It was reported earlier this week that North Carolina Tar Heels football head coach Bill Belichick was making certain people within the university and the ACC “nervous” over the fact that he had “yet to hire many staff members” at North Carolina.
There may be another sign that Belichick isn’t as fully committed to his current job as he and North Carolina general manager Mike Lombardi want outsiders to believe.
“Presently, there is not a fully executed and signed contract between Belichick and UNC,” Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported on Thursday. “Industry sources say that could create a legal gray area about how much, if any, of a buyout would exist if Belichick left for the pros.”
Belichick’s North Carolina contract is reportedly set to include a $10M buyout once it’s signed. However, the buyout drops to $1M after June 1 of this year.
Jones noted that Belichick “signed a term sheet proposal with UNC on Dec. 11.” While sources told Jones that “it is typical at the collegiate level for coaches to begin working without a fully executed contract,” Jones added that “a legal dispute of some sort would likely take place for either all or part of the $10M” if Belichick tried to leave North Carolina to make a return to the NFL before he signed an actual contract.
Interestingly, Jones revealed that “sources within the UNC community have expressed discomfort about Belichick’s buyout.”
“That it drops to $1M before Belichick ever coaches a game at UNC exacerbates that malaise,” Jones explained.
Specifically, Belichick has routinely been named as a potential head-coaching candidate for the Las Vegas Raiders due to his close relationship with Raiders minority owner Tom Brady. More recently, whispers have emerged suggesting that Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is looking to make a big splash after the Cowboys and head coach Mike McCarthy parted ways earlier this week. The Cowboys reportedly were at least somewhat interested in Belichick last offseason.
For what it’s worth, the previously mentioned Lombardi took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday to address Jones’ story:
