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#UNC coach Bill Belichick at ACC Kickoff press conference in Charlotte #ACCKickoff
Jul 24, 2025
#UNC coach Bill Belichick at ACC Kickoff press conference in Charlotte #ACCKickoff
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0:02
Um I appreciate everybody coming out
0:05
today. Um so really exciting for me to
0:08
be here. um you know start with um you
0:12
know Chancellor Roberts um you know he's
0:14
made such a huge difference and um the
0:16
opportunity to come to uh North Carolina
0:19
um been very um supportive you know has
0:22
given us a a great a great opportunity
0:25
um in a school that's already a great
0:26
school with a great brand and um
0:29
obviously uh you know Cunningham Steven
0:33
those guys have done great our alumni
0:34
you know Michael Marty and I have done
0:37
we're into the double figures on
0:39
um donor events and alumni events,
0:41
things like that. Not just sports been
0:44
uh overwhelmingly tremendous. Um not
0:47
only supportive but engaged and you know
0:49
very excited and you know we want to
0:51
match that excitement and put that on
0:53
the field. So um you know Mike and I
0:56
have worked together for a long time um
0:58
going all the way back to the start of
0:59
Cleveland. uh Mike in the general
1:01
manager role and myself in a coaching
1:03
role and um you know we've um had a lot
1:07
of experience in dealing with kind of
1:08
what the college football landscape is
1:10
now similar not the same but similar uh
1:12
in terms of um you know NIL revenue
1:15
sharing um free agency if you will um
1:19
and you know recruiting post draft type
1:21
recruiting as opposed to drafting and so
1:24
um you know Mike's done a great job of
1:26
um you know it's a reinforcing the
1:28
roster Um, and we have a number of
1:31
players here that um have been here that
1:33
we're, you know, excited to to work
1:35
with. Um, we have two of them here, you
1:38
know, um, Jordan and Will. But also, uh,
1:42
we brought in a lot of players. We have
1:43
70 new players from from last year. So,
1:46
that weren't on the roster um, last
1:48
season. So, you know, that's a lot of a
1:50
lot of people and a lot of turnover. Uh,
1:53
it's also been that way with our
1:54
coaching staff. um some of the players
1:56
and or some of the staff members on the
1:58
coaching end and on the support end and
2:00
scouting I've worked with in the past,
2:01
but there are a lot of new people there.
2:02
So, when you combine all the scouting
2:04
support uh and player uh transition into
2:09
the program, uh it's it's a lot and um
2:12
we're very much looking forward to
2:13
getting out on the field uh next week
2:15
and, you know, seeing it all come
2:17
together. Um I've been super impressed
2:19
with the way our players uh have
2:21
competed. Um they've worked really hard.
2:24
I think they're in good condition. Uh
2:26
we've hit a lot of uh you know personal
2:30
uh they've had a lot of personal uh high
2:32
marks and whether it be strength, speed,
2:34
explosion uh different measurements that
2:36
we've taken um through the course of
2:38
training the beginning through the end
2:40
and looking back on their career from
2:41
previous uh training years like these
2:44
guys have really worked hard and and
2:45
they have a lot to show for it. And so,
2:47
uh, we're almost at the point where we
2:49
can get out there and start, uh, putting
2:51
together, uh, the, um, you know, the
2:54
chemistry, the timing, the execution,
2:56
the communication, you know, that we
2:58
need to that we need to have on the
3:00
field. But, um, you know, Mike and his
3:02
scouting staff have have really, you
3:04
know, between the scouting on the
3:06
freshman or, you know, the incoming
3:08
recruits, uh, the 26 class, which is,
3:11
you know, already, uh, looking like
3:12
that'll be, um, a pretty positive group.
