CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — (AP) — Bill Belichick had a quick chuckle as he recalled the unusual practice settings when he took the NFL's New England Patriots to play in London. That included holding a walk-through practice in the middle of the public Hyde Park.
“People were walking by, walking their dogs and doing their thing and all that,” Belichick said with a grin Wednesday.
It's a moment that lingers with Belichick more than a dozen years on now as a first-time college coach at North Carolina. It's the kind of unique memory he pointed to when discussing the Tar Heels playing TCU in Ireland to open the 2026 season, along with illustrating why the school has bet big on the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach.
“This game is just another example of the kind of profile, the kind of opportunities that we’re hoping to have through our investment in the football program,” chancellor Lee Roberts said at a campus news conference, the day after the game was announced.
More specifically, the investment Roberts cited is on Belichick, who turned 73 last week.
UNC hired him in December while committing to more spending on coaches and staff positions, notably with Belichick due to make $10 million for each of the next three seasons in guaranteed base and supplemental salary alone. The hope is that Belichick builds a winner in football — the revenue-driver when it comes to college sports and TV deals — at a school best known for its blueblood men's basketball program.
Belichick's arrival has, at the least, elevated the Tar Heels' football profile. That's partly due to his success at the sport's highest level. But it's also based on the curiosity of seeing him toil through the chaotically changing landscape of college athletics, where rosters can turn over seemingly overnight with players constantly on the move through the transfer portal compared to a more structured and contract-driven stability that comes in the NFL.
His first game comes against TCU at home on Labor Day in a college version of Monday Night Football. Now the return game in what was to be a home-and-home series is headed to Dublin for August 2026, potentially a well-timed showcase event as the Atlantic Coast Conference moves to a revised revenue-distribution model with schools earning more money for generating higher TV ratings.
Consider: Georgia Tech's win against Florida State in Dublin last August marked the most-watched "Week Zero" game since 2019 and top college-football draw on cable all season.
“I do think the success the program has had, the hiring of Coach Belichick, the timing of it's perfect,” athletic director Bubba Cunningham said, noting the Tar Heels had sold out their season tickets for this fall. “The schedule for TCU worked out well for them that they were willing to move a home game. So it just came together at this time."
As for Belichick, he coached the Patriots four times in NFL regular-season play, according to Sportradar. They won games in London in 2009 (against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and 2012 (against the then-St. Louis Rams), as well as one in Mexico City in 2017 (against the then-Oakland Raiders). Belichick's Pats lost to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany in 2023, his final season with the franchise.
“Those games stand out, so specially to me, that there just wasn't another one like the one in Mexico or two we had in London,” Belichick said.
“It’s not like playing in the other stadiums that we play in. I don’t think you put a price tag on it, but it’s great to be a part of. And you remember the things that you did in those places with your teammates or the other people that were on the trip. And I think always kind of bonds you a little bit tighter with the people you experienced them with.”
That includes practicing in a cricket stadium during the Patriots' first London trip or that Hyde Park workout in October 2012, down to Belichick recalling putting cones in the grass for "one of probably the most interesting practices we've ever had."
He smiled at the memory, along maybe with the thought of what could lay ahead in Dublin.
“It'll be great,” Belichick said of the high-visibility game. “And everybody will be watching.”
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