The start to Bill Belichick's tenure as the head coach at North Carolina is not going to plan. Through four games, the Tar Heels are 2-2 with two blowout losses to TCU and UCF, starting quarterback Gio Lopez—now hurt—has more turnovers than touchdown passes, and with a full stretch of ACC play now on the horizon, things could quickly go from bad to worse in Chapel Hill.
Given the quick downfall, many have given their opinion about the 73-year-old's turn to the college coaching ranks. The latest of which is former national champion head coach Gene Chizik, who was notably an assistant at UNC from 2015 to '23.
"I see a team that is so un-Bill Belichick-ish, if that makes sense," he told Outkick's Dan Dakich during an appearance on the network's Don't @ Me podcast. "They don't finish drives. They turn the ball over. They can't tackle. They give up explosive plays. Those are all the things that, when he was the head coach winning Super Bowls, those were the things you didn't see happen. And now they're coming, really, on a regular basis."
Auburn National Champion HC Gene Chizik on Bill Belichick 👀
— OutKick (@Outkick) September 23, 2025
"They don't finish drives. They turn the ball over. They can't tackle. They give up explosive plays... the guy always talked about eliminating distractions - and that's all you see there is distractions."@dandakich pic.twitter.com/lG8CEfoCz5
"So that would beg the question of this: Is it a coaching problem? Is it a roster problem?" Chizik continued. "He had 70 new guys come in there ... so yes, it does take time for things to come together, but now when you're talking about blatant missed tackles, blatant penalties, blatant explosive plays, blatant giving up sacks. All of the things that create negative outcomes to games, that's what's happening. And then the whole girlfriend distraction, all the stuff going on. The optics just are what they are, right? Is he really focused? Is he really focused like he was before? I don't know the answer to it, I'm just telling you what the optics look like. Those questions have to be asked ... The guys always talked about eliminating distractions, and that's kind of all you see there is distractions. So which one is it?"
He's not wrong, that's for sure.
From a hardly private relationship with who he's dubbed his "creative muse" in Jordan Hudson to banning New England Patriots scouts from his practices (despite calling his program "the 33rd NFL team" and a pipeline to the pros), Belichick's start at UNC has been thwarted with not only distractions, but bad football—something he's hardly been familiar with for the majority of his career as a head coach.
We'll see if the Tar Heels can get themselves back on track this weekend. They'll host the Clemson Tigers on Saturday for a 12 p.m. ET kickoff from Chapel Hill's Kenan Stadium.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Former UNC Coach Roasts Start to Bill Belichick Era: 'Is He Really Focused?'.
