Bill Belichick makes his college debut tonight – NBC Sports

For the first time since the last Sunday of the 2023 NFL regular season, Bill Belichick will be coaching a football game tonight.

For the first time in his 50-year career, Belichick will be coaching a college football game tonight.

Set aside his various unforced errors from his book tour and other P.R. debacles in recent months. Yes, it was all weird. But that’s over now. It’s time for football — TCU vs. North Carolina.

TCU is favored by 3.5 points for the game to be played in Chapel Hill. It will be televised nationally by ESPN. With no NFL games until Thursday night, what NFL fan won’t be extremely curious to see the first college game featuring one of the greatest pro coaches of all time?

It will be very strange to see Belichick on a college sideline. Perhaps even more jarring than it was to see Tom Brady run out in a Buccaneers uniform five years ago, for his first non-Patriots game.

There’s little doubt that Belichick is an exceptional coach. He’ll have his players ready to do whatever he believes needs to be done to win the game. He’s widely regarded as the best coach football has ever seen, when it comes to devising and implementing a plan premised on winning the next game to be played.

The question is whether he has been able to compile the right players. With the help of former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, whose career accomplishments are (quite frankly) often exaggerated by some in the media and whose overall skills are (quite frankly) often exaggerated by Lombardi himself, the Tar Heels have brought 70 new players to the program. Did they pick the right players? Did they land the best players they could?

Belichick the de facto G.M. often made it harder for Belichick the coach. Without Brady, Belichick’s record as an NFL head coach was 84-103. With Brady, it was 249-75.

That’s the biggest question looming over Belichick’s new job. Can his coaching skills turn his best available college players into winners?

With Brady, it would have been foolish to ever bet against Belichick. Without Brady? 84-103.

We’ll find out what happens, starting tonight. However it goes, it’s an unprecedented story, both for the NFL and for college football.