Bill Belichick’s season opener as North Carolina’s head football coach in September was greeted with massive fanfare and high expectations. ESPN’s “College GameDay” descended on Chapel Hill along with Tar Heel royalty like Michael Jordan, Julius Peppers, and Lawrence Taylor.

But what was supposed to be the rebirth of a legend dissolved into an utterly disastrous season that ended with three straight losses for a 4-8 record and the first season in seven years to end without a bowl game invitation.

Meanwhile, Mr. Belichick, 73, was engulfed in nonstop controversy surrounding his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson, bewildering the UNC faithful and all but ending any chance of him returning to an NFL sideline.

As many as 10 teams could be searching for a head coach when the NFL regular season concludes next month, including the New York Giants who already have a vacancy. And though Mr. Belichick, who won a record six Super Bowls at the helm of the New England Patriots, said he has no intention of pursuing another job in the NFL, it might be his only chance to coach again if he wears out his welcome in Carolina.

What went wrong

Mr. Belichick vowed to operate a professional program when he made the stunning move to accept the head coaching position at North Carolina after being released in New England at the end of the 2023 season. His track record demanded respect. He had spent 24 years in New England, finishing with 333 career wins including the post-season, and five years before that as the head coach in Cleveland.

But a 48-14 season-opening loss to TCU on Labor Day was a prelude to a frustrating inaugural college campaign that ended with a 42-19 beatdown at the hands of rival North Carolina State. The Tar Heels, often overmatched and underprepared, had more double-digit losses than wins, losing five games by 16 or more points. Three of UNC’s wins came against struggling teams – Charlotte, Syracuse and Stanford — that posted a combined 8-28 record.

Most college coaches would followed the season’s sorry finish with a rah-rah speech that promised an improved team and future success – something that would reassure boosters, potential recruits and NIL contributors that better days lay ahead. The modern era of college athletics is all about selling a program, recruiting and presenting an optimistic front before the reporters and on social media.

Mr. Belichick did none of that. He resorted to the short, chippy answers that defined his dour personality in New England. He offered no explanation for the Tar Heels’ poor performance, rash of maddening penalties and the team’s overall inability to play winning football.

Though he was meeting with the media for the last time before heading into the offseason, he offered no hint of how he planned to improve things in an era where the college portal has given players the opportunity to pick and choose what schools they want to attend.

During a terse four-minute press conference following the loss to N.C. State, Mr. Belichick was asked if there was a common theme behind three straight losses to end the season. He simply answered: “I don’t know,” and “We’ve got to do a better job.” 

When pressed about eligibility meetings and the portal – key issues in today’s college landscape – he said, “The season just ended a few minutes ago, okay? So now we’re going to move into the offseason. That’s what we’re going to do.”

That level of condescension was accepted in New England while he was winning Lombardi trophies. But when quarterback Tom Brady left the building after the 2019 season, Mr. Belichick became a tired act that owner Robert Kraft finally couldn’t tolerate.

“The dismissive attitude works when a coach is winning,” the Pro Football Talk founder and analyst, Mike Florio, wrote. “When a coach is struggling, it has a much different feel. If he wants to avoid answering fair and reasonable questions from reporters on a regular basis, he should go coach high school lacrosse.”

It’s especially disingenuous now, given Mr. Belichick spent all of 2024 as a multimedia personality making weekly appearances on the Pat McAfee Show and with Eli and Peyton Manning during the ManningCast on Monday Night Football.

He was informative, critical and showed a sense of humor. Pepper Johnson, who played for Mr. Belichick and served as an assistant coach with the Patriots, told the Sun, “All those years dealing with the media he acted like he didn’t know anything and didn’t want to say anything, now I can’t turn the TV on without seeing him.”

Blame the girlfriend

Mr. Belichick had never coached on the college level when he signed a five-year contract worth an estimated $10 million per season with the first three years guaranteed. UNC likely didn’t know it was a package deal.

Ms. Hudson, a former cheerleader whom Mr. Belichick met on a plane in 2021, isn’t an employee of the university, but her influence on the program and the attention she commands has dominated headlines and social media.

Coaches’ wives and partners normally stay in the background, but Ms. Hudson constantly was seen in viral pictures mingling with coaches and players on the UNC sidelines before games, talking with the ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips, or pumping gas in a skimpy outfit.

