Mike McCarthy Reacts To Bill Belichick Taking UNC Job

Big news hit the football world on Wednesday when Bill Belichick, who guided Tom Brady and the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl championships in the 2000s and 2010s, became the new head coach for the University of North Carolina.

Belichick took this season off after he and the Patriots parted ways following the 2023 campaign, and it was widely thought he would be back on the sideline for an NFL team in 2025.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, whose own immediate future is murky, congratulated Belichick when he heard the news, per Nick Harris.

“He’ll be someone to be reckoned with…Congratulations to him, I’m happy for him,” McCarthy said.

Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy found out while on the podium for his press conference that Bill Belichick is heading to UNC:

“He’ll be someone to be reckoned with…Congratulations to him, I’m happy for him.”#DallasCowboys

— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) December 11, 2024

McCarthy has been the Cowboys’ head coach since 2020, and prior to that, he won a Vince Lombardi Trophy as the Green Bay Packers’ longtime head coach.

Belichick got his first NFL head coaching gig in 1991 with the Cleveland Browns after several years and two world titles as the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells.

He is on the doorstep of surpassing legendary Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula for the most wins in NFL history as a head coach, but for now, he will instead be coaching in the NCAA.

The Tar Heels have never really been a football powerhouse — the school is mostly known as a basketball institution that has bred several NBA legends — but now, they could become a significant draw thanks to Belichick and his legacy.

Interestingly, Belichick’s father was the Tar Heels’ head coach in the mid-1950s, and one of his former players while with the Giants — legendary linebacker Lawrence Taylor — played his college ball at Chapel Hill.

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