It is expected that Brian Belichick, the youngest son of Bill Belichick, will continue to call the defense for North Carolina. This (not-so) sudden change comes after the official resignation of defensive coordinator Steve Belichick on Thursday morning.
Nothing will change for the Tar Heels from the first two weeks of the season.
According to multiple reports, the vibes are much higher in Chapel Hill with the internal college football investigation now in the past. The focus is on the field, not off.
Steve Belichick resigned as the defensive coordinator at UNC.
Bill Belichick hired his oldest son, Steve Belichick, as the defensive coordinator at North Carolina in 2025. The former New England Patriots position coach spent 2024 as the defensive coordinator at Washington. His dad brought him on a year later.
The first year was not great but could’ve been worse. Although UNC finished below .500 as a team, its defense ranked 66th.
And then the wheels fell off during the offseason.
General manager Michael Lombardi resigned from his role in late August following an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of misconduct. Steve Belichick, who was supposedly on “medical leave” during the season-opener, was also implicated in the alleged drugs and sex scandal that trigged the university investigation.
He officially resigned from his role as defensive coordinator on Thursday. He did not coach a single game in 2026.
Although we do not know exactly what led to Steve’s resignation, the investigation found “certain actions demonstrated a disregard for Carolina’s values and standards of conduct.” The actions are “isolated in scope and not a systematic failure,” meaning only the eldest Belichick brother and Lombardi were found guilty of any wrongdoing— whatever that wrongdoing may be.
With that in mind, North Carolina needs a defensive coordinator. Bill has yet to name an interim or permanent replacement.
Bill Belichick gave the North Carolina defense to Brian Belichick.
As of this writing, the Tar Heels do not have an official defensive coordinator in place. Most people assumed that Bill Belichick (one of the greatest defensive minds NFL history) would take over in his eldest son’s absence. Bob Diaco, the former defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Louisiana Tech and Purdue, and former head coach at UConn, is also on staff.
Even if those two are heavily involved in the defensive game plan, they are not calling plays. According to multiple reports, UNC’s head coach handed the keys to his other son, Brian Belichick.
Brian called plays on defense during a statement win over TCU in Week 0 and a suffocating victory over East Tennessee. That will apparently continue to be the case moving forward. Per Bruce Feldman, the Tar Heels are in a better place.
“We’ve been told by sources the vibe around the football building has been much better since Mike Lombardi & Steve Belichick haven’t been there.”
The youngest Belichick son has not called plays prior to this season. He began his coaching career with the New England Patriots in 2017 and spent three years as an assistant. His dad promoted him to safeties coach in 2020. Bill hired Brian as the defensive backs coach at North Carolina in 2025.
The 37-year-old played two years of lacrosse in college and graduated from Trinity College in 2016. Now he is calling the defense for an ACC program that desperately needs to make a bowl game. UNC will play Clemson (with a backup quarterback) on Saturday. It gets No. 3 Notre Dame at home in two weeks.