When the University of North Carolina hired Bill Belichick to become the school’s new head football coach last December, the expectations and praise were high. That is to be expected. This was A Big Deal™.
The local media might have also gotten caught up in the moment as well. That, too, was more or less to be expected. Because, again, this was A Big Deal™.
And though Belichick’s $10 million salary raised some eyebrows, and though the spring and summer may have brought some less-than-excellent attention to Belichick and — by extension — the university, it was all going to be worth it once the games were played in the fall.
Well, about that. The games began on Monday night. And it wasn’t pretty.
With ESPN in town for an extended pregame show, and with major sports celebrities in attendance, and with millions of people locked in to UNC football for the first time since … possibly ever, the world witnessed a beatdown. A drubbing. A 60-minute stretch of cringeworthy football that might have made even the world’s biggest Belichick hater feel a little bit of sympathy for the 73-year-old. (OK, probably not.)
Inside a stadium that was half-empty by the middle of the third quarter and almost completely abandoned by the final whistle, the TCU Horned Frogs beat the Tar Heels 48-14 in Chapel Hill. And it wasn’t even that close.
This was Another Big Deal™.
That’s true in New England, where millions of interested spectators will keep a watchful eye over the former Patriots coach on what could be his final endeavor in the coaching world. But it’s obviously a much bigger factor in Carolina, where Belichick was supposed to deliver some major success for a program that sorely needs it.
With that in mind, it’s worth perusing some of the coverage in the Raleigh-Durham area and beyond to see how the local media is reacting to that debut.
The headline for Luke DeCock of The Charlotte Observer reads, “For its millions upon millions, North Carolina got sold a Bill of goods.” The story was filled with zingers that might even make Dan Shaughnessy blush.
A sampling:
- “Forget the cut-off sleeves. The alleged football genius got pantsed in his college debut.”
- “Belichick and his brain trust promised the 33rd NFL team and yes, this was certainly at the level of what the Cleveland Browns annually perpetrate on their fans.”
- “He was the answer, the solution, the personification of football expertise, and befitting a man of such stature, Belichick was escorted by a phalanx of three state troopers and a campus cop — a security detail bigger than the governor’s, even though they’ve won the same number of games at North Carolina. (Belichick does get paid more.)”
Fellow Observer writer Shelby Swanson played it a bit more down the middle but still noted that some of the on-field bloopers from UNC were “so bad they drew laughter in the press box.”
A little down the road from Chapel Hill, The Fayetteville Observer went with wall-to-wall coverage of the game. Some headlines from their site include:
At Chapelboro.com, Art Chansky’s column — titled “Balloon Burst” — zeroed in on Belichick’s decision to start Gio Lopez at quarterback over Max Johnson.
“And wasn’t that a factor in awarding the starting position to Lopez, who apparently looked so good in practice against an unready defense that he got the nod over a two-time SEC starting QB? According to Belichick, he had,” Chansky wrote. “Johnson must have been recouping for most of training camp because over the last 16 minutes of the game he had a stronger arm, quicker release and far better results than Lopez.”
One game recap from The Daily Tar Heel — UNC’s on-campus student newspaper — said that at a certain point, “it seemed like UNC had given up.”
The local TV markets of course entered the fray as well.
At WRAL, the local NBC affiliate, Brian Murphy’s analysis piece was titled, “Blowout loss raises big questions about Belichick era at North Carolina.” Murphy posed many questions, including the most critical one: “Did UNC, in its quest for football relevance and splash, buy a depreciating asset?”
Another string of questions led to a minor existential crisis.
“Things appear a lot different in light of the Tuesday morning hangover,” Murphy wrote. “The questions aren’t so lofty now. Can this team get bowl eligible? Who is the quarterback? What have we done?”
WRAL’s Pat Welter said in his postgame report, “Yeah, Bill Belichick went back to school, and he got a failing grade in this one. I don’t know how else to sugarcoat it.”
Welter added: “They’re playing on overreaction Monday, quite literally: Arch Manning is a bust. Bill Belichick is a hack. He’s over the hill. He’s washed. Do I necessarily think that’s true? No, but my flags are raised a little bit, and I’ll tell you why. It was a rocky start here, right? The Jordon Hudson stuff, if you want to get into the soap opera, you can. I think at a minimum, what that raised to me was a potential lack in judgment, potential lack in how dialed in he is at this point in his career at 73 years old. And I think those are fair questions to gauge. And when the team comes out and plays like this, it kind of puts some fuel on that fire.”
Welter wasn’t done, comparing Belichick’s debut at UNC to Matt Rhule’s failed jump from college to the NFL.
“Belichick came into Carolina with that same kind of attitude — the 33rd NFL team,” Welter said. “Sure as heck weren’t the 33rd NFL team tonight. So I think he got — hopefully — humbled a little bit.”
Are the teeth fully out down in North Carolina? Perhaps not yet. And they likely won’t be shown for a bit, as UNC will next face the University of Charlotte 49ers, who are 37-79 in their program history and who lost 34-11 to Appalachian State in their season opener. After that, Belichick’s Tar Heels will take on the FCS-level Richmond Spiders, who lost to Lehigh in their season opener.
Those should be wins for UNC. The game against UCF in Week 4? That could be interesting. But the Week 5 meeting with Clemson offers another opportunity for pitchforks to be raised in and around Chapel Hill.
The initial reaction to an ugly debut showed the sunshine and rainbows of the spring and summer have given way to some harsh and blunt realities in the fall.
