Bill Belichick Scores First Win for UNC Football as Head Coach

Bill Belichick has led the Tar Heels to their first victory of the season.

On Saturday, Sept. 6, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in their first away game of the season at Jerry Richardson Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The team defeated the 49ers, 20-3, in front of a record-setting crowd.

This marks UNC’s second win against the Charlotte-based school, after defeating the 49ers in 2024 with a score of 38-20. It also marks Belichick’s first win at the collegiate level after joining the school as its head football coach in December 2024.

The Tar Heels got off to a strong start, putting points on the board just 59 seconds into the first quarter, when wide receiver Chris Culliver scored a 51-yard touchdown on a three-play drive. The team later scored a field goal, giving them a 10-0 lead over the 49ers as the first quarter ended.

In the second quarter, the 49ers scored a field goal, and the Tar Heels scored a touchdown, plus an extra point kick, pushing the score to 17-3 as the game headed into halftime.

Both teams failed to score in the third quarter.

Having entered the final period maintaining the 17-3 lead, the game concluded with the Tar Heels securing a 20-3 victory.

“It’s always good to win. It’s hard to win,” Belichick said after the game, per Chapelboro. “We saw that last week. You’ve gotta do a lot of things right, and you’ve gotta do them better than your opponent. Tonight, we were fortunate to do that.”

Belichick’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson, did not appear to be in attendance to cheer her boyfriend, 73, and the Tar Heels to victory on Saturday.

This season got off to a rocky start on Monday, Sept. 1, as UNC took on TCU at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Though the stadium was packed with star-studded attendees, including Michael Jordan, Chase Rice, Roy Williams, Randy Moss and Hudson, the game ended in a blowout loss for Carolina as the TCU Horned Frogs won by 34 points. 

“It was a great atmosphere here for the game tonight. The fans had tremendous energy, we played competitively, but then just couldn’t sustain it,” Belichick told reporters after the game. 

“So obviously, we have a lot of work to do. You know, need to do a better job all the way around — coaching, playing, all three phases of the game just wasn’t up to what it needs to be. And I know we’re a lot better than that, so we’ll need to work on those things and show it on Saturday and turnaround. But give TCU credit, they came in, did a good job, and they were clearly the better team tonight. They deserved to win, and they did it decisively.”

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Belichick came to UNC after leaving the New England Patriots and failing to find a new landing spot in the NFL. He has said that his father, formerly a coach for the U.S. Naval Academy’s football team, was his inspiration for taking a collegiate coaching job.

“I enjoy it. I’ve always wanted to be in college football,” Belichick told the Boston Globe last month. “I grew up in college football. This is a great university, it’s a great opportunity here. The kids are great, they work hard, they want to be good, and they try. Working with a lot of people I like to work with, and I enjoy coming to work every day. That’s an important quality of life.”

He also took a thinly-veiled dig at his former boss, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, as he talked about what he likes about college versus the NFL.

“There’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son, there’s no cap, everything that goes with the marketing and everything else, which I’m all for that. But it’s way less of what it was at that level,” Belichick said. “Generic NFL teams, you have the owner, president, general manager, personnel director, college director, pro director, cap guy, some other consultant, then head coach.

“I’d say when we had our best years in New England, we had fewer people and more of a direct vision. And as that expanded, it became harder to be successful,” he added.

Next up, UNC is set to take on the University of Richmond on Saturday, Sept. 13, at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.