Bill Belichick Says He's Had 'Good Conversations' With UNC Chancellor Amid HC Rumors

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick confirmed he has had a "couple of good conversations" with North Carolina about their coaching vacancy.

Belichick said Monday on The Pat McAfee Show he has done some due diligence to prepare for what would be his first college coaching job. He refrained from offering any specifics about a recent meeting with UNC chancellor Lee H. Roberts.

The six-time Super Bowl champion effectively offered a sales pitch centered around turning the Tar Heels into an NFL-centric program.

Belichick closed by saying, "We'll see," in reference to the job.

ESPN's Pete Thamel and Chris Low reported Monday that the legendary head coach was maintaining a dialogue with North Carolina. He and the school could reach a final decision later this week.

Belichick's success in the NFL speaks for itself. He helped build a dynasty in New England and is the greatest coach of the modern era.

But working in the pros isn't correlative to coaching in college, even with college football's evolution toward a more pro model with increased player movement and new methods of athlete compensation.

In 2017, Arizona State announced a new "restructured ASU football model" with retired NFL coach Herm Edwards leading the team. The Sun Devils wanted to run things more like an NFL team in a bid to set themselves apart.

The experiment was a disaster. Edwards' 26-20 record over five seasons doesn't do justice to the terrible state in which he left the team.

Maybe ASU was simply ahead of its time and identified the wrong head coach, but Belichick's interview on Monday sounds an awful lot like the vision Edwards and then-athletic director Ray Anderson tried to lay out in Tempe, Arizona.

There's also the fact that other, much more successful schools can already make a compelling pitch to elite high school recruits and players in the transfer portal as a finishing ground for the pros.

Belichick's idea for North Carolina sounds great in theory, but how long would it take the Tar Heels to start winning recruiting battles against the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oregon and Ohio State?

But who knows what will and won't work as we approach a totally new era for college football. Maybe North Carolina will discover a formula that puts the school ahead of the curve by leaning all the way into an NFL culture and organizational structure.