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.
NC 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 ACC’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).
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.
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 (7½ 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.»
