Despite being in his first season as a college coach, North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick is all too familiar with free agency. Before leaving the New England Patriots in 2023, the former NFL head coach spent the last three decades of his career negotiating contracts each offseason. “Dealing with the revenue share the NIL […]
Despite being in his first season as a college coach, North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick is all too familiar with free agency. Before leaving the New England Patriots in 2023, the former NFL head coach spent the last three decades of his career negotiating contracts each offseason.
“Dealing with the revenue share the NIL packages, agents, if you will, representatives of players, all those kind of things — that’s the life we’ve lived,” Belichick said on Wednesday. “We’re very comfortable with that.”
Beginning July 1, institutions were able to begin sharing revenue directly with student-athletes in fallout from June’s historic NCAA-House settlement. Each college institution at the power four level is able to distribute up to $20.5 million across its athletic department, with the majority of it going toward football.
Supposed to better help even the playing field, it gives North Carolina the same amount of revenue as any other team in the ACC, or across the NCAA to share with incoming transfers or recruits — or to help keep their current talent. The portal and NIL have gone hand-in-hand over the last half decade.
“We don’t have an unlimited amount of money,” Belichick continued. “Which, we didn’t have in the NFL either. So, you have to figure out how to distribute it and how to, let’s say, negotiate, and also manage the assets and the resources that you have — which are good here at Carolina. But again, it’s not like we have a blank checkbook, nor does any other team.
“So management of the team, the players, the salaries — or the payments that they get and so forth — are, again, something that we’ve we’ve dealt with for a long time. You have to value certain players in certain positions in order to afford to put together a good team.”
Figuring out how to manage this on a college football level could be a learning curve for Belichick. However, his experience and track record speak for themselves when it comes to running a football team. Despite this, the Tar Heels aren’t being picked to win the ACC or anything major in 2025. Only time will tell if how Belichick distributed this year’s allotment will work out in the same way.
North Carolina kicks off its 2025 season at home against TCU on Sept. 1, where Bill Belichick is looking to get his Tar Heels tenure off on the right foot. All eyes will be on the matchup, which will air live on ESPN.
Category: General Sports
