Carolina earned a fortuitous win over UConn in sunny (then rainy Hartford) on Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels were ready for the Huskies, who live in the shadow of the national championship basketball program and could not find a home in any Power 4 football conference, including the ACC. UConn has a fine team that basically played even with UNC before two interceptions and a phantom fumble in the red zone sealed the deal.
UNC’s fifth victory of the season puts the program within one win to bowl eligibility with three ACC games remaining. But the Tar Heels came no closer to establishing themselves anything other than an average football team, while the mystery remains as to whether Bill Belichick is still a good long-term fit for the program.
Carolina clearly has better players than the 4-8 disaster of a year ago during Belichick’s maiden voyage in college coaching, for which he made $10 million. The issue is it remains unclear as to what kind of foundation he is building with the roster. Belichick and deposed general manager Michael Lombardi pivoted from saying UNC would be “the 33rd NFL team” to a developmental program for players — and while that may be true, is the success we’re seeing on the field a product of that development? It’s hard to tell with the reliance on upperclassmen.
Jelani Thurman, a red-shirt junior, tied a school record of eight touchdown passes in a season for tight ends on Saturday with his pair of catches. By doing so, he has thrust himself into NFL Draft status. But we can’t forget he was a back-up at Ohio State, which saw the players on the depth chart above him head to the league too. In an age where talented wide receivers are abound in college football, UNC’s Jordan Shipp has shown his strengths are his ability to haul in tough passes while being an excellent leader on and off the field. But behind transfer addition Trech Kekahuna, the young receiving corps has not yet revealed the next rising star.
Billy Edwards Jr. played another excellent game after his almost-perfect performance against No. 1 Miami. The truth is, he’s the latest in a QB carousel for the program following Drake Maye and Sam Howell going pro after three seasons each under Mack Brown. In his sixth year as a college quarterback, Edwards has provided a relatively steady hand under center and definitely contributed to the five wins. But who’s next? Will this coaching staff take a risk by trusting a younger QB next season? One who will likely see little to no game action in 2026?
In the era of transfer portal players, there is no telling how long someone is staying or how quick they are to leave. Who’s to say any of the players who are getting better within Carolina’s giant freshman class don’t take either pay raises or more promised game time at another program? It’s a reflection of how much the game — and college sports — have changed in recent years, because UNC isn’t alone in searching for answers to this conundrum.
Some of this goes back to Lombardi, who resigned after the UNC legal team spent nearly $1 million investigating his recruiting and personal behavior. Carolina is using a search firm to replace the highest paid general manager in college football and maybe whoever is selected there will help add some clarity. But the plan of former UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham was to find a younger coach who knew the college game and how recruiting was changing almost every year. Instead, after Brown was fired, UNC was left with an even older coach with virtually no college experience and a…questionable team of advisors around him. Belichick is a good coach who is respected by his players, but it takes more than that to build a sustained success in college.
If Carolina is trying to construct a football program that earns 10 wins each year, they need to realize what kind of a historic leap that would be. They achieved that mark only once with Larry Fedora, three times in Brown’s first stint, twice under Dick Crum who led Carolina to its most recent ACC championship 1980 and with Bill Dooley who won three ACC titles in the old 10-game schedule days. In more recent seasons, Brown nearly did it twice during his encore — but an inability to finish games in the fourth quarter sunk his final seasons with Maye.
The 2026 schedule, on paper, seemed like it could be Belichick’s death knell thanks to the consternation his disappointing first year generated. But it’s worked out as the opposite, as some of the teams that seemed challenging on the schedule ended up being far worse than their 2025 counterparts. QB Josh Hoover left TCU for national champion Indiana and the Horned Frogs are 4-5 in his absence. Pitt lost QB Mason Heintschel to an injury and Duke’s ACC champion quarterback Darian Mensah transferred to Miami: the Heels eked out wins over both teams against inferior replacements.
So, where are the Tar Heels going in football? Reaching a middling bowl game was not what UNC’s leaders sought when bringing Brown back, and certainly not was touted as the goal when Belichick was hired. Beating orphan UConn adds another win to this year’s total, sure. But what’s the endgame, beyond paying Belichick another $10 mil for a third season? He’ll probably bring in another new quarterback and more transfers, who will be long forgotten after their one year in Chapel Hill, with the goal of protecting his own short-term future instead of building that long-term foundation.
That’s the new story of college football for many coaches — and it has gripped Carolina into more mediocrity.
Featured image via AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs on 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro during football and basketball seasons.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Art’s Angle: Building For the Future? Chapelboro.com.
Hence then, the article about art s angle building for the future was published today ( ) and is available on chapelboro ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Art’s Angle: Building For the Future? )
Also on site :