Steve Belichick’s System Helping UNC ‘Make Smarter Calls’ on Defense

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — For North Carolina defensive backs such as Marcus Allen, it’s difficult to walk across the practice field now without bumping into a football coach with the last name Belichick. There’s head coach Bill Belichick, who runs the show, and under him are his sons, defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and Brian Belichick, who’s in charge of UNC’s defensive backs and safeties.

“All three of them are like their own different characters,” Allen said Saturday, after the Tar Heels finished their first practice session of training camp. “Steve is a great coach. He has a lot of NFL experience. He was at Washington and knows the defense well. … And then Brian is a mastermind. He knows everything that is going on with the defense. So having them two together is really allowing us to be a better defense, make smarter calls and just make more plays in general.”

Along with Steve Belichick’s departure from Washington after a one-season stop there, cornerback Thad Dixon and linebacker Khmori House followed their DC from the West Coast here to Chapel Hill.

On Saturday’s opening day of training camp, House opened up about his relationship with Steve Belichick and the way he bonded with him last season with the Huskies. Daily trips to the defensive coordinator’s office last season helped cultivated a “good relationship” between the two, which now carries on at UNC.

“To connect with him more, I used to go up to his office after practice, try to learn about the scheme more, learn about what we did,” House said. “I think that’s how we connected, just by learning.”

Both Allen and House talked about the freedom Steve Belichick’s play-calling is giving the Tar Heels on the defensive side of the ball. Schemes are centered around players’ actual skillsets, they said, while using that to leverage certain situations that create better opportunities for playmaking.

“I think he’s just really good at knowing his players, knowing what we’re good at, and using us and being able to just let us play free,” House said. “Let us do what we do, play football. And he’s a great play-caller. I think he’s good all-around.”

That autonomy has made the transition to UNC’s third defensive coordinator in three seasons smoother for experienced players such as Allen. The veteran cornerback has endured the Tar Heels’ changes in defensive leadership, from Gene Chizik to Geoff Collins to Steve Belichick.

Aside from differing terminologies that have varied from coordinator to coordinator and coach to coach, Allen said that learning what formations Steve Belichick tends calls in given situations has made these defensive changes more comfortable.

“Steve just being able to call the correct call and have trust in us to go out there and play,” Allen said, “I think that’s a big difference.”

Carolina opens the new 2025 season in 30 days, on the night of Sept. 1 against TCU. There are no preseason scrimmage games against outside competition on the college level, of course. And at this time of year, that represents a departure from the preseason format Bill Belichick became so accustomed to for so long in the NFL, while piling up six Super Bowl rings as a head coach and two more as an assistant.

“Especially for us, I think there is a little bit more of an unknown,” Bill Belichick said on Saturday. “Because even the guys that were here, they weren’t here with us, and how exactly they would be out in game situations under pressure.”