3:15
and and two transfer portals. Um, you
3:18
know, the roster is is very competitive
3:20
and I look forward to, you know, seeing
3:22
how all that plays out and um, you know,
3:26
everybody's got a lot of a focus
3:27
obviously on the on the TCU opener um,
3:30
which, you know, is in our sights, but
3:33
really right now the big thing for us is
3:35
just stacking good training days uh, one
3:37
on top of another, one at a time and and
3:38
being ready to go not only for the
3:40
opener but for the for the entire
3:42
regular season and the ACC schedule. So,
3:45
um, you know, that's our our outlook.
3:47
Just, you know, put good days together,
3:50
take advantage of every opportunity. Uh,
3:52
don't let any days go by where we don't,
3:54
um, continue to improve, get better, and
3:56
and, uh, get closer to, you know,
3:59
becoming the the most consistent and and
4:01
best football team we can be uh, when we
4:03
step out on the field and and that'll
4:06
hopefully continue every week, but we'll
4:08
continue to improve as a team and all
4:09
the way through the course of the
4:10
season. So that's um what we've always
4:13
tried to do and and so that's that'll be
4:15
our goals this year.
4:17
Coach, thank you. We will take questions
4:19
from the room as it has been in the
4:21
past. Please identify yourselves and the
4:22
agency that you are with and we'll get
4:24
to as many questions in 10 minutes
4:26
before our student athletes as we can.
4:28
And our first question will come first
4:30
row left side coach right in front.
4:36
Dan Torra wakeup calldt.com. coach,
4:39
coming to this specific institution and
4:42
developing these players off the field,
4:43
why it was right for you to come to
4:45
North Carolina and develop these tar
4:46
heels.
4:48
Um, yeah, thanks. Um, you know,
4:50
developing players is really what that's
4:52
really what coaching is and that's what
4:54
we do. We take great pride in that. Uh,
4:56
myself and and our staff uh and players
4:58
who want to be developed. So, um, a
5:00
Carolina player is a player who wants to
5:02
be a good football player, who wants to
5:04
work hard, who wants to make a
5:05
commitment, uh, towards improving on a
5:07
regular basis, both training and, uh,
5:10
team execution on the field. And so when
5:12
we get those players, um, you know, we
5:14
see a lot of improvement, a lot of
5:15
development. And that's uh you know
5:17
going back whether was at Cleveland uh
5:19
you know where Mike and I put together
5:20
an offensive line where you know four of
5:22
the five starters were free agents or at
5:25
New England where he had a number of you
5:27
know low draft choices uh or high draft
5:29
choices I should say I said Brady and
5:32
Edelman players like that who turned out
5:34
to be great players as well as some of
5:36
the other players you know are higher
5:38
picks than development Kenowski uh and
5:41
so forth. So development is a big part
5:43
for us and and players that want to come
5:45
in, work hard, be good players, u learn
5:47
and compete. Competition is what makes
5:49
us all better. Um, again, the best
5:52
competition for me, I learned the most
5:54
from, you know, going against, you know,
5:55
great offensive coaches like, you know,
5:57
Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan,
6:00
you know, Joe Gibbs, and all those guys
6:02
that I competed against. That's what
6:03
made me great as a coach, uh, or made me
6:06
work the hardest as a coach was to
6:07
compete against those those people. And
6:09
so, uh, same thing for the players.
6:11
Internal competition, competition we
6:13
have daily on the field, uh, will get us
6:15
the most ready for the competition that
6:17
we'll face on on Saturdays or whenever
6:20
the games are. So,
6:21
thank you,
6:23
coach. Right side, fifth row, hard to
6:25
the right side. Standing up now.
6:28
Yes.
6:29
Hey, Coach Thomas Christopher of the
6:31
League Winners. I have a two-part roster
6:32
building and general football question
6:34
for you. Do you believe that the
6:36
evolution of the fullback position kind
6:37
of being turned more into an Hback role
6:40
was uh more due to roster flexibility
6:42
and player versatility and uh with the
6:44
cycl cyclical nature of football? Do you
6:47
see that position kind of being
6:48
revitalized now that defenses are more
6:50
finesse driven?
