RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Bill Belichick stood at the microphone in a crowded room of reporters. North Carolina’s season had just ended with a lopsided loss to a fierce nearby rival to cap a four-win season.
And the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach wasn’t in much of a mood to talk about it.
A little more than four minutes’ worth, in fact.
“Look, the season’s just ended a few minutes ago, OK?” Belichick said after the 42-19 loss at N.C. State on Saturday night. “So now we’re going to move into the offseason. That’s what we’re going to do.”
UNC started the year with buzz and a national spotlight, teeming with optimism — or maybe merely hope — that the NFL icon could elevate the program into something more as a first-time college coach. By season’s end, Belichick had fielded a team that had more losses by double-digit margins (five) than total wins while offering frequent helpings of unwanted off-field headlines.
The final blow came in Raleigh, where the Wolfpack and coach Dave Doeren were all too eager to stick it to the Tar Heels for a fifth straight year in front of a typically rowdy home crowd. And this one sent the 73-year-old Belichick into the offseason with a final thud, armed with none of the silver-lining assessments that had followed modest gains shown in close losses or wins against some of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s worst teams.
He offered few insights, too, down to what message he gave his first college team after a season of expectations ended in ugly fashion.
“I’ll keep my message to the team between me and the team,” Belichick said.
On-field struggles
The Tar Heels (4-8, 2-6) closed the season with three straight losses to in-state league opponents, first at Wake Forest on Nov. 15 and then at home against Duke last weekend.
That capped a season that saw the Tar Heels lose five games by 16 or more points, starting with a 48-14 loss to TCU on Labor Day — which had drawn ESPN’s “College Gameday” to Chapel Hill and countless headlines about Belichick’s arrival at the college level.
That turned into merely the start of trouble, with the opening month including blowout losses at UCF and at home to a Clemson team that will finish with that program’s lowest win output in 15 years. UNC’s three wins were against Bowl Subdivision programs with a combined 8-28 record (Charlotte, Syracuse and Stanford).
That’s hardly in line with the expectations that followed the school hiring Belichick to a deal that included each of the first three seasons with a guaranteed $10 million in base and supplemental play, along with elevated investments in the program for staff and elsewhere. That notably included general manager Michael Lombardi saying the Tar Heels “consider ourselves the 33rd (NFL) team” in their pro-heavy influence and approach.
By the end?
“It’s hard to put in one word,” receiver Jordan Shipp said when asked how he would describe the season. “We didn’t expect the season to go like this, of course.”
Off-field hiccups
The headlines weren’t confined solely to game days.
There was Belichick banning scouts from the New England Patriots — the team he led to those six Super Bowls with Tom Brady — as part of his own acrimonious relationship with his former franchise.
There was the suspension of an assistant coach tied to NCAA rule violations. The school releasing terse statements from Belichick and athletic director Bubba Cunningham reaffirming the marriage between Belichick and UNC, itself a sign of how bumpy the first few weeks of Belichick’s tenure had gone.
There were midseason reports by WRAL-TV of Raleigh painting an image of turmoil behind the scenes as well as multiple players being cited for speeding or reckless driving. And there was the tabloid-level interest in Belichick’s relationship with 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson, a frequent sideline presence before games.
It all generated plenty of fodder for opponents to jab at the man many consider to be the greatest NFL coach of all time, one who holds 333 regular-season and playoff wins to trail only Don Shula (347) for the NFL record. And it frequently had Belichick fielding news conference questions that veered away from the sport he knows so well.
Saturday’s loss
Doeren knows Belichick’s history well. But he also understands the UNC-N.C. State rivalry between schools sharing the 919 area code and separated by roughly a 30-minute drive along Interstate 40.
It showed in the way his team jumped all over the Tar Heels, scoring touchdowns on all four first-half drives to lead 28-10 by the break.
Doeren, for the record, has now beaten UNC for five straight years and is 9-4 against the Tar Heels during his tenure in Raleigh. That includes now being 1-0 against Belichick, who was zipped up in a puffy navy blue winter coat bearing a light blue interlocking-UNC logo on this 34-degree night.
Belichick gave Doeren a quick midfield handshake afterward, offering no chance for chit-chat.
“It’s definitely something that motivated me,” Doeren said of the matchup. “I have a lot of respect for Bill. I mean, how do you not? He’s one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time. … There was pep in my step this week for sure. I wanted that win, the competitive part of me against him. It’s very meaningful.”
Players take lead
Once Belichick met with reporters, he deflected any big-picture questions about the season overall.
“We’ve been working on a team every week,” Belichick said. “I’m sorry I don’t have a season recap for you. I don’t have one, we haven’t done it.”
Rather, that left Shipp and linebacker Khmori House to take the lead in answering for what went wrong and what’s next.
“We showed glimpses, we just didn’t do enough to pull off some wins,” Shipp said, adding: “We know internally that we’re not as bad as our record shows.”
Both fielded questions from reporters longer than Belichick, with Shipp talking nearly twice as long (7 1/2 minutes). That included House being asked how he would describe this most unusual of seasons.
“I would describe it as a roller coaster, ups and downs,” he said, “but a lesson.”
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