Divided locker room, disastrous results: Players, parents blame Belichick culture for UNC problems

WRAL ^ | October 5, 2025 | Pat Welter

[Miami Rebel]

Bill Belichick sold his UNC football program as the "33rd NFL team." Through five games as a college football coach, the Tar Heels rank 128th in points per game out of the 136 NCAA Division I FBS teams. Pick a stat right now, it's not good. A 38-10 loss to Clemson Saturday was Carolina's latest embarrassment. Weeks earlier, the stadium and student section were buzzing and brimming with optimism. Saturday versus Clemson, the stadium began to empty at halftime. So how has the six-time Super Bowl champion coach, who many consider the greatest of all time, fallen so far from grace? WRAL has spoken to parents of UNC players, members of the staff, the athletic department and the UNC board of Trustees. Multiple sources with knowledge of the inner workings of Belichick's program say the results on the field are a product of a divided locker room, a disorganized coaching staff and a failure to communicate. "It's an unstructured mess," a source with first-hand knowledge of the program told WRAL. "There's no culture, no organization. It's a complete disaster." UNC fired Mack Brown on Nov. 26, 2024, days after a 41-21 loss at Boston College. He went 6-6 in his final season. In his six seasons during his second go-around at UNC, Brown won at least six games every year. 2022 was his most successful season: Carolina went 9-5, won the Coastal Division and lost in the Holiday Bowl. Brown's record versus NC State and inexplicable losses as a double-digit favorite to teams like James Madison, were reasons you could point to why Carolina chose to move on. Belichick was named UNC head coach on Dec. 11, 2024, in a search led by UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts and John Preyer, who was the Board of Trustees chair at the time.

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TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: belichek

[Miami Rebel]

Better for Belichick to have faded into obscurity. Post-Brady, he was exposed as no better than fair-to-middling, but this car crash has got to be humiliating (although quite remunerative.)

The fact that the school was willing to piss away millions on this experiment is mind-boggling....PLUS paying his two sons big bucks.

[Fledermaus]

Calm down. It’s UNC. They’ve sucked for decades.

Old joke in Chapel Hill - the 7 Eleven changed their name to 0 and Eleven.

[DIRTYSECRET]

He got a young girl friend out of it. He quits and she gets him 24/7. All to herself.

[MinorityRepublican]

Better for Belichick to have faded into obscurity. Post-Brady, he was exposed as no better than fair-to-middling, but this car crash has got to be humiliating.

Nah. I doubt that he is humiliated. His ego is that big.

[Colt1851Navy]

Staying up too late at night.

[political1]

I'm a UAB grad. Trent Dilfer is worse.

[dfwgator]

SEC Shorts got him good today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=578NWoFc4jE

[Leaning Right]

> Better for Belichick to have faded into obscurity. <

I really don’t understand folks like Belichick. He’s in his 70s. And he’s a multimillionaire, with more money than he can possibly spend. Plus his legacy is secure. What more does he need?

If I were him, I’d get a scouting job with the Patriots. Travel the country at a leisurely pace. And enjoy a life without stress.

But of course I’m not him.

[Bratch]

A blind man could have seen this coming with his cane. 🙄

[volare737]

So is he still dressing in that classy manner of his—with an ugly sweatshirt with tattered, cut off sleeves?

[BrexitBen]

Not defending Belichick, but UNC is going to be in a very long line of college programs firing their coaches this year.

Arkansas, UCLA, Kentucky, Auburn, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Penn State, Florida, and even Texas are also dealing with impatient fans.

There will be many more, as fickle fans demand a firing frenzy.

More huge buyouts, more disappointed fans.

It’s the nature of the game foisted upon the sport by judges, and the NCAA.

[Miami Rebel]

UNC is a special case because it’s always been an also-ran. Fans never expected greatness till now. Belichick made this seem like it would be re-creating an NFL team on a college level.

The chumps at UNC grossly over-paid based on that flimsy premise.

[God luvs America]

“Failure to communicate with players and parents has also furthered the divide. “

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I mean- really?? Belichick ruled the Patriots with an iron fist and answered to no one...he’s going to start communicating now???

[DIRTYSECRET]

**Staying up too late at night.**
Wouldn’t we all be doing that with her?

My European buddy had an offer from a single parent hotel manager in a South American country. She said just give her $500 a month and she’d take care of him and everything else. This was in the mid-90’s. He didn’t have it.

I get up at 4am to read. it’s quiet. In the sack at 9:30-it works for me. Wouldn’t want to be Belichick. There are plenty of poor women out there even if you have to move.

[PAR35]

It’s a basketball school in a traditionally basketball conference. They can be counted on to have a lousy football team as sure as Georgia can be counted on to have a lousy men’s basketball team.

[Susquehanna Patriot]

Coaching a college team would seem very different than professional - [remedial] students vs highly paid post remedial students and some multimillionaire players who are addicted to the glamorous life. The pro coaches might meet the parents at some player-family event before or early in the season, but they don’t have to communicate with them, or palming it with the wealthy alumni who drink heavily in the luxury suites.

Belichick inherited a lot of Mack Brown’s team. He was and is also expected to perform miracles. MacK Brown had less friends in Chapel Hill the second time around because he left them previously for Texas. I say Bill B. gets to finish 2025 out, gets to hand pick his recruits for 2026, even if he wins only 2 or 3 games. Then when he wins 5 or 6 next year, they’ll say he’s “building the program” and keep him on for 2027. If even a small miracle (bowl game) does not happen in 2027, he’s out.

[God luvs America]

The roster handed to Belichick was garbage- they have two draft eligible prospects and one transferred from Oregon. The same fools who expected UNC to compete for the ACC title this season are the same people who thought Arch Manning would be the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft.

[GLDNGUN]

Bill was stuck in his ways and didn't adjust his methods of scouting, drafting, and coaching players out of college. While Brady covered for a lot of sins, Bill's skills diminished greatly and his ability to relate to and understand young players got worse each year. Without Brady, Bill was left exposed.

Soooo, if you are a grumpy, old dinosaur that can't/won't adapt to coaching players fresh out of college, the dumbest thing you could do is try to go coach up even younger players! If you can't relate to 21-year-olds, you have no shot with 18 year olds, but, hey, it's a paycheck...until it's not.

At this point, old Bill is just trying to get his, whether it's a girlfriend young enough to be his granddaughter or a pile of money for a job he has no passion for.

Bill had a chance to reignite his NFL coaching career when offered the DC job at SF after the 2023 season, but it was beneath him. If he would have been the DC of old, he would have back in demand for a HC job the next off season. Instead, he's stealing money every time he gets a paycheck from the UNC, and will eventually be forced out

[Hyman Roth]

As a hater of all things UNC nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing the spoiled brats at UNC crying in their mint juleps.