North Carolina will play its first game of the 2026 college football season against TCU in Ireland on Saturday. It does not seem like Steve Belichick is going to travel with the Tar Heels to Europe, which leaves them without a defensive coordinator.
His father, head coach Bill Belichick, has not yet named an official replacement.
One of the most chaotic tenures in college football coaching history is already off the rails before the first game of year two. A statement win this weekend would go a very, very long way for UNC. An ugly loss could be the beginning of the end.
Where is Steve Belichick?
North Carolina began fall camp on July 29. Steve Belichick was supposed to speak with the media after the first practice but he did not make it. Sources told TarHeel247 that he had fallen ill. The extent of his illness was unclear.
One week later, Bill Belichick announced that Steve is on medial leave. He did not provide any further details. Nor did he say whether his son would be available for the season-opener.
The Tar Heels did not give a vague timeline. They did not expand on Steve’s condition. All Bill said was that the team “looks forward to getting him back as soon as possible.”
That was on Aug. 6. It is now Aug. 25 and nothing has changed. Nobody outside of the program knows why Steve Belichick is not with the team and nobody outside of the program knows when he could be back. His health status remains a mystery to the public.
UNC is going to travel to Ireland in a few days for its first game. Steve is not back.
Bill said on Monday that there are “no updates. I’m not really going to talk about that situation.” As is typical of the six-time Super Bowl Champion, he immediately moved on to the next question.
Who is the defensive coordinator for North Carolina?
Steve Belichick is not able to coach the defense while on medical leave. North Carolina does not have an official defensive coordinator with less than seven days until its first game.
Bill said at the beginning of the month that the entire staff would work together to fill his son’s spot. Nothing was going to change.
“We coach defense collective as staff and we will continue to do that.”
However, he did say that if Steve would not be available for the season-opener, he would then consider naming an official interim coordinator. That has not yet happened. Bill Belichick reiterated on Monday that the entire defensive staff is coaching the defense.
But it seems more and more like Steve won’t travel to Ireland. So will his dad name an interim?
Bill Belichick is one of the greatest defensive minds in NFL history. It is very possible that he could call the defense in his son’s absence.
“I called as head coach. I’ve called plays on offense, defense, and the kicking game. Again, we have a really good staff. I have a lot of confidence in them. But if I need to do anything, I feel confident in doing it.”
The other option seems to be defensive line coach Bob Diaco. The 53-year-old served as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati in 2009, at Notre Dame from 2010-13, at Nebraska in 2017 and at Purdue in 2020, and was the head coach at UConn from 2014-16. Perhaps Bill would give him the reigns while his son is out. We don’t know.
The defensive coordinator situation at UNC is a mystery. The Tar Heels play on Saturday…