Bill Belichick in a Jan. 7, 2024 NFL game. Bill Belichick during a Jan. 7, 2024 NFL game. (David Butler II/USA Today Sports.)
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It looks like former NFL head coach and current ESPN NFL analyst Bill Belichick is likely to become the next head football coach at the University of North Carolina.

But the pathway to that point has been wild.

Wednesday’s discussion started with a report from ABC 11 (WTVD, a Durham-based owned-and-operated ABC affiliate serving the Research Triangle area) that Belichick’s hire was set to be approved by an emergency board of trustees meeting.

On that front, here’s that report from ABC 11. Of note, it came with only a general station byline rather than an attribution to any of their staff in particular:

Bill Belichick is expected to be named the next head football coach at the University of North Carolina.

Sources tell ABC11 that the UNC Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday to approve Belichick’s contract. Any official announcement requires Board of Trustees approval.

Since then, there has been significant talk of the Tar Heels being close to hiring Belichick. That was perhaps most notable with a report from Adam Smith of 247’s Inside Carolina:

In a stunning development that has progressed from implausible to an actuality, North Carolina is finalizing a contract to land Bill Belichick as its next football coach, Inside Carolina learned from multiple sources on Wednesday.

The NFL legend is regarded among the preeminent coaches in the history of the sport, if not at the top of the all-time greatest list. UNC’s Board of Trustees is working on putting together an emergency meeting to approve Belichick’s contract, according to sources (first reported by ABC11 WTVD). Pending approval from UNC’s Board of Trustees, he’ll replace the fired Mack Brown, who was dismissed 15 days ago by athletics director Bubba Cunningham.

And there was notable support for that from other reporters. That includes Ollie Connolly of The Guardian and Peggy Kusinski of ESPN Chicago, both important figures in the reporting on this to date.

Here’s what Kusinski posted on X on this Wednesday:

However, some of Connolly’s commentary on this from Tuesday and Wednesday featured more caveats:

And it’s worth noting that Wednesday saw other reporters push back on this a bit and made it clear there wasn’t yet a set board of trustees meeting:

The Athletic’s Chris Vannini had a good line on how this fits in with other college searches (and their often-unclear points of authority) versus the pros:

Following all that, though, both NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Schefter suggested this is indeed coming to pass:

While it does look like Belichick will get the UNC job now, this was still quite an odd day of reporting. It saw some saying the deal seemed done long before it actually was and others pushing back on if there would be any deal at all. But it did lead to some vindication for those, like Connolly, who took this seriously when others didn’t:

[ABC 11]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz