North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick says he’s coaching his college football team like he coached in the NFL.
Asked at the ACC media day if he’s trying to introduce NFL-level schemes and concepts to college football, Belichick answered, “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do. That’s my philosophy.”
Belichick said he views the Tar Heels like a pro team that just needs some minor adjustments for younger players.
“It’s a pro program,” Belichick said. “Practice, training, food, schemes, terminology, it’s all a pro program. Not to the extent that we did it in the NFL — there will be fewer plays, fewer adjustments — but it will be along those lines.”
Belichick said to the extent that he’ll coach differently, it’s largely about the differences between NCAA rules, such as college football’s wider hashmarks and the overtime format that takes place mostly in the red zone.
“There’s some things I don’t think we’ll need at this level and other things that we are,” Belichick said. “Based on hashmarks and things like that that are difference, the overtime system — the red area could potentially come up a lot more than in the NFL on a percentage basis. Things like that that you just have to take into consideration. But fundamentally, we’re going to do as much as we can as a pro system.”