Bill Belichick has a backer in the ACC offices.
Conference commissioner Jim Phillips told the Charlotte Observer this week that the North Carolina head coach “deserves time” despite a turbulent start to his tenure in Chapel Hill.
“I’m excited about the future of North Carolina football. I am,” Phillips told the outlet. “I think it was a difficult situation, a transition period, and you have the all-time winningest football coach and one of the greatest coaches in the game. He deserves time. He deserves support. And I think he’s got a really good plan moving forward.”
As Phillips indicated, things didn’t go well in Year 1 for the Tar Heels under Belichick.
On the field, UNC finished 4-8 overall and just 2-6 against ACC opponents, which was tied for the third-worst record in the conference.
After opening with a blowout loss at the hands of TCU, the Tar Heels sprinkled wins against cakewalk matchups like Charlotte and Richmond while mixing in victories against other downtrodden ACC teams like Syracuse and Stanford.
They finished the season on a three-game losing streak, falling to Wake Forest, Duke and NC State to end the 2025 campaign.
Off the field, it may have been even uglier for Belichick with constant drama from his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson, who was seen on the North Carolina sideline on several occasions this season.
After the team’s last game on Saturday, Belichick was his typical curt self during a four-minute media scrum.
“Look, the season’s just ended a few minutes ago, OK?” Belichick told reporters after the loss to NC State. “So now we’re going to move into the offseason. That’s what we’re going to do.”
“I’m sorry I don’t have a season recap for you,” he added. “I don’t have one, we haven’t done it.”
To much fanfare, Belichick signed a five-year, $50 million deal with UNC ahead of this season.
The legendary coach has repeatedly reiterated his commitment to UNC for next year, but that hasn’t stopped NFL teams from checking in.
A recent report from NFL insider Josina Anderson suggested that Belichick is drawing interest from “at least two NFL teams” with the coaching cycle in flux.
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