Bill Belichick Says Super Bowl Titles Meant More to Him Than Chasing NFL Wins Record

Bill Belichick is heading to the college game just 15 wins short of surpassing Don Shula's NFL record of 347 victories.

That made his move to North Carolina a surprise to some, though Belichick expressed Monday that his six Super Bowl titles as a head coach were more important to him than the chance to set the all-time wins record.

"I never really gave that one a lot of thought, to be completely honest with you. It's not about wins to me, it's about championships," he said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. "That's what I wanna do, I wanna win championships. The wins are great, and you've gotta win games to win championships, I get that. But to me it's about championships and that's really what I'm most proud of."

Belichick also won two championships as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants between 1985-90.

The 72-year-old's decorated coaching career was entirely in the NFL until now, starting in 1975 as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts. He was then on the coaching staffs of the Detroit Lions (1976-77), Denver Broncos (1978) and Giants (1979-90) before becoming the head coach of the Cleveland Browns (1991-95).

His first stint as a head coach wasn't terribly fruitful. He went just 36-44 with the Browns, reaching the playoffs once.

From there, he spent a season with the New England Patriots as an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach (1996) before spending three seasons with the New York Jets as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach (1997-99).

He was supposed to succeed Bill Parcells as the Jets' head coach heading into the 2000 season but quit and sued both the NFL and organization to get out of his contract, in part because of his disdain for team owner Woody Johnson. He was ultimately traded to the Patriots, and the rest is history.

Now, Belichick is adding a new chapter to his long and storied coaching career, attempting to tame the wilds of the college game for North Carolina, traditionally a basketball school. It's a surprising new twist, but if ACC titles and berths in the College Football Playoff follow, both North Carolina and Belichick will be more than happy with his third act.