‘People talking about Carolina football’: Worldwide reaction to UNC’s hire of Bill Belichick :: WRALSportsFan.com
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‘People talking about Carolina football’: Worldwide reaction to UNC’s hire of Bill Belichick :: WRALSportsFan.com

Posted on by Matthew Reynolds

By Mark Bergin, WRAL senior multiplatform producer

Chapel Hill, N.C. — The University of North Carolina’s decision to hire Bill Belichick as its next football coach has prompted reactions from all over the world.

Here’s how people are reacting to the Belichick news.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper

“It’ll have people talking about Carolina football,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told WRAL on Wednesday.

Cooper is a UNC alum.

“When usually you talk about sports you’re talking about Carolina basketball or Carolina women’s soccer or Carolina women’s field hockey,” Cooper said. “But Carolina football hasn’t gotten the attention lately. So, it’ll be interesting to see how this works out, if it in fact does.”

Tom Brady, former New England Patriots quarterback and FOX Sports color commentator

Congrats, coach,” Brady said on an Instagram story. “The Tar Heel Way is about to become a thing.”

Brady played for Belichick from 2000 through 2019 and won six Super Bowl rings with Belichick.

Drake Maye, New England Patriots quarterback and former UNC quarterback

“Obviously, [he is] a legendary coach with the success he had here,” Maye said in a news conference on Wednesday. “What a great place Chapel Hill is.

“Anytime you have a legendary NFL coach going back to college I think it’s cool, it’s pretty interesting for me. I think it’s not official yet but I think Coach Belichick would love Chapel Hill … Cool thing for a Hall-of-Fame coach to go back and coach college.”

CJ Bailey, NC State quarterback

NC State has beaten UNC four years in a row.

On Wednesday, reporters asked Bailey about the possibility of UNC hiring Belichick.

“Bill Belichick can get it too, we’ll go five years [in a row],” Bailey said. “No matter who the coach is for UNC, we’re going to kick them.”

Bailey followed up, saying it would be a cool experience playing against Belichick.

“That means a lot that I could play against Belichick, meet him,” Bailey said. “But shoot, if he comes to play, we [are] going to kill ’em. We [are] going to kill ’em.”

Julian Edelman, Former Patriots wide receiver

“Full circle moment for UNC BB,” Edelman said on Twitter, with a photo of former UNC linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

Belichick coached Taylor with the New York Giants in the 1980s as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Gary Myers, longtime NFL reporter

Gary Myers, who covered the NFL for years as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and the New York Daily News, posted on X that he has texted with Lawrence Taylor about the Belichick news.

Myers covered Taylor in the NFL. Taylor is considered the greatest player in North Carolina history.

The following is their text exchange:

“UNC stock has just gone up!!!” Taylor texted.

“You like it?” Myers asked.

“Absolutely,” he said.

“Did you talk to him about it?” Myers asked.

“That’s all we been doing the last couple of days,” Taylor said.

Too bad Taylor is out of eligibility. And he’s 65 years old.

Bill Simmons, founder of the Ringer and former ESPN personality

Bill Simmons, who was known during his time at ESPN as “the Sports Guy,” is known for his Boston homerism. Simmons is New England Patriots fan.

“I am now a North Carolina football fan!” Simmons posted to X.


Source: wralsportsfan.com