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Bill Belichick’s inaugural season in college football didn’t go how he and the North Carolina Tar Heels hoped, finishing 4-8 and 2-6 in ACC play in 2025.
Nonetheless, the championship pedigree remains in Chapel Hill because of who the head coach is. Belichick’s eight career Super Bowl victories, six as head coach of the New England Patriots, holds reverence even if his first year with the Tar Heels wasn’t what anyone expected.
Belichick’s mindset, though, doesn’t think in terms of championship or bust despite what his career track record says.
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Head coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on prior to a game against the UCF Knights at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 20, 2025. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Ahead of his second season with UNC, Belichick, speaking on “Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” explained how he approaches a hopeful bounce-back campaign in 2026.
“Our goals are much more short-term than that, as were our goals in the NFL,” he told Hannity. “We never talked about Super Bowl this year or last year. Whatever was done is done, and until we got to the game, it wasn’t really relevant. There were too many steps that needed to be taken in between. It’s the same thing for me at North Carolina.
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“Right now, our goal is to get ready for training camp in August and what do we need to do between now and then with coaching and player preparation, coaching strategy. Based on what we know about our team, how things do we want to modify, what we did in the spring, and so forth. How do we have a good week, and then if we have a good week, what can we do to ramp up the next week to improve on that? Eventually keep trying to gain on higher ground.”
Belichick admitted that the team’s “long-term goal” is to obviously compete well enough to enter the College Football Playoff and play for a national title one day.
North Carolina football head coach Bill Belichick and General Manager Michael Lombardi look on from the sideline during the game against Texas Christian University at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sept. 1, 2025. (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“But that’s so far in the distance,” he added. “What’s more important it to take advantage of today, and tomorrow, and this week. Those are really our goals – how do we maximize these few days?
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“If we don’t take care of the daily steps, we won’t accomplish much.”
Belichick was known for his “no days off” mantra with the Patriots, but it’s similar here in the sense that he’s focused on how to get better each day instead of looking too far ahead.
Bill Belichick watches the Miami Hurricanes play the Indiana Hoosiers during the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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After their disappointing season, Belichick and his staff at UNC also took advantage of the transfer portal, bolstering key positions, edge rusher and tight end especially, to give them a better chance to improve.
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