CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — At The Purple Bowl, the açaí is organic and unsweetened. There’s a bit of milk and a touch of honey, sometimes cinnamon, flax seeds and, of course, sliced strawberries; coconut and cacao nibs if you’re feeling festive; blueberries and raspberries if you so please.
Bill Belichick normally gets a bowl delivered to him at the University of North Carolina football facility.
“He gets us all the time,” said Paula Gilland, who helps run the day-to-day of the family-owned eatery in downtown Chapel Hill. “Açaí is not a common food group for us older folks. I’m proud of him. It’s cool that he’s noticing what the players like to eat and he’s eating it too.”
Nearly nine months into his stint as the Tar Heel football coach, Belichick is adjusting to the college town lifestyle. While he’s found his go-to food spot, the coach is still searching for a place to get one of his favorites: steamed blue crabs. Perhaps he doesn’t really want to find those. He seems resigned to only eating crab at his vacation home in Maryland.
“I’ve always said if you can’t see water, do you really want to order seafood?” he said with a smile.
Yes, Bill Belichick does smile. He laughs, too. The grumbling man espousing four-word answers after post-game news conferences is not the Belichick that many see around here.
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He’s got a dry sense of humor, gives thoughtful extended answers to questions and is adjusting to his latest challenge in coaching: maneuvering through the hurdles that come with being employed at a public university. Such as…?
“Public records,” he said.
There are state regulations, too, university policies, NCAA rules — all new to him. “Here, you just can’t go to the chancellor and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this,’” Belichick said.
This is most unusual, bizarre even and wholly unpredictable: a 73-year-old, six-time Super Bowl champion Hall of Famer experiencing a first in his 50 years of coaching.
On a mid-August day here, Belichick saunters into a news conference in a trademark gray sweatshirt, sleeves rolled up (it’s hot here — this isn’t New England), blue shorts and tennis shoes. He answers questions for more than 20 minutes, steps from behind the podium and meets girlfriend Jordon Hudson in a nearby lobby before disappearing into a side room to further discuss this new job.
It’s gone about as he expected. Nothing is too difficult, he says, but there’s sure a lot different. Public records and university policy is easy compared to the recruitment of thousands of players. In the NFL, you’d whittle a list of 250 draft prospects to about 75 each year and everyone knew the few dozen players available during free agency.
In college, he’s recruiting thousands of players at one time over three signing classes, plus thousands more who could end up in the transfer portal.
“You don’t know who the transfer players are. It could be anybody or everybody,” he says. “There’s a lot of names.”
Some of the names you push to the side. Eh, we’re not interested in him.
And then, a few months later, that kid has grown three inches, added 75 pounds and can run like a deer. “It’s like ‘Whoa. We need to be recruiting this guy!’” he says.
So, yeah, that’s different.
You know what else is new? Being part of a college sports community and not one built around professional franchises. He’s traded offseason trips to watch the Celtics, Red Sox and Bruins for a hoops game at the Dean Smith Center, a lacrosse match at Dorrance Field and a baseball game at Boshamer Stadium.
He feels like he’s 15 again in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I grew up at Navy with my dad and you always rooted for Navy,” he said. “Didn’t matter the sport — swimming, soccer, football.”
All of this newness doesn’t feel so new anymore.
On Monday, the Tar Heels open the Belichick Era against TCU here in Chapel Hill in a nationally televised, standalone game.
Finally, a rather drama-filled, exhaustive offseason can be shoved aside for real football. No more talk of his 24-year-old girlfriend; or claims from anonymous industry experts that none of this will work; or rumors about how and why he was hired in the first place.
It’s time for football. And everyone seems quite ready here, even the folks at The Purple Bowl.
“Gameday is going to be amazing. We’re the only game on that night,” Gilland said excitedly. “Gosh, I hope we win.”
Bill Belichick already moving the needle
Belichick’s hire stands as one of the offseason’s most intriguing storylines.
