North Carolina is finalizing a deal to hire Bill Belichick as its next head coach, Inside Carolina reported Wednesday.
Belichick, 72, will be among the oldest head coaches ever hired by a major college football program, and undoubtedly the most accomplished. Fifteen wins away from the NFL record, Belichick owns six Super Bowl rings as a head coach and two more as a defensive coordinator.
Armed with a 400-page "Bible," Belichick pitched North Carolina on his plan to NFL-ize the Tar Heels program.
"Let me put this in capital letters, if, I-F, if I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL. It would be a professional program -- training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques, that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level, and an education that would get the players ready for after football. It would be geared toward developing the player, discipline, time management, structure and all that, life skills, regardless of whether you're in the NFL or somewhere in business," Belichick said on Pat McAfee's show Monday.
If completed, the North Carolina head coaching position would be Belichick's first college job in any capacity.
It's been widely reported that Belichick would bring his son Steve, currently Washington's defensive coordinator, along in a head coach-in-waiting capacity, though that has not been articulated by Belichick himself.
"I feel very confident that I have the contacts in the National Football League to pave the way for those players to have the opportunity to compete in the National Football League," Belichick said Monday. "They would be ready for it, I don't have any doubt about that. It would be an NFL program, but not at the NFL level."
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
Update> Adam Schefter reports this deal isn't quite done and issues remain to be worked through.