North Carolina football rumors: Bill Belichick hot seat watch after beating Duke

Nairavoice | Oct 20, 2026 58m ago 142 0 2 min read

3d281169d1452f6010e0e9044906516d North Carolina football rumors: Bill Belichick hot seat watch after beating Duke

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North Carolina took a 24-20 victory over Duke this past weekend. With the win, North Carolina matched their 2025 win total with four wins this season. Bill Belichick‘s first season at North Carolina did not go well. Along with off-the-field distractions, Belichick was on the hot seat.

Now, the hot seat seems to be cooling off, according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.

“After a dismal 4-8 first season mired in all sorts of chaos and dysfunction, the greatest coach in NFL history seems to have the Tar Heels in a much better place. Before the season, the general manager Belichick hired, Mike Lombardi, was shelved, as was Belichick’s son, defensive coordinator Steve Belichick. Not so coincidentally, UNC ended up upsetting TCU and looked much more functional,” Feldman wrote.

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While the off-field distractions from Lombardi and Steve Belichick have slowly been forgotten, winning is also helping his cause.

“The distractions have been minimized, and Belichick has his team much more competitive. They are 4-2, with road wins against an undefeated Pitt team that was No. 25 at the time and archrival Duke. Their losses were at Clemson and against then No. 3 Notre Dame, and they were close in both. Getting to a bowl game seems almost like a sure thing at this point, with games against 2-4 Syracuse, 3-3 UConn and 3-3 NC State remaining,” Feldman concluded.

Even in two losses this year, North Carolina has been competitive. The first was a 28-20 loss to Clemson on the road. The Tar Heels had a 20-15 lead in the fourth quarter, but could not hold onto the lead, as they lost 28-20. The second loss of the season was to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was a three-touchdown favorite heading into the game, but came away with just a 37-26 victory.