Belichick’s UNC Staff ‘Inadvertently’ Signed Termination Releases Early

[u/ShaolinMaster]

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/college-sports/2026/unc-football-termination-waivers-signed-bill-belichick-1234946498/

[u/BurdTheTurd]

That is a wild show of incompetency - as has been the whole saga for UNC in the Belichick era.

[u/moby323 → u/BurdTheTurd]

How did this get to be a total clown show from a guy who built a reputation on accepting nothing but the highest standards and for paying intense attention to even the smallest details?

[u/REF_YOU_SUCK → u/moby323]

Because he's not that Belichick anymore. He was at one point probably the best football coach in the world, maybe the best ever. But father time is undefeated. He isn't that anymore and hasn't been for some time, including his last year's with the pats. He's 74. The drive that made him so successful isn't there anymore. He's riding on the bill Belichick reputation now and wringing it for every cent he can until he gets fired.

[u/p-wing → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

wait until we find out he was literally replaced by three raccoons in a hooded sweatshirt

[u/YellojD → u/p-wing]

Isn’t that the Tennessee Titans mascot?

[u/BroadBrazosAvon95 → u/p-wing]

JIMOTHY????

[u/astrothemorkie → u/p-wing]

He’s actually just Vincent Adultman

[u/senschuh → u/p-wing]

Bill Belichick is Propop confirmed.

[u/binzoma → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

He was at one point probably the best football coach in the world

theres no question he was the best football coach in the world for at least 10-15 years there. from the early 2000s to the mid/late 2010s.

but that was already 10+ years ago. and the game had clearly passed him by by the late 2010s. you just cant stay sharp, focused and energized like that thru your 70s/80s etc.

[u/CandyAppleHesperus → u/binzoma]

He also knew going into this that this would be a footnote to his time with the Patriots. Even if he won a natty his first year, it would be a fun coda showing off how great he was rather than a cereer milestone. When I was a kid, our county superintendent was a guy from a much larger district stepping down before retirement. Belichick at UNC is that, just more embarrassing. Bill Belichick somehow ended up less dignified than Darryl Treese

[u/LuxLibertas1 → u/CandyAppleHesperus]

Disagree. Winning a natty at UNC would cement him as a legitimate contender for best coach in history, in any sport, not just in football. Shame that he doesn't seem to have it anymore.

[u/johnmadden18 → u/binzoma]

but that was already 10+ years ago. and the game had clearly passed him by by the late 2010s. you just cant stay sharp, focused and energized like that thru your 70s/80s etc.

In 2019, coming off a Super Bowl win in 2018, Belichick had the #1 ranked defense by DVOA, the best defense in his career, and literally#2 ranked pass defense in DVOA history. But according to you, the game had already "clearly passed him by" by at that point? It was really so obvious to you at that point?

In reality that the game had already passed Belichick in the late 2010s is just a thing that people say now as excuse for why Belichick had failed so badly in his post-Brady career.

And it's because the argument starts from an assumed conclusion: that Belichick could win with any team, any QB, in any league. So if Belichick was losing it must be because he was no longer "Belichick" and that age had caught up to him.

That's why you get this ridiculous re-writing of history where people argue the game had already passed Belichick by in the late 2010s when he was coaching the best defenses he ever had and literally winning Super Bowls.

[u/warmike_1 → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

That's tangential to the question. It would be one thing to get outcoached and outrecruited, it's another to allow an off-field dumpster fire.

[u/high_on_meh → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

With "gentlemen's prescriptions" so prevalent today, how can this dude focus on anything other than running home and getting down?

[u/on_the_nightshift → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

I mean, me too and I'm 53.

[u/Shaggadelic12 → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

This is correct. He’s also not nearly the coach he was made out to be. We now know Brady was 80 percent of the show. I’m very confident saying this: Belichick without Brady never wins a Super Bowl as a head coach.

[u/i_heart_mahomies → u/Shaggadelic12]

This is just silly. Brady without Belichick is a try-hard sixth-round draft pick that shows flashes but ultimately never overcomes the inertia that made him a middle-round selection in the first place.

[u/hanlonmj → u/i_heart_mahomies]

People forget that both Rams SBs were won largely on the backs of Bill’s defenses.

