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Around this time last year, an entourage of cameras followed Bill Belichick seemingly everywhere, as the new UNC coach waltzed from hotel ballrooms to conference spaces to fulfill summer media and administrative duties ahead of his first season.
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But just 12 months later, after finishing 4-8 last season, the media scene around the second-year UNC coach has subsided a bit.
At the National Football Foundation’s Bill Dooley Chapter Pigskin Preview luncheon on Friday — which brought coaches from Duke, NC State, East Carolina and North Carolina Central together to recognize scholar-athletes, auction memorabilia and bring deep-pocketed fans closer to the programs they support — just five media members showed up to cover the event, plus a couple of television reporters and cameramen.
At ACC Kickoff in Charlotte last Friday, Belichick still drew a standing-room crowd to his breakout session, but seemingly no longer commanded the circus-like atmosphere of a year ago.
“I control what I can control, so try to do the best I can every day,” Belichick said of the level of media attention at ACC Kickoff, “be prepared and take things as they come. (I) try to help the team and the university in any way I can, and move on to the next day.”
During Friday’s roughly two-hour banquet, Belichick sat in the center of the coach’s table, discussing a wide range of football and life questions. As the other coaches cracked jokes and drew widespread laughter from the crowd, Belichick maintained a more direct demeanor and received sparse chuckles from the audience.
What are three things Belichick can’t live without? Cinnamon tea, lemon and honey.
What is Belichick’s favorite food that North Carolina does well? Sweet tea.
When the time came to auction off helmets, the pieces of UNC headgear signed by Belichick sold for the lowest price — $1,000 each — compared to Duke’s at $1,500 and NC State’s at $2,000 a piece.
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On the state of college football, Belichick praised the intentions of the people working on the Protect College Sports Act, including President Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama). The bill would standardize regulations for several debated topics in college football, from name, image and likeness to transfer and eligibility standards.
Though Belichick noted it’s difficult to craft a set of regulations across college sports because there are many types of teams, not just football rosters, to worry about. Instead, he said, he is more concerned about relieving the challenges of constructing schedules across nearly 30 sports in conferences like the ACC, given the vast geography and timing constraints.
Belichick also advocated for the NFL and NCAA to work together to standardize football rules between the levels.
“You watch multiple games on Saturday and see one set of rules,” Belichick said. “And you turn on the game on Sunday, and you have a different set of rules.”
On tampering, Belichick focused less on the rules themselves and just called for enforcement. While the NCAA currently sets penalties for programs that engage with recruits outside permitted windows, it has rarely carried sanctions out.
Anyway, that’s “above (his) pay grade,” he said.
When the program finished, Belichick took photos with the individuals who bought the UNC helmets and stood on stage with a seemingly uninterested look on his face before departing past Duke coach Manny Diaz’s media scrum.
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There wasn’t a posse of cameras followed him this time.