How the Tar Heels should market Bill Belichick

No matter what transpires during his time in Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick will be remembered as one of the most bold and innovative coaches in football history.

If Belichick’s new employers at the University of North Carolina want to fully capitalize on their headline-capturing hire, they must exhibit similar boldness and innovation.

For if the 72-year-old Belichick is not known as the most personable fellow to ever lead a college football program, he possesses the self-awareness and open-mindedness that create revenue and public-relations opportunities for a program in need of both. Forever existing in the shadow of UNC’s storied men’s basketball team, the Tar Heels football squad earned some stage time by hiring the man whose six Super Bowl rings as a head coach tops the NFL’s all-time chart.

The easiest way for this all to work out for the long term would of course be conference titles and national championships, results that would further burgeon Belichick’s legend. In the short term, though? In addition to an anticipated spike in ticket sales and sponsorships, the university should work with Belichick to leverage his persona.

It’s evident that the Patriots dismissed Belichick after the 2023 season, ending his 24-year run in New England, in no small part because Belichick didn’t get along with people both above (owner Robert Kraft) and below (players) him. It’s also a fact that, following his termination, Belichick purchased a full-page Boston Globe ad in which he saluted the team’s fans and acknowledged some of his own character tics:

“You may even have enjoyed my fashion sense and press conferences, or maybe you just tolerated them.”

As soon as possible, Carolina blue and white Belichick hoodies – sold with full sleeves or cutoffs – should populate the stores on campus and beyond. The same goes for Belichick-in-hoodie bobblehead dolls, both warm-weather and cold-weather prototypes.

While his press conferences can be terse and even uncomfortable, they also can be enlightening and wildly entertaining. Remember when Belichick referenced the film “My Cousin Vinny” out of nowhere? And this verbal treatise on the art of long-snapping serves as one of many examples of how much Belichick enjoys just talking about the game he loves. UNC’s social-media team should be ready to roll when these gems emerge organically.

Less organic yet possibly in character, would Belichick be willing to engage with his new fan base in unconventional ways? If he doesn’t seem like the type to enjoy schmoozing donors at a cocktail party, would he host a campus screening of “My Cousin Vinny” – or acknowledging his senior-citizen status, the Rodney Dangerfield classic “Back to School” – as a way to build the brand?

College football’s evolution into player pay makes Belichick a better fit at UNC than he would have been, say, 10 years ago. Yet the world’s evolution into a more performative place means that UNC requires more than Belichick’s on-the-field savvy to wholly cash in on his decision to join them. The path that school and coach choose toward that goal is just a tad less fascinating than how the Tar Heels actually fare in wins and losses next season.