Report: UNC Board Saw Bill Belichick Hire 'Akin' to Colorado Landing Deion Sanders

Some members of the UNC board of trustees believed the hire of Bill Belichick as the team's next head football coach was of a similar nature to Colorado bringing aboard Deion Sanders, per ESPN's David Hale, Andrea Adelson and Chris Low.

"According to several sources, board members viewed Belichick as something akin to Colorado's hiring of Deion Sanders -- a public relations and financial windfall that had the added benefit of improving the team on the field," the ESPN trio relayed.

That note was amid an in-depth piece about how UNC landed Belichick, who won eight Super Bowls in the NFL (two as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator, sixth as the New England Patriots' head coach).

Belichick took a year off after he and the Pats parted ways after the 2023 season, but he's back to school for the first time since his playing days at Wesleyan from 1971-1974.

Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, has been a great success at Colorado. Before his arrival, the Buffaloes went 1-11 in 2022. Colorado improved to 4-8 in 2023 before earning a 9-4 record and a No. 25 spot in the final Associated Press poll last year.

Obviously, much attention went Colorado's way even before Sanders coached his first game simply because of his celebrity. Per Colorado's athletics website, a crowd of 47,277 watched the team's 2023 spring game, and that attendance figure was more than all of but two of the Buffaloes' 2022 home contests.

UNC certainly hopes Belichick's arrival spurs sustained interest off the field and great success on it. The Tar Heels have finished in the Top 25 of the final AP poll just once in the past nine years. They also haven't won a bowl game since 2019.

Belichick certainly hopes to change that trend, with eyes on the team's first game, a home matchup against TCU on Sept. 1.