If this was just five years ago, let alone 10 or 20, the prospect of 72-year-old Bill Belichick as a college football coach would have been more about a splashy hire than the promise of great success.
The low expectations would have nothing to do with actual coaching Belcihick is the greatest winner the NFL has ever known, with six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots and two more as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.
He is a teacher, an innovator and a leader. Hed be incredible at coaching the game. If anything, his style with the Patriots followed the traditional college model: power consolidated in a head coach who isnt there to be your friend.
NFL success, however, has never been a predictor of success in college football, at least not in the short term which, for a coach of his age, is the obvious goal. Plenty of NFL coaches have tried to make it work in the NCAA. Few have succeeded.
As Belichick knows, you cant win without great players, and a veteran coach with no high school recruiting experience would have faced considerable headwinds back in the day.
This is a new day, though, one where rosters are built overnight via the transfer portal and NIL more than the slow construct of high school recruiting.
And thats why the news that broke Thursday actually has potential, perhaps big potential.
According to media outlet Inside Carolina, Belichick has had discussions with North Carolina about becoming the Tar Heels new head coach. It was a stunner, since Belichicks coaching career that dates back to 1975 has been exclusively in the pros including 29 seasons and 333 victories (playoffs included) as a head coach in Cleveland and New England.
Whether Belichick is truly interested in coaching college ball is uncertain. So is Carolinas actual willingness to give him the job. If nothing else, they talked (reportedly twice), which is smart for both of them since there was nothing to lose.
Know this: Belichick as a college head coach at a place already as appealing as UNC would cause a seismic shift in recruiting.
Getting to the NFL is the No. 1 goal, or very close to the No. 1 goal, for every great college football player. Who better to play for than the GOAT of pro football?
The difference between now and the past is that such a decision is available not simply to 16-to-18-year-old high school recruits, who are also easily swayed by things like jersey colors, proximity to their parents, peer influence, glossy facilities or even how much fun they had on a campus visit.
The ability for college players to transfer with immediate eligibility means that players ages 20-23, with a few seasons of experience and maturity, approach picking a team from a different perspective. Its no longer about whats cool or comfortable. Its more of a business decision.
If youve played a couple seasons somewhere and have shown enough promise to perhaps make the NFL, then getting to play for and learn from Bill Belichick becomes not a curiosity but possibly a mandate. Gone, for the most part, are the opinions of high school coaches, high school friends or high school hanger-ons.
Where in the past, recruiting was about a long grind of relationship building with raw prospects in need of development, now players, often ready to start, move on a single phone call. Much of the silly stuff and glad-handing is out.
Heres our plan for you. You want in, or not?
Even payments are now out in the open.
The celebrity coach with a proof-of-concept to maximize potential is suddenly a thing, most famously due to the success of Deion Sanders at Colorado. Coach Prime took a 1-11 team with virtually no recent success and turned them into winners in just two years without crisscrossing the country recruiting high school players.
There is no reason to think Belichick couldnt do the same.
Prime has an unmatched career as a player, but Belichick has an unmatched career as a coach. And at UNC he would take over a program with far more success, in-program talent and potential than CU.
Who isnt taking his call? And when it comes to talking football not backslap recruiting who could do it better?
Bill Belichick the “recruiter” would get talented, dedicated players at UNC. And if you give Bill Belichick the opportunity to coach talented, dedicated players, then he is almost assuredly going to deliver victories.