Tom Brady shares expectations for Bill Belichick’s first season at North Carolina
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Bill Belichick is approaching his college football coaching debut and his long-time legendary quarterback is excited to see how it all plays out in Chapel Hill.
Belichick and Tom Brady were the cornerstones of the New England Patriots dynasty that resulted in 6 Super Bowl titles. The college football world is fascinated to see if any of that magic can transfer over to North Carolina.
During an interview with FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt, Brady beamed about what the Tar Heels are getting in their new head coach.
“What they’re going to get is obviously the most prepared, the most hardworking coach that I’d ever been around. If you go that school, you will be prepared to play at the next level. He’s going to teach you the right fundamentals, the right techniques,” Brady said. “He’s going to have a high expectation for you and you’re going to develop a lot. That’s what I know.”
Brady acknowledged that the decorated NFL coach will have to adapt somewhat to the college level.
“I think the challenge for him is he’s dealing with a lot of probably underdeveloped players because he’s dealt with guys that are 4 or 5 or 6 years further along than what he’s normally had to deal with. So, I think there’s probably a learning curve for him. This is just be hypothesizing,” Brady said. “I don’t have much knowledge of it but I’m sure it’s different coaching a 17 or 18 year old than even a 22 or 23 year old. They’re probably just less physically developed and he’s a very deep thinker of the sport.”
However, Brady believes Belichick’s wealth of wisdom will provide innumerable advantages to North Carolina’s players, even though they don’t have the same schedule flexibility as the pros.
“I think what makes coach Belichick so unbelievable tactically, he can break down an opponent. He watches so much film. He is so smart with how he approaches defensive schemes and offensive schemes and how much can these young kids retain? That may be an interesting challenge as well because in some ways they’re not professional,” Brady said. “They don’t have as much time as we had as professional athletes to go in there and study film and practice and meet and all that. They don’t have that amount of time at the college level.”
The Belichick era gets underway when North Carolina hosts TCU on Labor Day at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN).
