Instead of game-planning for Super Bowls, Bill Belichick now wooing recruits to UNC

Bill Belichick is beginning to sound more and more like a college football coach.

Just a few years ago, who would have ever thought the former New England Patriots coach, winner of six Super Bowls with the Pats, would be talking about recruiting weekends, courting parents of players, the NCAA transfer portal or — get this — his Instagram account.

Instagram? Bill Belichick?

Yes, Bill Belichick.

But it’s a new day. Belichick is the coach at North Carolina and he’s looking to corral players like a few hundred other college coaches. He’s doing what he can to get the best prospects interested in UNC — other than using his substantial name value or twirling one of his shiny rings.

So, yes, he has an Instagram account he uses for recruiting.

In his weekly appearance Monday on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN, Belichick said his account had been “busy,” and he had been “scrolling” through it.

“I never thought I’d be saying that, but here I am joining the 21st Century,” he said to McAfee, smiling. “A lot of people have been contacting us about coming to Carolina.”

A lot of people contacted Mack Brown, too. He was a master college recruiter, twice at UNC and at Texas, where he won a national championship with the Longhorns during his Hall of Fame coaching career.

Brown’s recruiting classes at UNC were good ones — the class of 2022 was top-rated in the ACC by 247sports.com. But the results weren’t always there on game days, and some late-season slides the past few seasons led to his dismissal this year.

Belichick and the transfer portal

Belichick and the man he brought in to be his general manager, Michael Lombardi, continue to assemble the roster for Belichick’s first UNC team. Belichick likens it to NFL teams doing their due diligence and homework before free agency begins in the NFL or the signings after the draft, but acknowledged to McAfee it’s an adjustment.

“It’s just different,” he said. “You do feel you’re taking a younger player who has the same aspiration of wanting to be good … and wants to play for your team.”

Belichick and his staff have convinced 10 portal players to come to UNC. The group ranks fourth in the ACC, according to the 247sports.com rankings.

Chris Hummer and Matt Zenitz of 247Sports/CBSSports reported that Belichick badly wanted quarterback John Mateer, who was leaving Washington State and considered by many the top portal QB after accounting for 4,000 yards in total offense and 44 TDs. It also was reported Mateer was offered a hefty NIL package by the Tar Heels and had a FaceTime discussion with Belichick’s old QB, Tom Brady.

But Mateer picked Oklahoma, which also hired away WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

Belichick did have five UNC players who first elected to enter the portal decide to stay, including starters such as linebacker Amare Campbell, center Austin Blaske and wideout Kobe Paysour.

The Heels had nine high school recruits sign national letters of intent, headed by four-star quarterback Bryce Baker of East Forsyth High. Baker became Belichick’s first high school recruit, joining the coach in being recognized in the Smith Center during the Heels’ basketball game against La Salle.

UNC’s highest rated portal transfer is linebacker Khmori House, who has said he’s leaving Washington for UNC. Many expect Washington’s defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick, to soon join his father’s staff at UNC — the Huskies lost to Louisville in Tuesday’s Sun Bowl game in El Paso, Texas.

Belichick said at his introductory press conference on Dec. 12 that his UNC coaching staff would have a “heavy NFL influence” and said that again Monday on the McAfee Show. But he also said it would not be exclusive to NFL types.

Shaping the Tar Heels’ roster

Looking at the roster, the Heels would go into spring practice with quarterbacks Jacolby Criswell, Baker and Ryan Browne, a transfer from Purdue who started two games for the Boilermakers this season. Criswell was injured early in UNC’s loss to Connecticut in the Fenway Bowl in Boston.

Belichick was not at the Fenway Bowl, allowing him more time to stay in Chapel Hill and focus on his new program. Who knows, it might have meant more social media time and DM’s with recruits.

Belichick, on the McAfee Show, said the Heels would set recruiting weekends for Jan. 4 and then Jan. 11 — the first for portal players. There will be much meeting and greeting.

“The whole month of January is a big recruiting month,” he told McAfee.

And about that Instagram account — Belichick used it to post his “Dear Santa” letter. Listed first on his wish list: “Great players who want to help me build a winning football program at UNC (My DMs are open).”

This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Instead of game-planning for Super Bowls, Bill Belichick now wooing recruits to UNC."

Chip Alexander

The News & Observer

919-829-8945

In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.