Bill Belichick Reportedly Called On U.S. Politician To Help Him Land North Carolina Job

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After a year-long hiatus from the coaching world, Bill Belichick made it no secret that he wanted to return to the sidelines in 2025. While many would assume teams at both the professional and collegiate levels began lining up to at least interview arguably the greatest coach of all-time, that wasn't necessarily the case.

With it becoming clear that an NFL opening wasn't being made for Belichick, he turned his eyes to the college game and publicly expressed interest in the opening at North Carolina following Mack Brown's firing.

As ESPN recently reported, Belichick was also busy behind the scenes making sure his name was at the top of the Tar Heels' list.

Bill Belichick called on Marco Rubio to help get the UNC job, according to a new report. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

According to the report, Belichick reached out to friend and then-Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio to help bolster his chances of landing the gig. Rubio went on to contact Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and things effectively snowballed from there.

"Rubio follows the sports world pretty closely, and he called me and said, ‘There’s a chance Belichick would come to Chapel Hill,’ Tillis told ESPN. "He said, ‘He wants a school with a great academic reputation, and he wants to try to build a program to bring them a national championship. I said, ‘Well, let me go [make some calls].’

Tillis hung up the phone and immediately called Phil Berger, the North Carolina Senate president pro tempore, who had strong connections with power players at UNC. Berger initially laughed at the suggestion until Tillis assured him that, yes, Belichick truly wanted the job."

It may seem a bit odd that Belichick would have to call on some political buddies to pull some strings in order for him to land the head coaching job at North Carolina. It's Bill Belichick, for crying out loud. However, UNC may not have been looking to hire another older head coach after just firing one, especially in the age of NIL with infinite moving parts and dealing with 75+ young adults looking for the biggest paydays.

Nevertheless, after firing 73-year-old Mack Brown, the Tar Heels announced the hiring of Belichick, 72, on December 12.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets, including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016, when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.