Will the Tar Heels Learn the ‘Patriot Way’?

The wide world of sports was set aflame Thursday with the news, broken by Inside Carolina, that eight-time* Super Bowl Champion Bill Belichick, the greatest head coach in the history of the National Football League, had interviewed with UNC AD Bubba Cunningham and his head football coach search committee.

The interview – in which Coach Belichick unsurprisingly is said to have performed very well – kicked off a mightily entertaining news cycle. It was the most glorious day for Carolina Football since the 4th quarter lead in the Orange Bowl against Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M. Don’t ask how that game ended; we’re not going to talk about it.

NC State fans and other sourpusses wasted no time bemoaning the Belichick interview. Per the naysayers, it’s a sign of desperation on Cunningham’s part. The search committee is in chaos. They have only feeble Group of 5 candidates on the menu and can’t get who they truly want (conveniently forgetting that the triumphant 1990s in Chapel Hill were the result of Mack Brown being hired from G5 Tulane). Another theory goes that UNC has again fallen under the spell of an ancient legend whose best years of coaching are behind him.

The silliest of the critics claim that the UNC job is inherently undesirable. Slightly less blinded hecklers, though still wrong on the facts, submit that West Virginia and UCF are obviously the hot openings of the 2024 coaching carousel and the Tar Heels will be lucky to hire their first or second choice.

Where the critics are right is that the odds are against Bill Belichick being the next head coach at the University of North Carolina. Where they fall short is in thinking that this news is a sign of disfunction.

As a few sane voices in sports media have already pointed out, the interview – more importantly the story that it took place – is a mutually beneficial publicity stunt. Coach Belichick wants to coach again and UNC wants to show that it is serious about football. Both Carolina and Belichick generate positive attention via this meeting and come out looking more desireable to their intended audiences.

For what it’s worth, Belichick would be a really good hire if Carolina actually chose him. No, he has never coached in college. Yes, he is 72 years old. He also still has the knowledge and the competitive fire that he did when he last hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. Belichick would almost certainly be a recruiting draw, and as the college game comes more and more to resemble the pros (paid athletes, free agency, etc), it looks more and more like the type of environment BB has thrived in. Nobody can honestly doubt his ability to coach toughness, discipline, and defense. His knowledge of Xs and Os and the history of the game is unparallelled. He even has a small personal connection to UNC: his father Steve Belichick was running backs coach at Carolina from 1953-1955 when Bill was a toddler.

It’s an absolute public relations coup that Belichick spoke with Cunningham & co. about the role. For both parties, there is only upside to this media buzz.

The State of the Search

Far from being in trouble, the search committee at North Carolina presents all signs of being a well-conceived and prudent operation. What went under the radar when IC broke the story about Bill Belichick are all the other names who are known to have interviewed for the role.

They include:

• Jon Sumrall, head coach at Tulane
• Matt Campbell, head coach at Iowa State
• Jeff Monken, head coach at Army
• Glenn Schumann, defensive coordinator at Georgia
• Freddie Kitchens, interim head coach at UNC

Kane Wommack, the defensive coordinator at Alabama, is also expected to have a Zoom interview with the search committee this week.

Speculatively, Jon Sumrall is the most likely hire. His winning record at two schools, youthful age (42), defensive background, and his immediate availability all conspire to make him the frontrunner. Tulane is not going to the College Football Playoff no matter what they do in the AAC title game Friday night. Cunningham can get on a plane and close the deal as soon as the clock hits zero, assuming Sumrall remains interested.

Right up there with Sumrall is Matt Campbell, though there are some interesting contingencies in play with the timeline over which he could be hired. If Iowa State defeats Arizona State for the Big 12 title, the Cyclones go to the CFP and Campbell is off the Carolina menu until January. If Iowa State loses, they’re on the outside looking in and Campbell’s timeline matches the rest of the field.

Carolina wants to announce a head coach before this coming Monday, December 9th. That day, the transfer portal opens for the 2025 cycle. The Tar Heels’ very best players – Omarion Hampton and Kaimon Rucker among them – will be leaving for the NFL draft. The 2025 UNC recruiting class is miniscule. It is vital that Carolina has a head coach working the phones from the start of the portal window if at all possible.

If Iowa State wins Saturday and UNC has not announced the new hire by Sunday evening, you can be almost certain that Matt Campbell has signed on the dotted line. If they lose, it becomes a genuine two horse race between Sumrall and Campbell.

Sumrall and Campbell have consistently been spoken of as the two favorites of the search committee. But what of the other candidates?

Army’s Jeff Monken would be an outstanding hire: he has built a culture of toughness and he is an overachiever who wins with limited resources and less God-given talent on his roster than other FBS programs have to work with. The only arguable disadvantage to Monken is that, in a year when Carolina’s portal class must be top flight to make the team competitive, he would be a hire who has absolutely no experience with the transfer portal due to service academy rules.

Bill Belichick is the greatest professional football coach of all time. He is the Nick Saban of the NFL. Hiring him would make a big splash and probably even work out as a bridge to a longer term hire. We know that his departure from New England was rocky behind the scenes, but Belichick had the good sense to see it was his time and not make a public stink. He did the presser with Robert Kraft and wore a smile on his way out. Unlike a certain Hall of Fame coach, he left with grace even though it was clearly his heart’s desire not to leave a job that he loved. It is not likely that Belichick would ever wage a public war against the athletic director. Nonetheless, the reasons that Belichick is not likely to be hired are his age, the fact that Mack Brown’s recent tenure was itself meant to be a bridge to a younger coach, and Belichick’s apparent goal to get back to the NFL.

Glenn Schumann and Kane Wommack would both be strong choices. They are brilliant defensive coordinators. That’s also the problem. They are not head coaches and thus don’t have the same proven track record of all the aforementioned candidates. It was wise to interview these men, and they’re certainly coaches who would bring a needed corrective on defense. But they’ve got somewhat long odds to be hired.

UNC interim head coach Freddie Kitchens has done a very strong job as tight ends coach and running game coordinator in Chapel Hill. He has been a head coach before at the professional level and by all accounts is well-respected within the program. Yet, interviewing him seems to be pro forma. The mood at UNC is gratitiude for the Mack 2.0 era, with an awareness that it’s time to move on. To make it a clean break, Carolina will want to clean house on the current staff. It may not be ‘fair,’ to them, but it’s the only way to change the culture of the program.

So, Sumrall & Campbell are the front runners. Keep an eye on that Iowa State score. Expect an announcement Sunday. And, as always, go Heels!

* Don’t forget that in addition to his six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick earned two Super Bowl rings prior to those dynastic years as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.