CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WNCN) — It was a buzz unlike any other at previous Atlantic Coast Conference media day events.
New North Carolina head football coach Bill Belichick attracted a crowd from the moment he stepped into the league’s annual ACC Kickoff. The Super Bowl-winning head coach is entering his first collegiate coaching venture, fully aware that all eyes have been on him since the moment he took the job eight months ago.
But Belichick, who is used to the spotlight from his many years with the New England Patriots, is focused on rebuilding a team that has seen massive turnover in the last few months. The Tar Heels have 70 new players who weren’t on the roster last season, the head coach said.
“That’s a lot of people, that’s a lot of turnover,” Belichick said Thursday in his opening comments, also noting the large number of changes on the coaching staff. With so many new players and personnel, the team is focused on “putting together the chemistry, the timing, the execution that we need out there on the field,” the coach said.
“Everyone’s got a lot of focus obviously on the TCU game, which, you know, is in our sights. But really right now the big thing for us is just stacking good training days one on top of another, one at a time, and being ready to go, not only for the opener but for the entire regular season and the ACC schedule,” said Belichick. “[We want to] get closer to being the most consistent and best football team we can be.”
The longtime coach said one of the main things that drew him to a new challenge at UNC is the ability to mold young players.
“The great thing about working with the college players is the growth and development we’ve seen … to see how much the players have improved from spring to the start of training camp,” Belichick said. “[To see] how much better the players got in their fundamentals … we’re excited to see all that manifest itself on the field.”
The Tar Heels open the season on Labor Day against TCU at Kenan Stadium in a game that will be broadcast on primetime on ESPN. The network and the football program also announced Thursday that a special one-hour live “College Football Countdown” will be broadcast from the sidelines prior to the contest.
With all the excitement surrounding the Belichick era, the school announced Wednesday that all season and single-game tickets have already sold out more than a month ahead of the first kick off.