Bill Belichick has confirmed that he could become a college football coach. He already has specific plans. However, the teams from the NFL do not seem to be interested in him.

Since the collaboration between Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots ended after the 2023 season, there have been repeated rumors of a new role as a coach.

Now the 72-year-old, who won the Super Bowl six times as head coach, has confirmed that a move to college football to coach the North Carolina Tar Heels is a conceivable option.

On the “Pat McAfee Show,” he reported that he had “a few good conversations” with Lee Roberts, the chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We’ll see how it goes,” said Belichick.

A pipeline to the NFL

In doing so, he offered a few immediate insights into how he would approach a college coaching job. “If I were in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players who have the ability to play in the NFL,” he said.

“It would be a professional program – with training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that can be transferred to the NFL. It would be an NFL program – just not at the NFL level.”

He would also use his network for this: “I’m very confident that I have the contacts in the NFL to pave the way for players to have the opportunity to compete in the National Football League. Whether they’re good enough or not, I don’t know, but they’ll be ready. I have no doubt about that.”

Belichick never coached at the college level, but his father served as an assistant coach at UNC for three years. This gave him insights into campus life during his childhood.

“I grew up with college football. My dad was a college coach, three years at North Carolina, one year at Vanderbilt and then 50 years in the Navy. It seems to me that college football is more like professional football,” he said.

“I’ve talked to a lot of college coaches about things like the salary cap and how to value and negotiate with players. I think there are similarities there. I just haven’t experienced it firsthand.”

"It seems like College Football is more like pro football right now..

I grew up around College Football & I've had a chance this year to take a longer look at it..

I've had a couple good conversations with Chancellor Roberts & we'll see how it goes"

Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/DA40eXqL7i

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 9, 2024

Many parallels between NFL and college football

In any case, the transition from the NFL to college football would not be too great. “There are many football programs that are structured similarly to NFL programs. In college, you have recruiting at the high school level and the transfer portal. In professional football, you have the NFL Draft and free agency,” Belichick said.

“You have a salary cap and negotiations with NFL agents. In college, you negotiate with whoever represents the player. There are players who change teams in college, just as there are players who can change teams in the NFL. There are slightly different rules, but it’s the same general structure.”

NFL teams apparently have no interest in Belichick

A return to the NFL seems to be rather not an option at the moment. “Pro Football Talk” reports that Belichick is “very surprised” that he has not yet heard from NFL teams for whom he could have coached in 2025.

Three teams currently have vacancies: the New York Jets, the New Orleans Saints and the Chicago Bears. This report suggests that none of these teams have contacted Belichick.