Former NFL coach Bruce Arians offers advice to Bill Belichick as North Carolina football coaching rumors swirl

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has spent much of the ongoing NFL season in the media spotlight. 

While Belichick interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons in January, the franchise opted against extending an offer to a coach. Belichick did not appear to draw much interest from any other NFL team, but his regular appearances on ESPN’s “ManningCast” and the CW’s “Inside the NFL” have kept him relatively close to football.

But the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach seems to still be interested in coaching. 

During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” earlier this week, Belichick confirmed he had talks with the North Carolina Tar Heels about their head coaching vacancy.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians before a game against the Chicago Bears at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., Oct. 24, 2021. (Kim Klement/USA Today Sports)

While it remains unclear if Belichick will be on the sideline in Chapel Hill next season, another former NFL coach chimed in on the developing situation.

Bruce Arians, who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in the 2021 Super Bowl, admitted he was “very surprised” his contemporary showed interest in coaching at the collegiate level. Arians also offered Belichick some advice.

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“I’m very, very surprised. I thought for sure he’d wait for the NFL hiring process to play out,” Arians said during a recent appearance on the “Scoop City” podcast. “There’s some good things in going back to college, but I had no patience with rookies. I damn sure don’t have patience for freshmen.” 

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick twirls his whistle during a practice Sept. 18, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass.  (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Arians and Belichick are both 72. Arians stepped away from coaching and moved into a consultant’s role with the Bucs in 2022.

“If I’m gonna give Bill one bit of advice, you better bring a lot of patience with you,” Arians said. “Dealing with rookies making money, but now freshmen making money? It’s gotta be ridiculous trying to coach those guys.”

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gives instructions from the sideline during the second half against the Los Angeles Chargers Oct. 31, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Arians’ coaching career began at the college level. He spent time working for Mississippi State, Alabama and other programs.

If Belichick winds up at UNC or another college program, he will have to carefully navigate name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal. The NCAA transfer portal opened earlier this week. NIL and the portal have drastically altered the college football landscape over the past couple of years.

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Belichick shared some details about the makeup of a college program if he were a head coach.

“If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” he said. “It would be a professional program — training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that would transfer to the NFL.”

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