It’s a great day for Bill Belichick to be a Tar Heel!

After months of speculation following his departure from the New England Patriots, the legendary NFL coach is giving it the old college try with the announcement on Wednesday, Dec. 11 that he’s accepted the job as head coach at the University of North Carolina.

“I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill,” Belichick, 72, said in a statement. “I grew up around college football with my dad and treasured those times. I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.”

Belichick’s father, Steve Belichick, was an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 1953-55.

For the younger Belichick, a new start in North Carolina comes nearly a year after he parted ways with the Patriots after 24 seasons and having the fifth-longest coaching tenure in league history.

“I’ll always be a Patriot,” he said at the time.

The reigning record-holder for most Super Bowl victories and appearances by a head coach, the Nashville, Tenn. native returns to the South where he’ll be tasked with turning around the program, which had a 6-6 record this season — still good enough to land the team a bowl game.

In a fun twist, the Wasabi Fenway Bowl — which will be coached by tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens, after head coach Mack Brown was fired after six seasons — will take place on Dec. 28 at Fenway Park, which is about 30 miles north of the Patriots stadium.

As the school enters a new era, Belichick’s girlfriend Jordon Hudson enthusiastically endorsed the move.

“We are onto Chapel Hill!!!” Hudson, 24, wrote in her Instagram Stories, alluding to her boyfriend’s viral “We’re onto Cincinnati” press conference, which happened in 2014.

After the Patriots were trounced by the Kansas City Chiefs 41-14, Belichick told reporters, “We’re onto Cincinnati” five times.

He repeated the phrase a total of 15 times, and later gave insight as to why he was so fixated on the team — which ultimately won the Super Bowl that year — moving on.

“I could have done it [repeated the phrase] three times. I could have done it 53 times. It could have been 103 times if that’s what they wanted to keep asking, because we had to turn the page,” he said in the documentary Do Your Job: Bill Belichick and the 2014 Patriots.

Belichick will make his college coaching debut when UNC hosts TCU on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.