ACC Kickoff: Belichick Era Begins at North Carolina

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CHARLOTTE — On the final day of the 2025 ACC Kickoff, all eyes were on the University of North Carolina as legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick made his first appearance as the Tar Heels’ leader. The six-time Super Bowl champion, now 73 years old, is stepping into college football for the first time after nearly five decades in the NFL. Belichick’s debut at the annual preseason event was met with high anticipation from fans, alumni, and media alike. “The support’s been overwhelmingly tremendous,” Belichick said. “Not only supportive, but engaged and very excited. We want to match that excitement and put that on the field”. In just one offseason, Belichick has drastically reshaped North Carolina’s roster, adding seventy-one new players—forty-one transfers and thirty high school recruits. While adjusting to the differences between the NFL and NCAA, he noted the advantages of working with younger athletes.

“There are fewer bad habits to break,” he explained, emphasizing that his players have been “very receptive” to coaching and “trained extremely hard” .

Belichick is not the only former NFL head coach now prowling ACC sidelines. Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien, who worked under Belichick with the New England Patriots from 2007–2011 and in 2023, expressed a desire to one day face his former boss on the field. “I’d love to play North Carolina in Gillette, then come back and play them in Chapel Hill,” O’Brien said. Meanwhile, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney used his time at the podium to set expectations for the 2025 season. Coming off an ACC title and a College Football Playoff berth, the Tigers enter the year as conference favorites with +1200 odds to win the national championship, the best mark outside the SEC and Big Ten. “We’ve got to go do it and do the work,” Swinney said. “We can’t talk about it or predict our way into it”. With Belichick’s arrival, multiple high-profile coaching matchups on the horizon, and Clemson poised for another championship run, the ACC is shaping up to be one of the most compelling conferences in college football this fall.