Well, it looks like we’ve got a family reunion happening in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Steve Belichick, currently the defensive coordinator for Jedd Fisch and the Washington Huskies, will be leaving Seattle to join his dad (a former NFL head coach that you may be familiar with named Bill Belichick) and serve as the defensive coordinator for the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Fantastic, real heartwarming stuff of a father and a son being united again around the holidays. The sort of stuff that you see in a classic holiday movie. Steve Belichick is leaving the big city of Seattle to go join the family business in a small *checks notes* city (town? Is Chapel Hill formally known as a city or a town?) in North Carolina.
Which, you know, is one way of looking at things.
Steve Belichick, the son of North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, will be the new defensive coordinator at UNC, per reports.
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 22, 2024
Belichick will join the Tar Heels after Washington’s bowl game. pic.twitter.com/3pCMsC8F4L
The whole deal is a little weird, partially because apparently reports were floating that Bill was negotiating to make his son the head coach in waiting and also partially because North Carolina just picked up a fairly notable transfer portal linebacker from the Huskies.
But this coaching move makes some sense for Steve, even without the whole report of possibly getting the inside track to becoming a head coach at a major college football program.
Washington Huskies losing defensive coordinator Steve Belichick to North Carolina Tar Heels and his dad Bill Belichick
Coaching defenses in the ACC should (at least theoretically speaking) be a little easier than in the Big Ten and his dad is already establishing an intriguing program in place for him to join as the defensive coordinator.
In addition to the in-state recruiting opportunities he’ll have in North Carolina, he’ll have access to fertile recruiting grounds throughout the South, which certainly includes Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis. Oh, and his dad being there will help with the program’s attempts at recruiting talent nationwide.
Add in the possibility of being promoted to head coach in the somewhat near future and things look good for Steve Belichick.
It sucks the Huskies are losing a talented, young defensive coordinator after his defense was a bright spot on multiple occasions this season, but that happens. Fisch should be in a decent position with all of the connections he has throughout the coaching community to land someone solid to replace Belichick.