It’s right up there with Arch Manning’s rise as (finally) the starting QB at Texas; Rich Rodriguez’s return to West Virginia; the off-the-field athlete revenue-share debate (or debacle); the College Football Playoff format drama; and a couple of eye-popping coach and player transfer moves (Ohio State DC Jim Knowles to Penn State; Georgia QB Carson Beck to Miami; and Nico Iamaleava's move from Tennessee to UCLA).
Despite having not coached in a single game yet, Belichick’s hire has already been quite worth it, says Lee Roberts, the UNC chancellor who presided over the search for the coach.
“People ask me sometimes what’s going to be considered a success for coach,” Roberts said from his office earlier this month. “My answer is, in a lot of ways, it’s already been tremendously successful.”
UNC officials believe they sold out their 20,000 football season-ticket allotment faster than ever in the program’s history (May), despite raising prices by 25%. The school projects a near $8 million revenue growth in ticket sales, exceeded a record $18 million in donations last year, increased its main booster group (Rams Club) by more than 1,000 members and sold out every premium seat in the football stadium for the first time ever.
During Year 1 of the athlete revenue-share era — schools are permitted to directly pay their athletes $20.5 million annually now — these are not insignificant figures. It is a financially stressful time within the college sports world, especially at the rate in which the Tar Heels are investing in football.
They are investing big, enough that outgoing athletic director Bubba Cunningham called it “taking a risk” in an interview earlier this year. “We're investing more in football with the hope and ambition that the return is going to significantly outweigh the investment,” he said.
It starts with Belichick’s $10 million annual salary and, roughly, $20 million in compensation for the coaching and support staff — the most the school has ever spent. There’s a $40 million operating budget and the guarantee, despite being at a basketball power, of $13 million in revenue-share to the football roster.
Outsiders are calling it UNC’s “all-in moment” in football. That includes former coach Mack Brown, who said during an interview with Colin Cowherd last week the school is “for the first time in history” committing “big time” to football.
In addition to the sweeping moves in football, Roberts hired former NASCAR executive Steve Newmark, the longtime president of RFK Racing, to replace Cunningham — an outside-the-box hire made with “aggressive and creative revenue generation” in mind, Roberts said.
Revenue is top of mind more than ever for university leaders who, because of the evolving landscape and steep price tags, are spending more “time and attention” on athletics than they have in the past, he said.
For instance, North Carolina is in the midst of exploring with donors and alums the possibility of endowing multiple Olympic sports. UNC has 28 sports overall — a high number when considering the NCAA minimum of 16.
“Our football program can still cover its costs even with its increased costs of the revenue share and upgrading and expanding our payroll,” Roberts said. “But it’s more difficult for football to provide the same level of support to the rest of the athletic department than it has historically.”
Hiring a 73-year-old NFL coach, a NASCAR executive and spending tens of millions on a football program that hasn’t finished in the top 10 in nearly 30 years.
Isn’t it all a risk?
“The bigger risk is standing still and trying to do things the way they’ve always been done and trying to be successful in a period when everything else is changing so rapidly,” Roberts said.
The rapid change shows no signs of slowing.
In fact, UNC’s reasoning behind the football investment may be geared toward a more long-term play. The university remains the most attractive program — aside from Notre Dame — existing outside of the SEC and Big Ten, college sports industry experts contend. The Tar Heels' rich championship history, geographic footprint, academic prowess and valuable brand make them a commodity in what many are predicting to be further SEC and Big Ten expansion as soon as 2030.
While expressing the school’s “love” for a league that it helped found 72 years ago, Roberts said he and others here hold the responsibility to “ensure” that UNC is positioned best for the future.
“To the extent we are perceived as having options,” he said, “that’s obviously a good thing.”
Belichicks take over Chapel Hill
There is not one Belichick here. There are three.
Actually, when counting wives and Bill’s six grandchildren, there are 11 in total living in Chapel Hill. Bill is reunited on staff with son Steve, the defensive coordinator, and Brian, who coaches defensive backs. The two sons coached under dad during his final few years with the Patriots.
