North Carolina’s pursuit of Bill Belichick received no shortage of media coverage.
But no outlet was on top of the story more than Inside Carolina.
Not only was the 247Sports affiliate the first to break the stunning news that UNC had interviewed Belichick for its head coaching vacancy, but it was also the first to definitively report that the hiring was happening. On Thursday, Inside Carolina’s Taylor Vippolis — who also serves as a producer on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz — appeared on The Paul Finebaum Show, where he explained how his outlet landed the inside scoop.
“I’m pretty plugged into the North Carolina program,” Vippolis explained. “I played football for North Carolina and with Inside Carolina, the team does such a great job there at sourcing. And we had this story and we put it out that the contract was getting finalized.
“There was some pushback from national guys saying, ‘No, the contract’s not done. There’s a lot to still be worked out.’ And Inside Carolina kind of stuck to their guns saying, ‘No, this has been finalized. The T’s have been crossed, the I’s have been doted and Bill Belichick’s going to be the next head coach for North Carolina.'”
After Finebaum sarcastically stated that he couldn’t imagine “the national guys would try to step on a smaller guy and take credit for a story,” Vippolis namechecked one of ESPN’s biggest stars while on ESPN airwaves.
“I don’t want to call out Adam Schefter. I think Schefty’s a great guy,” Vippolis said. “But Inside Carolina, I think, was first to the beat.”
“Listen, I don’t want to call out Adam Schefter. I think Schefty is a nice guy. But but I think Inside Carolina was first to the beat.” @tvippolis joins Paul Finebaum about breaking the Bill Belichick news. pic.twitter.com/7V2nagaNUO
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) December 13, 2024
To Vippolis’ point, Schefter, Pete Thamel, and Chris Low’s ESPN story regarding North Carolina hiring Belichick didn’t include any attribution or reference to Inside Carolina being first on the story. Obviously, ESPN’s insiders have their own sources and presumably confirmed the news independently. Still, it’s typically common courtesy to cite other outlets when they break news before you do.
Clearly, there was some sort of disconnect between Inside Carolina’s information and Schefter’s, as the ESPN insider reported that the two sides were still working through “issues” nearly two hours after the 247Sports affiliate reported the deal was being finalized. One could argue that’s a matter of semantics. But to Vippolis’s point, Inside Carolina stood by its reporting, which was ultimately proven correct — although you wouldn’t have known it if you only read ESPN’s coverage of the monumental story.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.