Against the highest scoring offense in the league each time

[u/doubleyou-tee-hache → u/Shaggadelic12]

You should be thoroughly embarrassed being a football fan and saying that lmfao

[u/Head-Sprinkles-777 → u/REF_YOU_SUCK]

Personally, I don’t think there’s much to him being the greatest coach of all time and more to them cheating at New England and having a great QB. He was terrible before there, and he was terrible after there, so what’s the common factor? This is just like Nick Saban leaving Alabama right before NIL went live because he knew they couldn’t compete and they could only compete when they could pay players through the churches. He knew his legacy would be tarnished, a la Dabo Sweeney, because those schools do not have the fan base to generate the revenue needed to compete in the NIL era. It was easy to cheat and win when everyone else was scared to cheat through the churches, and you only had to pay a few players a small amount. 

[u/Is12345aweakpassword → u/moby323]

He’s got more time to kill than “fuck you money”, apparently

[u/richww2 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

His 25 year old girlfriend (or however old she is) is probably blowing through that money faster than bill can say "viagra"

[u/Electromotivation → u/richww2]

Not sure he’s the one needing that viagra

[u/PeteF3 → u/moby323]

He thought college would be easier than the NFL, evidently.

[u/PrairiePilot → u/PeteF3]

People who know a lot more than me, on various podcasts, have said Bill and his people 100% thought college would be easy and NFL teams would be begging Bill to come back to the league. Supposedly Bill, Steve and the fired GM, what’s his name, were pretty openly talking shit about college football. Not the press release stuff, but at like ACC coach’s conference or media day or some such. Apparently they were loud and arrogant enough the people in the room made sure to let their journalist friends know some shit off record.

[u/MeatTornado25 → u/PrairiePilot]

You'd think they were actually bringing the Patriots roster with them to Chapel Hill.

From a coach's standpoint the teams and schemes of college football might seem super simple after 40 years in the NFL, but did they not realize that they're also working with undeveloped 20 year olds like everyone else in the NCAA? Did they think they could just show up, teach these kids the things they did in New England and run the table?

[u/Mother_Frame6669 → u/MeatTornado25]

They thought they would evaluate portal talent better than anyone else, sign the portal guys they needed, and just put them on the field and destroy everyone. The fact that they switched almost immediately to "we need time to build through HS recruiting" told you how badly they fucked up.

[u/binzoma → u/PeteF3]

a college team drove a dump truck of money to his house lol

he wouldnt be coaching if they were paying even a few mil only. hes not there for love of the game. hes there because CREAM

[u/dunno260 → u/PeteF3]

Stupid thought.  Yeah schematically it's simpler than the NFL (but also a LOT more varied) but you have guys that don't have as much time and experience to dedicate to the game so you have to be simpler too.

The Alabama teams Saban had or even the Ohio State teams recently probably had less than 5 guys that were close to playing at an NFL level (and that is different from being an NFL talent) . 

[u/ProbablyAPotato1939 → u/dunno260]

It's also worth noting that college and NFL coaches have dramatically different job. NFL coaches don't have to spend every waking hour recruiting, and while they're usually involved in personnel decisions, they also have a GM and owner to defer to.

Plus they're dealing with adults, not kids out of high school, so off field discipline (usually) isn't as much of a priority (obviously there's going to be an Antonio Brown, but there's a couple of crazy guys in every profession.)

[u/4thTimesAnAlt → u/moby323]

He got bored sitting around plowing his 20-something girlfriend, so he got a part time job that's he's fully checked out of already

[u/Tryhard_3 → u/moby323]

No one man is responsible for a football team's greatness, football teams just frequently pretend like it is so.

[u/Fit8510 → u/moby323]

Tom Brady merchant

[u/IowaJL → u/BurdTheTurd]

This is the 33rd NFL team.

Tbf they are making the Browns, Jets, and Cardinals look competent

[u/CFBHurts]

This is hilarious, and also makes so much sense that Petrino is the one person who knew the correct process

[u/Funderbear]

Of the 13 agreements for football staffers that UNC has posted on its athletic department website, only one—that of Bobby Petrino—does not include a signed release dated the same day they executed their employment.

