Get out while the getting is good.
Paul Finebaum sends stark warning to Bill Belichick as UNC saga continues originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It’s never a good sign when six weeks into the season the head coach of a program and the top brass put out a statement essentially saying “Everything is all good, look away.” But when it comes to Bill Belichick and the University of North Carolina, the “vote of confidence” statement means they’re about to get down to business.
Paul Finebaum kept it a buck with Belichick on Thursday's episode of First Take. The message from the longtime ESPN analyst was simple. Leave or tarnish your reputation. “I think Bill Belichick would be wise to walk out now before the humiliation gets any worse,” Finebaum said.
"I think Bill Belichick would be wise to walk out now before the humiliation gets any worse." 😳
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) October 9, 2025
—@finebaum on Bill Belichick as UNC's head coach pic.twitter.com/QMaPKe734j
It’s not even a hot take to say the Bill Belichick experience has been an unmitigated failure. UNC finds themselves scrambling. They initially thought this would be a good idea, probably looking at Colorado hiring Deion Sanders and wanting to replicate the success he has had in Boulder. However they didn’t really think about the type of Coach Belichick is, and the type of program he would run in college. They also didn’t consider Belichick hiring “yes men” like Michael Lombardi to do whatever he’s currently doing. But it’s not being a competent general manager of a football program.
They didn’t consider Belichick bringing in his son, Steve, to be the defensive coordinator. According to WRAL, a parent of an UNC player said that Steve “...Has not talked to or had a conversation with most of the guys on defense… they don’t even have his number.”
The UNC program has been a toxic and selfish mess with Belichick running the show. What was once described to be “The 33rd team” has now devolved into a program that will damage the reputation of UNC for years to come, and dramatically have an effect on the future employment of the players there, be it in the NFL, or otherwise.
There isn’t an emphasis on developing young men into being great leaders, which is just as important to a college program as the on-field results. Most college players will never sniff a NFL field, those that do on average have a three-year career. The young men at any college program need mentorship and leadership just as much as they need to know how to read a defense, or how to run a triple option.
Never have we seen a legendary coach destroy his legacy the way Belichick has in this very short time in Chapel Hill. The only comparable is when Phil Jackson did whatever he tried to do with the New York Knicks.
The reports of Belichick wanting to lower the buyout amount to bounce from North Carolina spread like wildfire. The statement UNC and Belichick put out a few hours later just screams like damage control. But the old adage remains: When there’s smoke, there’s fire. And the smoke coming out of Chapel Hill might be a sign of a firing on the horizon.
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Category: General Sports
