Bill Belichick came to UNC, having never coached a CFB program before. Fortunately for him, college football is increasingly becoming like pro football. For starters, it would have been mighty difficult for him to implement the same strategy that he followed with the Patriots if the NIL or transfer portal weren’t there. In that case, he first had to know the recruiting game inside out and then hope that it worked out for him. But with NIL, say goodbye to those worries, and if he does it right, he might even surpass his biggest hurdle in the ACC.
Well, yes, we are talking about Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers. Although the program and its head coach are still among those elite ‘power’ programs and coaches, there has been a decline in their recent recruitment classes if you look closer. The 2025 class ranks 23rd nationally, and the 2024 class, while ranked 14th, didn’t show the Clemson that we were seeing when they were winning those national titles. The downgrade becomes quite real when you see Dabo Swinney’s classes from 2011 to 2023, which were ranked top 10 every year. What changed?
The problem was that nothing really changed at Clemson, and Dabo Swinney refused to bow down to the NIL current when it was introduced in 2021. In an interview, when Swinney was asked about Clemson’s NIL exploits, the head coach said, “We built this program on NIL. We really did. And it’s probably different than what you’re thinking of. We built this program in God’s name, image, and likeness.” Apart from that witty invocation of God, there was nothing optimistic in this statement. The head coach has refused to embrace the transfer portal, as Nate Wiggins, former Clemson CB, said, “He hates the portal.” So, this refusal to embrace the changes in college football from Clemson can benefit Belichick, but it won’t be easy.
Colin Cowherd, speaking on the May 29th episode of ‘CBS on Fox,’ provided just how Belichick can surpass the Clemson hurdle with his pro-ball model. “When you’re a basketball school, how do you catch Clemson? Well, you have to be a disruptor. So Clemson’s like, we’re not going to do the NIL thing. And that’s an opening. And so they say we’re going to do a pro model. We’re going to go total pro model, Lombardi, Belichick. It’s like when Oregon was looking up at USC and Washington, Phil Knight said, forget tradition. We’re going to have 1,000 uniforms.” And guess what? Belichick has everything, including his own experience, to replicate that pro-ball model.
Oregon, under Dan Lanning, has shown just how powerful NIL money is with the multimillion-dollar backing from the Nike founder Phil Knight. Not only has Oregon produced top ten classes consistently over the years, but last year, they went undefeated in the regular season. This alone shows that the NIL investment if done right, can turn around any program. However, for Belichick, doing that would be a cakewalk.
Yep, Dabo said that #NIL pic.twitter.com/rbWlImYcZU
— zach ragan (@zachTNT) December 21, 2022
Belichick has brought in Michael Lombardi, a former NFL GM, on $1.5 million per year, who has decades of experience in the business. Moreover, the program has been reported to have sidelined almost $13 million in NIL money from the $20.5 million cap of the House settlement. Add to that Belichick’s transfer portal moves and Pan-American high school recruiting focus. The future sure looks bright for Belichick.
Dabo Swinney, on the other hand, isn’t doing the transfer portal or the NIL game, and that means leverage for Belichick. It’s how Wiggins put it about Swinney: “If he doesn’t pay nobody, eventually they’re going to leave. So you ain’t going to have a team.” That being said, there’s still that $1 million concern that UNC will have to navigate.
$1 million trouble for UNC from Bill Belichick nears?
We all know how the whole Belichick and Jordon Hudson controversy boiled over the internet in recent weeks. There were all kinds of speculations and reports pointing fingers at Belichick for seeding control to his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. Pablo Torre even reported that Jordon was banned from UNC, which was later denied by the program in an official statement. However, all of this can lead to Belichick finally leaving the program this June if he wants to, due to the ongoing media speculations.
On June 1st, Bill Belichick’s UNC contract’s $1 million will become active, which will provide him an escape hatch if he wants to leave the program by paying the seven-figure sum. Mike Florio on NBC with Mike echoed a take where the UNC head coach can say enough and leave CFB for good. “I don’t think people appreciate the significance of June 1. On June 1, Bill Belichick has the power to write a check for a million dollars and walk away.” But will he leave UNC?
It’s unlikely that we could see him leave, since this is a head coach who never backed down from a challenge in the NFL, and his 8 Super Bowl rings are a testament to that. Moreover, in his pro-style model, if he fully adapts it, Jordon could even be beneficial for him, as Colin Cowherd said, “If they are officially a total pro model. And if that’s the case, then Jordon Hudson, she’s a social currency.” Belichick, for his 2026 class, has already roped in 15 commits and is looking to adopt that pro model fully, with even Michael Lombardi terming UNC as the 33rd franchise.
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