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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Bill Belichick’s college coaching debut ends with a UNC blowout loss | |
to TCU | |
By Associated Press | |
Updated: | |
12:45 AM EDT, Tue September 2, 2025 | |
Source: AP | |
Bill Belichick’s first run as a college coach at North Carolina | |
started fast only to end in a blowout loss. | |
The NFL coaching great took the field Monday night for his college | |
debut with the Tar Heels against TCU, sporting a familiar look from the | |
pro sideline with a gray hoodie — only this one bearing the name | |
“Carolina Football” in that distinctive shade of light blue. Yet | |
after scoring on the game’s first drive, the Tar Heels watched as the | |
Horned Frogs took control with 41 unanswered points on the way to a | |
48-14 win. | |
By the end, TCU had scored two defensive touchdowns and finished with a | |
542-222 edge in total offense while driving UNC fans to the exits long | |
before the fourth quarter began. | |
Belichick, 73, led the NFL’s New England Patriots to six Super Bowl | |
championships and trailed only Don Shula on the league’s all-time | |
wins list. Now he’s making the transition to the college level, the | |
result of an all-in moment for UNC to elevate its football program at a | |
school better known for its storied men’s basketball program. | |
The buildup to the season here had included plenty of added buzz, | |
including the school selling out all its season tickets — at an | |
elevated price — and single-game seats for the season. The game also | |
attracted ESPN to hold a pregame studio show from the Kenan Stadium | |
sideline, where Belichick popped over before the game to share a hello | |
with former Alabama coach Nick Saban and the rest of that crew. | |
Belichick also roamed the field during pregame warmups as though taking | |
it all in for the better part of a half-hour. At one point, he stood on | |
the UNC end of the field with general manager Michael Lombardi watching | |
the Tar Heels, then shared a quick handshake with Atlantic Coast | |
Conference commissioner Jim Phillips as he made his way toward | |
midfield. | |
Once there, he shook hands with members of the officiating crew and | |
stood near midfield watching the Horned Frogs players as they went | |
through warm-up drills. | |
The game also attracted notable former UNC figures from years past, | |
including NBA legend Michael Jordan — who won a national championship | |
under Dean Smith here in 1982 — and former UNC star linebacker | |
Lawrence Taylor, who played under Belichick when Belichick was an | |
assistant and eventually defensive coordinator with the New York Giants | |
during the 1980s. | |
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