”

Belichick’s success may be what Freeman aspires to accomplish in the game of football as a whole, but what Freeman has built at Notre Dame is what Belichick will be trying to mimic with North Carolina. It’s anyone’s guess how the Super Bowl-winning coach will fare in college, but it’s admirable he’s trying his hand at something completely new for him at his age.

Their paths won’t cross in 2025, unless it’s in a bowl game or the College Football Playoff, but Notre Dame and North Carolina are slated to face off in 2026. Time will tell, but that’ll be a massive game if Marcus Freeman and Bill Belichick are still running their respective programs.