6:53
Um well hopefully we won't be in the
6:55
finesse driven category. We're certainly
6:57
not shooting for that. Uh but yeah,
6:59
thanks for the question. The fullback
7:01
fullback question is an interesting
7:02
question. you know, it really I think
7:04
picked up a lot of momentum when uh you
7:06
know, coach Coriel started with that and
7:08
then Joe Gibbs brought it to to
7:10
Washington and uh and ran one back
7:13
offense with, you know, Riggins and um
7:16
you know, those guy all the backs he had
7:18
there. Uh they kind of rotated him
7:20
through George Rogers, all those guys.
7:22
Um and and then that came became they
7:24
caught on um definitely throughout the
7:27
NFL and you know at at the uh Giants we
7:30
faced that twice a year and so pretty
7:32
familiar with the way that one back
7:34
offense evolved and now as offenses got
7:36
into more spread formations. Uh whereas
7:39
a lot of 11 personnel and and almost all
7:41
college defenses and prode defenses for
7:43
that matter are are nickelbased uh with
7:46
maybe a six defensive back in passing
7:49
situations, but most everybody's playing
7:50
five defensive backs. I think that
7:52
reflects on uh the lack of a fullback
7:55
and even in 12 personnel, we're usually
7:57
one of the tight ends as a receiving
7:59
tight end. So u how that trend will
8:01
continue, you know, I don't know. I'd
8:03
say for us, you know, we'll do what we
8:04
feel like best for the football team
8:06
like we always do and just see how that
8:08
plays out. But um it's been an
8:10
interesting evolution that's uh gone
8:12
from everything being all two back. Um I
8:16
remember when I first started with the
8:17
the Colts that we went through um all
8:20
the defensive adjustments that there was
8:22
always one little box in the very bottom
8:24
of the corner bottom corner of the page
8:26
that had a one back set on. Everything
8:28
else is in two bags, whether it was, you
8:30
know, brown, blue, black, eye, um,
8:35
green. Depending on where the backs were
8:36
set, there were different, you know,
8:37
color codes for the, uh, for the
8:40
formations and there was one box for the
8:42
one back sets and, you know, now there's
8:44
no two back sets. So, yeah, that's
8:46
that's been an evolution.
8:48
Coach, left side towards the left,
8:51
sir.
8:52
Towards the left. Got it.
8:55
Hey coach, this is Grace Man with
8:56
Tigernet.com. Talking to Davos Sweeney
8:58
earlier, you said how much he's learned
9:00
from you since you've made this move to
9:01
North Carolina.
9:02
How has your relationship with him grown
9:04
as well as the other coaches within the
9:06
ACC?
9:07
Yeah, we're all learning from Davo.
9:08
Yeah, that's very very nice of him to
9:10
say that. Very complimentary. Um,
9:14
uh, you know, Davo's been a a friend for
9:17
a long time. You know, we've scouted his
9:19
players, uh, from the NFL down. um some
9:22
of the players that are here today, you
9:24
know, I actually thought, well, you
9:26
know, maybe we'll be drafting one of
9:27
these guys. Uh and now here we are, you
9:29
know, be playing against him. So, um but
9:31
Davo's been great. I have so much
9:33
respect for him, Clemson program. Uh
9:35
what he's done, the way he runs it, um
9:38
it's high quality. Um kids are high
9:40
quality. You know, he came up to New
9:41
England, got probably the top player out
9:43
of New England, um you know, in the last
9:46
probably decade, you know, Christian
9:47
Wilkins out of Springfield, Southfield
9:49
Academy. And um you know, I think that
9:52
says a lot uh for the for the program
9:54
that he runs and and uh you know, what
9:57
he's done for not only college football,
9:59
but all the student athletes uh that
10:00
he's coached there. Uh they've gone on
10:02
to represent uh him and and school very
10:05
well. And um you know, again, I have a
10:08
ton of respect for for Devil and and
10:11
what he's done. had a great, you know,
10:12
great opportunity to spend some time
10:14
with him at the ACC coaches meetings and
10:18
and u, you know, it's always been really
10:21
enjoyable guy to be around. I don't know
10:22
if that'll be true on Saturday
10:24
afternoon. Probably not, but
10:26
at least in these meetings it is.
