Do The Heels Have The Belichick Blues Yet?

When UNC opted to replace 73-year-old Mack Brown with New England Patriots legend Bill Belichick, also now 73, it didn’t really make sense to us. No matter how great Belichick was with the Patriots, he’s now 73 as well and at a minimum, he’s not a long-term hire. And he’s never coached college football before. The principles are the same, but there are a lot of differences. We figured there was a chance this could turn into a circus and that was before Jordon Hudson, Belichick’s half-century younger girlfriend, became a bug, not a feature, of the program.

That seems to be underway.

With UNC now just 2-2, with wins over Charlotte and Richmond, hardly Titans of college football, and heavy losses to TCU and UCF, compounded by the controversial relationship between Belichick and Hudson, who is young enough to be his granddaughter, and one more factor that may not be thoroughly understood, even at this late date: Belichick has always been disrespectful to the media. And now, the media is beginning to return the disrespect.

How’s that happening? Well…

Over at the News & Observer, Luke DeCock gets off one of the best lines we’ve seen in a story in a while, saying this: “In theory, a week off means a week the North Carolina football program can go without embarrassing itself, although there are certainly no guarantees. In two games against quality opponents under Bill Belichick, the Tar Heels have been humiliated by TCU and UCF, and it’s fair to wonder WTF at this point.”

And now the media has a new chance to feast on Belichick and his program as a lawsuit has been filed about how he was hired. And this is not by some nobody: the suit has been filed by Former UNC Provost Chris Clemens, who alleges that the university has been conducting what should be public business behind closed doors and not just for the Belichick hire. He alleges the discussions about realignment have also been held privately, in apparent violation of state law. You can read more details here, but it’s not a nice look for the school.

And here’s the kicker: for years, Belichick treated the New England media – all media, really – with contempt. He’s kept that pattern in Chapel Hill. His massive success with the Patriots allowed him to get away with being a jerk, but with his team struggling in a way that even good friend Urban Meyer finds astounding, the media is beginning to return that contempt.

If things don’t get better on the field soon, it’s going to be a bumpy ride for Belichick and the UNC power structure.