Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith are thrilled for Bill Belichick to land the head-coaching gig for the North Carolina Tar Heels. The biggest coaching hire in recent memory, Belichick is returning to football but not the NFL. For the first time in his 50-year career, he’s headed to college, officially named Wednesday evening the Tar Heels’ next head coach. Reacting to the news like everyone else, Tomlin and Smith endorsed the move.
“I think it is awesome,” Tomlin said Thursday on The Pat McAfee Show. “I had a couple of sons that played college football. I would’ve sent my boys down there to play for him in a hurry. You know they’re going to be instructed. You know that their football intellect is gonna be developed, the skills relative to the positions that they play.
“Man, I think he’s gonna be great for that place and great for college football.”
Both of Tomlin’s sons have wrapped up their college careers. One son, Mason, finished his a career at Columbia in 2023 while Dino will play his final college game later this month for Boston College after beginning his tenure at Maryland.
Belichick’s time at North Carolina will be under the microscope. Can the 72-year-old coach connect with college athletes? Can he navigate the game’s changing landscape, now dominated by NIL money and transfers? Will his tough style of coaching work on a 19-year-old who could leave at a moment’s notice? All answers will come in time.
Before there was Belichick, there was Arthur Smith. Reportedly high on the school’s list, Smith admitted he had a conversation with North Carolina, the school he played and briefly coached for. But he declined to pursue the job any further. Speaking to reporters during his usual Thursday session, Smith was excited over the news.
“Got a lot of wisdom he can carry over,” Smith said via 93.7 The Fan. “Why wouldn’t you want to go learn from him? Great coach and teacher first.”
“I think it’s awesome. It’s great even for the whole game of football,” Smith said via a team-provided transcript. “You’re talking about somebody that’s won more than any coach in the history of the game. The college game has changed. The times I’ve had conversations with him about a lot of things in the last couple years, I’ve learned something every time. He’s a teacher of the game. He’s got a lot of wisdom that should carryover.
“Why wouldn’t you want to go learn the game of football from him, because like any great coach, he’s a teacher first, and really still a student. When I studied Jim Mattis, guys that have a lot of practical wisdom. I’m fired up for the university. I’m sure he’ll do a really good job.”
New reporting from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham indicates that Belichick took the job for multiple reasons. One, he’ll have total control over the football program, something an NFL team would be unlikely to give him. Already, Belichick has hired good friend and former GM Michael Lombardi to serve as the football team’s general manager. More inner-circle additions are likely to follow, including son Stephen Belichick and former OC Josh McDaniels.
Two, Belichick believed UNC was his best chance to become a head coach again, unlikely to land an NFL job for a second-straight year. That would’ve led to more speculation Belichick’s coaching days had passed him by.
Coaching is a small fraternity and anyone landing a job is good news. Still, perhaps the excitement from Tomlin and Smith come from the recognition they won’t have to coach against Bill Belichick again.
