Report: Steve Belichick to join Bill, UNC coaching staff as defensive coordinator

The Belichicks are back together again, or will be soon.

Washington defensive coordinator Steve Belichick is expected to join his father, new North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, on the Tar Heels football staff as its defensive coordinator, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Steve Belichick will join the new Tar Heels coaching staff following the Huskies’ participation in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl against Louisville (2 pm ET, Dec. 31, CBS). Steve Belichick spent just one year in Seattle, where he improved the Washington defense from 99th (406.7 ypg) to 26th (324.8 ypg) nationally in total defense this season.

Prior to joining the Washington staff under first-year head coach Jedd Fisch, Steve Belichick spent 12 years (2012-23) in multiple roles on his father’s New England Patriots staff, including the last four years as the defensive play-caller while also coaching linebackers from 2020-23. He also coached the Patriots defensive backs (2019) and safeties (2016-18) after first serving as a key defensive assistant before that.

Bill Belichick: UNC staff will have ‘strong presence of NFL people’

The younger Belichick would be the second addition to North Carolina’s new 10-member assistant coaching staff, following the previously-announced retention of interim coach Freddie Kitchens, who will lead the Tar Heels against UConn in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28 (11 am ET, ESPN).

“On the staff, we’ll hire the best coaches we can hire,” Bill Belichick said when asked about the possibility of hiring his son, Steve, during his hiring press conference Dec. 12. “I want to do everything I can to help this program and make it as strong as possible, so we’ll hire the best ones we can get. There are several college coaches that are involved in bowl games and so forth, so I wouldn’t interfere with the process at those schools, with their commitments to their teams. We’ll see how it goes.”

Kitchens is a longtime NFL coach, including one year as the Cleveland Browns’ head coach in 2019, following 13 seasons as an NFL assistant. Kitchens also had stints at LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Other coaches on Belichick’s staff might have a similar resume.

“But look, in the end, I’ve already had a lot of people contact me,” Bill Belichick said. “There will certainly be a strong presence of NFL people on the staff. I think that’s a certainty. And not only in the staff but in the training area. But at the same time looking for the best people we can get for Carolina, and that fit is a little different than what an NFL team would have, but we’ll see.”

Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this report.

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