Legendary coach Bill Belichick silenced the doubters on Saturday after the North Carolina Tar Heels beat the TCU Horned Frogs 15-10 in Dublin. Belichick was on one of college football’s hottest seats after leading the Tar Heels to an underwhelming 4-8 record last season.
Not everyone was impressed by Belichick’s big win over the Horned Frogs, who beat the Tar Heels 48-14 last year.
Dan Le Batard Suggests Bill Belichick Lowered UNC Expectations in Year 1
During Monday’s segment of “The Dan Le Batard Show,” analyst Dan Le Batard suggested that Belichick had lowered expectations with a horrendous first season in Chapel Hill before delivering the vital win against TCU.
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“Bill Belichick tried to ruin it (college football) this weekend,” Le Batard said. “He tried to win football by ruining it. Won in the most Belichick way possible. TCU now exists after reaching the championship game a couple of years ago just to announce the return of coaches. Deion Sanders did it in the opposite football game where they went up and down the field on TCU.”
“Now, Belichick, I guess people are going to assume that that team is going to be improved this year; how could it not be?” he added. “They really did reduce the expectations. If you’re gonna do this sort of thing as a three- and four-year project, when people don’t have patience, this would be the way to do it.
“Make an unholy mess last year so that you immediately climb over a very low bar the second year. They were a big dog, and they won 15-10 against TCU.”
Bill Belichick won 6 Super Bowls just to beat TCU 15-10 pic.twitter.com/szPtS5j7L8
— The Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) August 31, 2026
The former Patriots coach was forced to call the Tar Heels’ defensive plays in Ireland with his son, defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, still on indefinite medical leave since early August. Ironically, the Tar Heels’ defense was one of their best units last season, earning a PFN College Team Defense Impact score of 76.8 (No. 58 in the country).
The senior Belichick fired Freddie Kitchens and appointed Bobby Petrino as the Tar Heels’ offensive coordinator after they earned a PFN College Team Offense Impact score of 73.3 (No. 85 in college football).
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Belichick has a mountain to climb in Chapel Hill as his predecessor, Mack Brown, led the Tar Heels to bowl eligibility in six consecutive seasons. Brown also reached the ACC Championship game in 2022 and finished his second stint in Chapel Hill with a 44-33 record.
The Tar Heels have dominated the news cycle because of negative stories about Belichick’s public relationship with Jordon Hudson and North Carolina placing general manager Michael Lombardi on paid administrative leave, leaving the iconic coach’s college football career hanging by a thread.