Now, they’re all back together on a college campus in the middle of North Carolina.
Weird? Yeah.
Cool? Also, yeah.
“I do pinch myself walking in each morning, ‘Wow I’m coaching defensive backs at UNC. That’s amazing,’” Brian said. “If you would have told me 20 years ago as a kid. … It’s just really cool. It’s pretty incredible that we are here.”
“No one was predicting this would happen,” Steve said.
Steve, the eldest by five years, is a lot like his dad. He’s quiet, speaks in hushed tones, a serious face and stoic demeanor, mustachioed and with a blond man bun. Brian is the talkative one, sharing whatnot from behind his spectacles and from beneath a backward hat.
At least on this particular day, they both take after dad’s fashion. They are wearing dark hoodies.
They speak about coaching college players as if they sense a different hunger than those in the NFL. Pro players, Steve said, have reached the pinnacle and are working to stay there. College players aspire to reach the pinnacle and are working to get there.
There’s an excitement, an eagerness, a hunger.
There’s a ton of learning, too. UNC has 70 new players. Steve witnessed much of this during his first college coaching stint last year with the Washington Huskies.
“I don’t know if my dad and brother bought what I was selling telling them to come to college,” he said. “But there’s so much you can teach these guys. I remember being in the NFL where guys would say, ‘Oh I remember doing that in college.’ We don’t get a lot of, ‘Oh I did that in high school.’ You’re kind of getting a blank canvas with a lot of guys.”
Steve takes a bit of credit for putting the so-called Belichick Band back together. Last fall, he worked over his dad and brother to give college a crack. After all, the college football industry is evolving into more of a professional model by the day.
“I knew they would both enjoy it,” Steve said.
Bringing an NFL style and philosophy to Chapel Hill comes with its hurdles, though. There are those pesky NCAA rules, like the 20-hour limit of football activities per week. And there’s school, too. The players must attend classes, after all.
Oh and the hashes are different too. College hashes are wider, creating more of an emphasis on what Brian describes as “space plays” — an offense stretching the field, so to speak.
Bill expects “a lot” from his sons, he said before adding, “and they deliver.”
They are a competitive pair. Steve used to harass younger brother Brian in their formative years. They wouldn’t so much wrestle one another, Brian said, as Steve would “line me up in front of the bed, get a running start and form tackle.”
They each played college lacrosse (Steve at Rutgers and Brian at Trinity College). Their sister, Amanda, has been the head women’s lacrosse coach at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts for the last decade.
Bill played lacrosse, too, in his younger years growing up in Annapolis. They are a lacrosse family, he said, and that shouldn’t be too surprising based on how he was raised.
“There are two things important in Maryland,” Bill said with a smile. “Crabs and lacrosse.”
Back to school with Bill Belichick
One day after the school fired Mack Brown on Nov. 26, a third party alerted UNC officials to Belichick’s interest in the job.
A two-week courtship unfolded, including two in-person meetings with the coach and the search committee, including Roberts. The first took place Dec. 5 in New York City and the next, a few days later, in Boston.
Most of the discussions revolved around the differences between college and the NFL and how to make that transition. Belichick was prepared. He had spent the offseason learning college ball in trips to visit his son in Seattle as well as even attending at least three high school and five college games.
He started identifying high school talent before he even got the gig.
“Got to do a lot of things I wouldn’t have gotten to do,” he says.
He attended the Super Bowl — as a fan. He appeared on a variety of television programs: "The Madden Cruiser" on Fox Sports, "Inside the NFL" on The CW and Monday Night Football’s "ManningCast." They were great experience, he said, but “I’m not really in media.”
He’s a coach. And despite the change in talent from the NFL to college and all of the complicated rules and red tape, he’s enjoying it: the evaluating, recruiting, teaching and competition.
Don’t forget about those açaí bowls as well. After all, he’s back in college again.
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