Bill Belichick Becomes Head Coach of TCU's 2025 Week One Opponent

TCU's opening matchup against the North Carolina Tarheels just got a lot more interesting.

Jan 7, 2024; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick talks to reporters after the game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

You're probably asking yourself why on earth TCU On SI is writing an article about the Bill Belichick news that broke this week. The short answer is that TCU's first opponent in the 2025 football season just got much more difficult. The University of North Carolina announced on Wednesday that the next head football coach of the Tarheels would be none other than the six-time (eight if you count his two as DC with the Giants) Super Bowl champion himself.

Welcome to Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick!

The eight-time Super Bowl Champion has officially been named our next @UNCFootball Head Coach. #GoHeels x #ChapelBill pic.twitter.com/cnngQI7gnC

— UNC Tar Heels (@GoHeels) December 12, 2024

North Carolina was the first Power Four football program to fire their head coach, Mack Brown, during the 2024 season. Freddie Kitchens finished the remainder of the season as the interim head coach. With the coaching vacancy for the Tarheels, there was buzz about who the next head coach would be at such a large brand in D1 athletics. While the Tarheels finished the 2024 season 6-6, the North Carolina job is still a prestigious one that many coaches would love to take. Who would have thought that they would land one of the greatest coaches of all time?

At first glance, this coaching hire seems odd, to say the least. Upon further investigation, one connection of Belichick's to North Carolina was that his father, Steve Belichick, was an assistant coach for the Tarheels from 1953-1955. With Belichick being a coach who values the old-fashioned way of doing things, it will be interesting to watch how he handles today's chaotic NIL landscape.

Last week on the Pat McAfee Show, Belichick responded to the rumors about him taking a college coaching job by saying that his program would be one that develops NFL talent.

"If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL. It would be a professional program. Training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at the college level." - Bill Belichick on the Pat McAfee Show

Below is the full 20-minute interview concerning the rumors about Belichick taking a college coaching job.

One thing to note is that UNC's recruitment ranking for the 2025 class comes in at #90 in the nation as of right now (247sports). UNC usually has been ranked in the top 15-20 schools in the country for high school recruiting. TCU's recruiting class, on the other hand, is ranked #24 in the recruitment rankings for the 2025 class. One thing to watch in the offseason is how North Carolina navigates the transfer portal, if at all, with so many high school recruits already committed.

Horned Frog fans will note that this is the second time in the last three years that the TCU football team will be the opponent for a big-name coaching debut. In 2023, the Horned Frogs unfortunately ran into Coach Prime's debut in the 45-42 loss in Fort Worth.

Before the Belichick hire, there wasn't a lot of buzz around TCU's matchup with UNC. That buzz has now changed, as many TCU fans will be looking forward to seeing a Josh Hoover-led offense go up against one of the greatest defensive-minded head coaches of all time.

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