Drama followed the NFL's greatest coach to college. Can Bill Belichick produce wins, too?

As Bill Belichick was winning six Super Bowls in 24 seasons with the New England Patriots, the coach’s teams came to establish certain baseline expectations

As Bill Belichick was winning six Super Bowls in 24 seasons with the New England Patriots, the coach’s teams came to establish certain baseline expectations.

They almost always throttled their divisional opponents and projected an air of exacting competency, all while imploring players to focus on football under a credo he repeated ad nauseam: “Do your job.”

For the first time since he was pushed out of New England in 2024, Belichick will coach a game, when the University of North Carolina faces Texas Christian University on Monday. Seeing Belichick on a sideline again feels familiar. What wasn’t was the disarray that surrounded him, particularly throughout the nine months since he took the job in Chapel Hill.

It’s why, on the heels of a tabloid-filled offseason for a coach considered the greatest of all time — when there was more news about his relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, than about his coaching — it’s anyone’s guess what will happen in his first college season.

“He’s going to teach you the right fundamentals, the right techniques. He’s going to have a high expectation for you and you’re going to develop a lot. That’s what I know,” former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said on Fox. “I think the challenge for him is he’s dealing with probably a lot of underdeveloped players because he’s dealt with guys that are four, five, six years further along than what he’s normally had to deal with. I think there’s probably a learning curve for him.”