10:28
Yeah.
10:28
Coach, right side, third row,
10:31
Ken Gibbs with locked on ACC. Uh, coach,
10:34
one of the biggest differences between
10:36
the pro game and college game is you're
10:38
dealing with 18 to, you know, 23, 24
10:41
year olds as opposed to, uh, you know,
10:43
full grown men with families and
10:44
whatnot. And with an offseason that's
10:46
seen a little bit of controversy and all
10:48
that type of stuff, how have you ushered
10:50
them through blocking the noise and
10:51
staying keeping the main thing the main
10:53
thing?
10:54
Yeah. Well, I mean, the great thing
10:55
about about uh, working with the college
10:57
players is just the growth and the
10:58
development that we've seen that I've
11:00
seen with them. I saw a little bit of
11:01
that last year uh when I was at
11:04
Washington with coach Fish uh and Steve
11:06
out there uh to see how much the players
11:08
improved from the spring until uh the
11:10
start of training camp and and u this
11:13
year of course you know we haven't
11:14
started training camp yet but through
11:16
the course of the spring the amount of
11:17
improvement that our players made in
11:19
those 15 days uh most of which were in
11:22
pads is something that you never saw in
11:24
the NFL because we never you know could
11:25
wear pads in the offseason and so how
11:28
much better the players got in their
11:29
fundamentals their footwork, their hand
11:31
placement, leverage, um tackling, so
11:34
forth. You know, all the physicality
11:35
things that come uh with different
11:37
positions, whether that's press release,
11:39
jams, um so forth. Uh the the
11:43
improvement was tremendous. And so I'd
11:45
say on the college end, um you're right,
11:48
the players are a little bit younger and
11:50
less skilled. Sometimes that's an
11:51
advantage. There are fewer bad habits to
11:52
break. Uh but I would say also the
11:55
players are, uh I say much more
11:57
receptive to uh to the coaching. they
12:00
haven't had as long uh with the way that
12:03
they were doing it, you know, through a
12:04
college career, maybe even through some
12:06
pro years uh where they were, you know,
12:08
starting to develop some habits they
12:10
were comfortable with and they were a
12:12
little harder to change. I'd say, you
12:13
know, with our players, they've been
12:14
very receptive to everything we've asked
12:16
them to do. They've trained extremely
12:18
hard. As I said, the the um the personal
12:21
achievements between their strength,
12:23
their speed, their explosiveness, uh all
12:26
the different body fat percentages, all
12:28
the different things that we measure is,
12:30
you know, in the in the high 90% range,
12:32
and there's only a couple guys that
12:33
haven't, you know, had the improvement.
12:35
Uh but really, it's been pretty much the
12:37
whole team. So, um that that's been as a
12:40
coach like that's it's fun. It's fun to
12:42
see players uh get better and and then
12:45
that gives them more momentum to keep
12:47
working. I know we've given the players
12:49
a couple weeks off, you know, in the in
12:50
the training cycle from time to time and
12:53
in a lot of cases they come back even a
12:55
little bit further ahead of where they
12:56
were when they left which kind of
12:58
indicates they continue to work hard in
12:59
their training. So, um, you know, we're
13:02
excited to see how all that manifests
13:03
itself out on the field and actually
13:04
start playing football. But, um, I think
13:06
we'll be ready to start when we when we
13:08
get going next week. Thank you,
13:11
coach. Thanks for the time. You can
13:12
switch spots with that Dixon.
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