Belichick reportedly plans to coach football in some capacity in 2025.
The latest on Bill Belichick's interview with UNC: Bill Belichick's reported interest in possibly becoming North Carolina's next head football coach seemed to catch many by surprise on Thursday. The former Patriots coach has never held an official coaching position in the college game, and some believe he wants to coach in the NFL again in order to break Don Shula's all-time wins record.
Belichick apparently has the itch to coach again, no matter what level. Belichick plans to coach football in some capacity in 2025, the Monday Morning Quarterback's Albert Breer reported.
"I was told by somebody who would know earlier this week that, whether it's in high school, college, or the pros, Bill Belichick will coach in 2025," Breer said on Amazon's "Thursday Night Football" postgame show. "The assumption would be that it's going to be in the NFL. I still think that's the most likely scenario.
"However, he's not going to take an NFL job to just take an NFL job. Things have to be right -- the structure, the reporting structure -- all of that different stuff has to be in place. That's why he's looked at potential alternatives."
It has been previously reported that Belichick hopes to get another head coaching job in the NFL next season. But Belichick failed to land one after the Patriots parted ways with him last offseason, only interviewing for one of the seven other vacancies.
There's been rampant speculation throughout the season on which team could hire Belichick to become its next head coach, from the Jaguars to the Cowboys. Three teams (Jets, Saints, Bears) have already fired their head coaches and will be looking for a new one this offseason.
Even as a list of potential suitors for Belichick potentially grows, though, he could hit a similar roadblock that he hit last offseason. Even though he's a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, Belichick will turn 73 before the start of the 2025 season, and three of his last four seasons with the Patriots were losing years.
Still, Belichick potentially pivoting to the college game is a bit of a curveball. Several established college coaches have left their jobs in recent years, citing the challenges of dealing with name, image, and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal as key reasons. Nick Saban, Belichick's good friend, was among the coaches who recently left the college game, retiring from his job at Alabama following the 2023 season.
For Belichick, though, those factors might actually be appealing to him.
"He and a group of people around him have really studied the college game," Breer said. "He believes because of some of the elements that have been introduced into the college game, the transfer portal, NIL, there's more NFL-type of challenges at that level now. He actually believes he might be able to build a winner in college faster than he would be able to in the NFL because of it."
As of Friday, North Carolina is the only known college opening for which Belichick has interviewed. He actually has a tie to the school as his father, Steve, was the running backs coach for the program for a few seasons in the 1950s. Belichick's son, Steven, also made the transition to the college game after leaving the Patriots last offseason, becoming the defensive coordinator at Washington.
Belichick has only met with UNC officials via Zoom at this point. The school is in the early stages of its process to replace Mack Brown, the Washington Post's Steven Godfrey reported. North Carolina went 6-6 in 2024 after Drake Maye's departure, so Belichick's work would certainly be cut out for him.
Trivia: How many former Patriots head coaches since 1970 have also been a head coach for a college football team, and can you name them?
The Celtics conclude their five-game homestand with a back-to-back beginning on Friday. First, they host the Bucks on Friday night as Milwaukee star forward Khris Middleton will reportedly make his season debut. Tip-off for that game is at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Celtics will welcome the Grizzlies. It'll mark Marcus Smart's first game against the Celtics since he was traded in 2023. Tip-off for that game is set for 8 p.m.
In between the Celtics' two home games over the weekend, the Bruins host the Flyers at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Boston will look to move its win streak to four in that game.
The Packers lost at the buzzer to the Lions on Thursday night, but Green Bay tight end Tucker Kraft made a pretty cool move in the loss. After recording a 20-yard reception in the third quarter, Kraft made an acrobatic-like move to get back on his feet.
On this day:
As the Red Sox hope to hear good news on the Juan Soto front in the coming days, Friday marks the anniversary of another major move they made for an All-Star. The team acquired Chris Sale in a trade with the White Sox eight years ago on Friday.
While the majority of Sale's Red Sox' tenure was plagued with injuries, he brought the team what they were looking for over the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He went 17-8 with a 2.90 ERA while leading the majors in innings pitched (214 ⅓) and strikeouts (308) in 2017. A year later, Sale went 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA, recording another top-four Cy Young finish.
Of course, Sale put a bow on the Red Sox' 2018 championship season. He pitched the ninth inning in the series-clincher against the Dodgers, memorably striking out Manny Machado for the final out of the series.
As Sale dealt with injuries over the final five seasons of his Red Sox tenure, none of the top prospects they gave up in the trade to the White Sox really panned out. Pitcher Michael Kopech dealt with injuries and inconsistency on the mound before becoming a reliever in 2024, when the White Sox traded him to the Dodgers. Yoan Moncada, meanwhile, has mostly had unremarkable seasons at the play outside of 2019, missing nearly all of the 2024 season due to an adductor strain. He became a free agent for the first time in his career this offseason.