She raised eyebrows when she cut off a CBS interview with Mr. Belichick when the subject of their relationship came up. And her public feuds with reporter Pablo Torres and Mr. Belichick’ daughter-in-law Jen Schmitt attracted additional attention.

Ms. Hudson has threatened to sue Mr. Torres, a podcaster, over reports about her – including one saying she had been banned from the Carolina athletic facilities, which the university denied. Yet, she wears a necklace with the word “Banned” dangling around her neck.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Post, Ms. Schmitt engaged in an hour-long rant in front of Mr. Belichick and Ms. Hudson in which she took shots at the 24-year-old’s fashion choices, her body, and the 49-year age gap with Mr. Belichick. The heated exchange reportedly took place near the coach’s office after a win over Stanford.

Ms. Schmitt, the wife of Mr. Belichick’s son and assistant coach Stephen Belichick, reportedly told Mr. Belichick to “choose your family or you choose Hudson.”

Is Tobacco Turning into a Dead End?

Mr. Belichick insists he’s staying at North Carolina for the long term. When the New York Giants fired Brian Daboll earlier this year, Mr. Belichick was mentioned as a possible replacement, having served the franchise as a defensive coordinator for the 1986 and 1990 Super Bowl teams.

He responded to the speculation by issuing a statement that said in part: “Despite circulating rumors, I have not and will not pursue any NFL head coaching vacancies.” He added, “My focus remains solely on continuing to improve this team, develop our players, and build a program that makes Tar Heels fans proud.”

North Carolina was 4-5 at the time, but lost three straight games to rivals Wake Forest, Duke and N.C. State, leaving Tar Heel fans far from proud.

There were other troubling issues as well. UNC had hoped a planned docuseries for Hulu would highlight the Carolina football program but Mr. Belichick and Ms. Hudson pulled out of the project after learning it would be a “deep dive” into their personal life.

A first-year secondary coach, Armond Hawkins, was suspended and later reinstated over allegations that he had violated NCAA rules tied to improper benefits. Multiple players were cited for reckless speeding. And UNC’s general manager for football, Michael Lombardi, was criticized for what was called an “exploratory fundraising trip” to Saudi Arabia.

The courts are also involved. Chris Clemens, a former executive vice chancellor and provost until he resigned in May, filed a lawsuit accusing North Carolina of violating the state’s open meetings law, citing issues including Mr. Belichick’s hiring.

The allegations, which the university denied, claim the board of trustees called an emergency closed session to discuss the terms of the contracts for Mr. Belichick and his coaching staff, which includes two of his sons.

“These discussions of institutional affiliation and departmental budget strategy are policy matters that must be conducted in open session,” the suit reads.

Mr. Clemens, who served as provost from 2021 through last May, said he was asked to resign after raising concerns unrelated to football about a closed meeting where he claimed the university’s tenure policy was improperly discussed. 

Once a legend; now a lightning rod

If UNC endures another disappointing and chaotic season in 2026, it might be Mr. Belichick’s last in Chapel Hill, leaving a return to the NFL as his only option if he wants to continue coaching.

Mr. Belichick is already a finalist for the next class to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but his landing a job, once viewed as a no-brainer, is now a long shot.

Prior to the 2024 season, he applied for several openings and was a finalist to be the Atlanta Falcons head coach, but the job went to Raheem Morris. Along with the Giants, NFL teams looking for a head coach this offseason might include Miami, Cleveland, Tennessee, Las Vegas, Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.

Though Mr. Belichick is 14 games short of the all-time NFL record for wins held by Don Shula at 347, coaching is about “What have you done for me lately,” and Mr. Belichick hasn’t done much. After Mr. Brady left New England, the Patriots went 29-38 over their last four seasons under Mr. Belichick, making the playoffs once. Now he’s 4-8 as a college coach with traditional and social media delivering unending coverage of his personal life.

According to Mr. Florio, that is a key reason why the Giants have no interest in hiring their former defensive coordinator away from Chapel Hill. NFL teams don’t like off-the-field distractions caused by their players, much less their coaches.

“While the Giants hiring Belichick likely wouldn’t have happened anyway,” Mr. Florio said, “the Giants have no interest in hiring a coach who has become a lightning rod for relentless coverage due to his relationship with Hudson.”

For now, the greatest coach of his generation finds himself fighting for relevance, drowning in off-field drama, and miles from the dominance that once defined him.