Joel Klatt calls predicting North Carolina under Bill Belichick ‘a fool’s errand’

Bill Belichick has never coached a game in college football before. That leaves many, including Joel Klatt, with no clue yet of what his debut season will look like in Chapel Hill.

Klatt, during an appearance on ‘The Herd’ with Colin Cowherd, answered what this fall would look like for Belichick at North Carolina. He, like others, has no idea what it’ll look like for the Tar Heels, especially considering they’re bringing in 40-plus transfers into the program.

“I have no idea,” admitted Klatt. “I think it’s a huge question and it’s boom-or-bust when you go in the transfer portal that heavy. We’ve seen teams succeed, like Indiana, and we’ve seen teams fail, like Florida State, you know”

“So, like, trying to predict what’s going to happen with Bill Belichick and North Carolina is a fool’s errand,” Klatt said. “They could been an eight-win team, they could be a two-win team. I have no idea what to expect from the Tar Heels.”

Again, North Carolina is in a complete reset coming off of last season under Mack Brown. UNC moved on from Brown in the last week of November last year and, two weeks later, hired Belichick as their next head coach. That’s led to a full program overhaul with forty-plus transfers coming in, with thirty commitments as well, with forty plus transfers coming out over the course of this offseason for the Tar Heels.

That’s coming off of a losing season for North Carolina. They went 6-7 in 2024 after going 17-10 the pair of seasons prior, showing a regression off of the sixth season under Brown. Four of his six seasons were winning ones but his latest tied that worst record of his tenure, leading to the coaching change for UNC.

That said, the Tar Heels also play one of the easier schedules this season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They play Clemson in their conference opener but play only two teams, Syracuse and Duke, in their remaining seven that had winning records, overall and in league play, last year.

With all the changes as well as their strength of schedule, there really is a varying feel of what this season could be for North Carolina. There’s three months, though, until they take the field that first time to see what Belichick does in his collegiate tenure.

Belichick embracing role as ‘rookie’ coach in ACC

Bill Belichick is the self-proclaimed rookie this season in the ACC. When Belichick was announced as the next head coach at North Carolina earlier this offseason, it came as a shock to many. The eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach, at 73 years old, is making his debut coaching in college football.

“I’m not as familiar with things as a lot of the coaches, especially like Coach (Dabo) Swinney here,” Belichick admitted. “You know, he’s got way more experience in doing a lot of the things that that we do in the ACC than I do. Way more. So I’m watching him. I’m looking into the program, a great program. I want to try to copy and do some of the things that he’s been very successful with, and understand why he does them and it makes sense.

“He’s turned out a great product year after year after year after year. That speaks volumes,” Belichick said.