North Carolina football has been at the center of the entire sports landscape -- not just at the collegiate level -- for much of the last week as it pursued Bill Belichick to be its next coach. The return of the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach to the sidelines was always going to be a large-scale media event if it happened, but especially so at the college level where he has no prior coaching experience. It has led many to wonder whether it will work, how it will work and ultimately whether North Carolina football will be able to gain as much from Belichick as the legendary head coach will gain from the university.
Belichick's vision for North Carolina includes a new approach to staffing and roster construction that demands an increased financial commitment to the program. By hiring Belichick and agreeing to invest in his vision of a pro program at the college level, the university as a whole is entering into a new era where football success is prioritized in a way that more closely matches programs that compete for championships on an annual basis.
Which is why championship contention should be the expectation and the standard to which Belichick is held as he begins his first run through college football.
Historically, North Carolina is a program that wins 55% of its games and flashes with a team good enough to contend for conference championships or a top-25 finish across several years. There are stretches without top-25 finishes and others that are more clustered throughout the 120-plus years of Tar Heels football. The perception of the program, however, is one that wins a little more than it loses but falls short in the modern era when tested by moments of real stakes or opportunity. After all, North Carolina has not won an ACC championship in football since 1980 and has lost 11 of its last 14 bowl games. When outsiders look at North Carolina football and talk about the "sleeping giant," it's because they see a strong flagship university failing to replicate the football success of other schools with a similar profile.
But the reality is that North Carolina has not prioritized, nor invested, in football like many of those other schools. The university community has long taken great pride in its well-rounded athletic department that sponsors 28 varsity sports with dozens of combined national championships across multiple team sports. Just this week, women's soccer won its 23rd national championship, and that commitment to the full student-athlete experience throughout nearly all of the major Olympic sports has come -- in the view of some -- with a cost of limiting the potential commitment to football.
When North Carolina is investing in its football program at a top-35 or top-40 level, it cannot ultimately be that disappointed when the results are in line with that of a top-35 or top-40 program. This hire and unprecedented investment in football should come a change in expectations, though.
For the Belichick era to be successful, however long that era might be, the vision that he has pitched North Carolina needs to deliver results that are in line with that newfound investment. If the school is going to prioritize football, then its head football coach needs to field a team that is contending for championships. The Tar Heels cannot just back into the ACC title game, rather Belichick needs to lead a team that finishes at or near the top of the conference standings with a chance to secure a spot in the College Football Playoff when the final weeks of the season arrive.
Because while no one is going to expect Bill Belichick to rocket North Carolina up to the realm of the Oregon, Georgia, Texas and more, the definition of championship contention has changed in the expanded CFP era. Boise State and Arizona State are, by definition, championship contenders. Even Colorado, in just Year 2 with Deion Sanders, flirted with championship contention and ultimately finished tied for first in the Big 12 standings.
North Carolina has committed to investing in football like a championship contender, and in the expanded playoff, it's become easier to quickly get a program into contender status. That's why anything short of leading North Carolina to the top of the ACC and into the mix of contenders for the College Football Playoff will be a disappointment given this newfound investment in football.
It has been perceived that North Carolina's "sleeping giant" status has come in part because the school and its supporters are choosing to remain comfortable in bed. Now, the Bill Belichick hire is a five-year alarm clock to wake everyone up and ultimately see what North Carolina football is capable of in the modern era.
