Why the North Carolina Tar Heels Hiring of Michael Malone Could Spell Trouble for Bill Belichick

com’s Inside Carolina previously reported that the Tar Heels’ coaching search to replace Hubert Davis likely cost upwards of $50 million. That includes plans under general manager Jim Tanner for the program to have a $15 million payroll for the men’s basketball team next season. The historic financial commitment to effectively overhauling North Carolina’s basketball program stems from what’s happened in recent years.

The Tar Heels are coming off consecutive seasons with first-round exits in the NCAA Tournament, and they haven’t reached the Final Four since 2022. For a school with six national championships and 12 NCAA Championship Game appearances in its history, the standard is no longer being met, and boosters finally made a change. That’s reflected not only in North Carolina committing tens of millions of dollars to this overhaul, but also in the coaching search itself.

For the first time ever, the Tar Heels went outside their proverbial inner circle to find a top-flight head coach who won an NBA championship in 2023. it also comes at a cost. It’s all a sign that the other shoe might soon drop on the football program and, ironically, partially because of a move that could prove to be just as risky for the Tar Heels’ basketball team as Belichick was for the football program.

Revisiting the North Carolina Tar Heels Hiring of Bill Belichick 15 Months Later Bob Donnan-Imagn Images On December 11, 2024, Bill Belichick was named the 35th head coach in the history of the Tar Heels football program. He inherited a program that went 6-6 under Mack Brown just months prior. With the future Hall of Famer unable to land an NFL head-coaching job after being let go by the New England Patriots—only receiving two interviews with the Atlanta Falcons—that’s when the Tar Heels came calling.