CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WGHP) —
A piece written by ESPN’s David Hale, Andrea Adelson and Chris Low has revealed new details in the whirlwind process that led to Bill Belichick being named head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to ESPN, Belichick reached out to “longtime friend” Secretary of State Marco Rubio who then spoke with Thom Tillis who got the ball rolling on the idea of the NFL legend coming to Chapel Hill. Tillis himself spoke with ESPN and confirmed that he then called Phil Berger after speaking with Rubio and the plan to get Belichick to UNC was off to the races. “Rubio follows the sports world pretty closely, and he called me and said, ‘There’s a chance Belichick would come to Chapel Hill,'”
Tillis told ESPN . “He said, ‘He wants a school with a great academic reputation, and he wants to try to build a program to bring them a national championship. I said, ‘Well, let me go [make some calls].'” ESPN reports a more direct overture from Belichick’s camp followed on Nov. 12 when now-UNC Chapel Hill football general manager Michael Lombardi reached out to athletic director Bubba Cunningham to gauge his interest in hiring the 6-time Super Bowl winner. When asked by ESPN for a comment on the roles Tillis, Berger and Rubio played in the hire, UNC chancellor Lee Roberts did not affirm their involvement but did state that he has “been really pleased with the support we’ve gotten across the board” in regards to Belichick’s hiring.
His father Steve
Belichick’s father, Steve Belichick served as an assistant coach at UNC in the 1950s before spending over 30 years as an assistant coach at United States Naval Academy. Belichick has cited his father as the man who inspired him to become a football coach. “He wanted to be with me, and I wanted to be with him,”
Steve said of a young Belichick to the Washington Post in 2005 . “He was probably 5 or 6 years old when he started to get interested. The three of us drove down to William & Mary to scout a spring game because we were going to play them in the next year, and that’s when I remember him showing his first interest. I’d take him to games with me when I could. He was always interested in what I was doing. He was never a bother.” Steve died in Nov. 2005, but Belichick still strives to keep his father’s legacy alive many years later. He wore his father’s fedora ahead of the Patriots’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. “It’s my dad’s hat,”
Belichick said to the media during the opening night festivities, according to ESPN . “That’s who I learned from, working hard, doing your job, paying attention to details, treating the players as fairly and honestly as you can treat them. If it’s good, it’s good, if it’s bad, it’s bad. Just being honest with them. I would say all of those things I got from a lot of coaches, but I certainly got it from him.” Belichick’s arrival in North Carolina will grant him the chance to win at a place where his father cut his teeth as a young coach. Schefter reported on “The Pat McAfee Show” that; “There’s a sentimental tie with his father having been there [at UNC].”
A photo of Belichick as a child inside Kenan Stadium was even revealed during Belichick’s appearance on the show.
Lawrence Taylor
As mentioned earlier, Belichick made his name in professional coaching as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants in the 1980s working under Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. During that time, Belichick got to coach Lawrence Taylor, a player that many consider to be the greatest defensive player in the history of football.
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“I would just say I wouldn’t put anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor, period,”
Belichick said, according to CBS Sports . “Maybe I’m prejudiced but I saw that guy every day for over a decade and he tilted the field for a decade. Until somebody does that, and there’s a lot of great players. I’m not taking anything away from anybody else. There’s a lot of great players that have been in this league, that are in this league, but personally, I’m not putting anybody ahead of Lawrence Taylor. Not yet.” Before he starred in the NFL though, Lawrence Taylor spent his college days in Chapel Hill.
