If Bill Belichick is truly interested in coaching college football for the first time, Nick Saban thinks he could be a success in the sport’s new era.
News that Belichick has had two meetings this week with North Carolina about the Tar Heels’ open coaching position was met with both surprise and skepticism. Some immediately thought Belichick might be using the news as leverage to help him secure a better contract coaching an NFL team. Others are convinced he wouldn’t be wasting his time talking with North Carolina if he weren’t truly interested.
Assuming the latter is the case, that raises one big question: Can Belichick, who will be 73 next fall and has no college coaching experience, be successful at that level?
Nick Saban believes Belichick could make it work. He talked about Belichick Friday on The Pat McAfee Show.
“Bill is an outstanding coach,” Saban said. “He’s very well-organized. He’s a good teacher. I think he relates well with the players. So I think he would do a great job in college.”
Saban knows Belichick well. He served as the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns for four seasons under head coach Belichick in the early 1990s. Saban also knows how hard it can be to jump between the college and pro level. He posted a lackluster 15-17 record coaching the Miami Dolphins in 2005-2006.
But Saban thinks Belichick would be arriving at the perfect time in the college ranks. The NIL/transfer portal era has dramatically changed the game. No longer do coaches have to establish recruiting ties with high school stars. Boosters offering fat NIL contracts do all the heavy lifting in that area now.
Belichick would be expected to coach a roster of talented players, something the GOAT NFL coach knows well.
“The only thing that would be different is recruiting,” Saban said. “But as you say, relationship-building is not as important — not that Bill wouldn’t be good at that — now that you pay players. I think it becomes a little bit more about the money and the deal that you make with them. So it is a little bit more like pro football.
“And I think Bill knows how to manage that and would do a good job.”
“Bill Belichick is an outstanding coach and I think that he would do a great job in College..
College Football is a lot more like the NFL now as well” ~ Coach Saban #PMSLice pic.twitter.com/DnlQDgHED3
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 6, 2024
Although no one saw “college football head coach” as a possibility on Belichick’s 2025 agenda, Saban thinks it could work. He understands North Carolina’s interest.
“It doesn’t surprise me when you have a coach of his caliber, quality, consistency, and success for a lot of years that it wouldn’t be somebody people would consider,” Saban said.
[Pat McAfee]