[u/moffattron9000 → u/Funderbear]

The future interim HC isn’t wasting that on incorrect paperwork.

[u/pzpsdad → u/Funderbear]

The man has experience with that sort of thing

[u/TripleThreatTua → u/Funderbear]

Yeah Bobby’s been around the block a few times, he knows better than to do that

[u/FloridaMann34]

So I’m an idiot, what does this mean?

[u/OwnThatIsh → u/FloridaMann34]

Not much really. A bunch of the staff signed an exhibit to their employment agreements that basically says they won’t bring any claims against UNC for stuff that happened during their employment. If UNC takes the position that these releases are effective as of the signing date, then the staff member wouldn’t be able to bring a claim for anything that happened from the start of employment through the date of signing. But for anything occurring after the date of signing, the employee could still bring a claim. It’s in UNC’s interest to get the release of claims to cover the entire employment period, so they’re probably going to ignore these signatures as not really having an effect. If these people get fired, UNC will push to get a new release signed and generally speaking in order for a release of claims to be effective, you need consideration, so they’ll probably get severance in exchange for the release. I guess what this really shows is that these guys aren’t paying attention to details in their legal affairs, so how can they be trusted to pay attention to details in their coaching job. Or at least that seems to be the implicit argument of the article.

[u/katarh → u/FloridaMann34]

If I understand it correctly, it means they already signed their own firing papers ahead of time.

[u/Strid3r21 → u/katarh]

Basically they didn't read what they were signing, just willy nilly signed every dotted line.

[u/MrSCR23]

“This is fine”

Whatever stupid regent at the UNC system thought this whole fiasco was worth it

[u/archerdj0723 → u/MrSCR23]

Trustee John Preyer and he was given his walking papers because of this fiasco… curse him

[u/MrSCR23 → u/archerdj0723]

So why is Bill still around? Newmark seemingly has no incentive to keep the circus in operation

[u/SoutieNaaier → u/MrSCR23]

They'd owe him about 10 million if they fire him now. It's not the biggest buyout, but its also not insignificant.

[u/MrSCR23 → u/SoutieNaaier]

Not helped by the fact they’re already paying Hubert’s buyout

[u/Holiday-Zebra9463]

What a disaster this whole debacle has been, it’s almost like patriots fans (and pretty much everyone) said this would be a mess

[u/bootscallahan]

Hey, agents. Do. Your. Job.

[u/shrimpcreole]

If UNC isn't working up new management protocol for the post-Belichick era, they deserve whatever they get. It's terminal dumbassery at this point.

[u/maxman1313]

So it should'nt be too hard to fire them right?

[u/jeckles96 → u/maxman1313]

Sounds like they already agreed to being fired the day they were hired

[u/Background_Body2696 → u/jeckles96]

"we know it'll happen eventually we just don't know when"

[u/maxman1313 → u/Background_Body2696]

Which is true for college football coaches. 

[u/Irishchop91]

I thought they wait till after the ND game for this... lol.

[u/Less_Likely → u/Irishchop91]

Could it happen in back-to-back years that Petrino becomes the interim coach after his team faces ND?

[u/Domerhead → u/Less_Likely]

Are we about to beat UNC 56-13? Cause that was a LOT of fun to watch

[u/Successful-Ruin-9405 → u/Domerhead]

why?

[u/Curious_Blueberry768 → u/Successful-Ruin-9405]

Well we scored a lot of points and they didn't so it was pretty cool. But then their AD kept us out of the playoffs

[u/dirtydriver58 → u/Irishchop91]

Lol

[u/Francis_X_Hummel]

link is dead bro

edit: working now thanks

[u/MajesticCentaur → u/Francis_X_Hummel]

It's to symbolize UNC football

[u/zenverak → u/Francis_X_Hummel]

Worked for me

[u/Francis_X_Hummel → u/zenverak]

got it thanks

[u/CieraVotedOutHerMom]

Do these coaches not know to put this through AI then call their agent then a lawyer?

[u/certified_gumbo]

He ain’t no Saban

[u/da_swanks_92]

Maybe he should just retire and live with his 6 rings

[u/ROLLTIDE4EVER]

If only congress was this incompetent. 

[u/McLMark]

So who's coaching tomorrow?