Bill Belichick is going back to school.
The 72-year-old coaching legend is making a shock move to the college ranks, finalizing a deal to join UNC as its head coach nearly a year after his split from the Patriots following 24 years and six Super Bowl victories, according to multiple reports.
The UNC Board of Trustees met Wednesday to approve Belichick’s contract, according to ABC 11 in North Carolina.
Belichick, who played collegiately at Wesleyan, has spent his entire 49-year coaching career in the NFL, though his father, Steve, was an assistant at UNH from 1953-55.
After his breakup with New England, Belichick interviewed for the Falcons job during the last coaching cycle but Atlanta hired Raheem Morris.
When he ended up without a coaching job, Belichick secured a bevy of media jobs for the 2024 season, which includes appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the ManningCast and “Inside the NFL.”
A potential lack of interest in the upcoming cycle may have led Belichick to Chapel Hill, where he’s taking over for the recently fired 73-year-old Mack Brown.
Known as a basketball school, the Tar Heels football program has just one double-digit-win season in the last 27 years and hasn’t won a conference title since 1980.
Belichick was most recently spotted on the red carpet for The Museum Gala at the American Museum of Natural History Thursday night in Manhattan with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
He reportedly met with UNC officials in Manhattan the same day.