Bill Belichick’s first North Carolina roster is already drawing plenty of side-eye around the ACC.
Anonymous rivals and analysts are openly questioning whether the legendary coach misread just how steep the climb is in this league, even after UNC landed a recruiting class that looks strong on paper. The concern is simple: a shiny haul of talent may not be enough to close the gap right away.
Last year, The Athletic reported that Group of 6 coaches said players they were trying to recruit for the 2025 season were getting pulled toward North Carolina under Belichick. That buzz, at least from the outside, came with a warning sign attached. The Tar Heels, those coaches believed, were building a roster that still wasn’t ready for ACC-level competition.
The results backed up that view. North Carolina finished 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC.
One anonymous head coach told The Athletic, “What I think they miscalculated is with the way they were taking (players) in the portal and paying dudes,” the anonymous head coach told The Athletic. “It made me wonder, did they actually understand the landscape they were in? Did they understand that they’re in the ACC, not like Conference USA or the Sun Belt?
“Like, we got beat by North Carolina on a bunch of kids. I was like, why the f- is North Carolina beating us on kids? When I keep running up against the same P4s over and over again in recruiting, I’m like, all right, they’re gonna suck.”
Belichick and UNC did add numbers in a big way. The Tar Heels brought in 61 total players in the offseason and sit No. 22 in 247 Sports’ 2026 recruiting rankings. That class includes 12 four-star athletes.
Still, not everyone around the conference is buying the idea that the roster is close to ready. Eric Mac Lain of the ACC Network said he doesn’t see a group built to contend for much yet.
“I don’t think I’m confident in that roster,” Mac Lain said, via a transcription from On3. “I don’t know if I’m confident with that they have retooled and rebuilt. I think they’re still yearning for that… I think that roster is still a ways away.”
That skepticism comes with a schedule that won’t give UNC much breathing room. The Tar Heels are expected to be underdogs in four of their first five games, with matchups against TCU, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Pitt.
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