Bill Belichick says UNC’s biggest offseason win is its new culture

Bill Belichick says North Carolina’s biggest offseason win hasn’t shown up on a scoreboard yet — it’s in how the Tar Heels work.

A year into his college experiment, Belichick said the 2026 Tar Heels barely resemble the group that stumbled to 4-8 in his debut season and at times struggled just to function in practice. The difference, he says, starts with experience and extends to a revamped culture.

"This time a year ago, we didn't have a quarterback who had taken a snap even in spring ball for us," Belichick said at ACC Kickoff. "We had so many new players coming in that had never even been in spring ball. At least most of our players now have been in spring ball, and we have a few freshmen, five or six freshmen, that are coming in, but at least these guys."

Belichick pointed to quarterbacks Miles O’Neill, Billy Edwards and Travis Burgess as examples of how much more stable the roster feels now and how much farther along the offense is compared to last summer.

"Last year we didn't have any player-run practices," Belichick said. "We couldn't actually line up a team and run it against another team without the coaches being out there because we didn't have anybody that knew enough on either side of the ball to do that."

That basic functional issue has been flipped. With roughly 60 new players in the program and a full offseason in Belichick’s system, he says North Carolina finally looks like a team that can push itself when the coaching staff isn’t around.

"This year these guys have done it all spring, all summer," he said. "They go out there on their own and have 7-on-7 and do drops and all that because we have enough experience of guys that do that. So culture is a lot different, work ethic is different. I'm not taking anything away from the guys that were here, but compared to a year ago, we just know a lot more about what we're doing and how to do it, and our culture is a lot different."

With a massive roster overhaul and a second straight year in the same schemes, Belichick believes this team is better equipped to handle adversity than the one that faded in 2025. None of it guarantees wins, but after a 4-8 debut, he’s convinced the Tar Heels’ new work habits and player-led culture give them a much better shot in 2026.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Bill Belichick says UNC’s biggest offseason win is its new culture