UNC football didn't fire Bill Belichick, but don't think that it won't | Opinion
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There’s one way out of this for Bill Belichick. Keep winning. Win so much that his employer can’t stomach the thought of firing him. Beat Clemson. Beat Pittsburgh. Beat Duke.
Better yet, beat Notre Dame, too, or come darn close to it, anyway.
Do all that, and a sterling record makes a little thing like an internal investigation, the resignations of two top lieutenants, and a “BANniversary” just sort of fade into the background. Nothing trumps winning.
Universities regularly stomach — and even celebrate — drama-inducing winners. (Consider Lane Kiffin’s tenure at Mississippi.) Winning might not cure all, but it cures a lot.
Drama-inducing losers get fired, and the lawyers can sort out the buyout figures.
If UNC wanted Belichick out now, he’d be out now. The university’s statement after concluding its internal investigation into the football program's culture and climate reads like an employer with an open mind to giving Beli Ball one last shot.
Although the university stated “certain individuals demonstrated a disregard for Carolina’s values and standards of conduct,” it connected no dots to the head coach himself. In fact, the statement gave Belichick some cover by including language that the investigation did not uncover “a systemic failure,” but rather “isolated” misconduct.
You don’t need crisis management expertise to interpret that as Belichick getting one more crack at this.
The statement didn’t bury Belichick. It didn’t buoy him, either. No words of support. No atta-boys. He’s not mentioned, at all.
“All necessary corrective actions are now underway,” UNC said in a statement.
One way out of this mess for Bill Belichick: Keep winning
The investigation’s findings apparently weren’t enough to make UNC want to ax a 2-0 coach who beat TCU in the opener, but the university ought to keep the investigation dossier handy.
What an employer might deem insufficient to fire a 2-0 coach could one day become cannon fodder to oust a 2-6 coach.
There’s no statute of limitations on a for-cause firing.
Whether Belichick ultimately stays or goes, he’s lost the benefit of the doubt when it comes his ability to build a reputable college football staff.
If Belichick’s bosses possess an ounce of sense, they’ll strip him of his autonomy to hire his friends and nepo babies after his general manager, Michael Lombardi, and his son, defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, resigned, amid the investigation. Steve Belichick hasn't coached the past two games. He'll officially depart at the end of his medical leave.
Bill Belichick had one chance to prove he could build an operation suited to college football. He failed. If he’s going to get a chance to rebuild his staff, it needs to be with strong oversight from UNC’s administration. If your friends and family embarrass North Carolina once, the university must step in and ensure they don’t get to embarrass it twice.
Although the investigation has concluded, rumors and reports still swirl about the circumstances surrounding the resignations of Lombardi and Steve Belichick.
The school did not specifically link Lombardi and Steve Belichick to the findings of its investigation, other than to mention their resignations in the statement.
More information probably will leak out, but wins provide an antidote to rumors and negative headlines.
Losses become a scythe to a coach whose program has already undergone investigation.
Bill Belichick's contract at UNC leaves him exposed
If this goes south and UNC wants to steer clear of the legal headache that tends to accompany a for-cause firing, there’s an accessible offramp with Belichick, thanks to the unique way the university structured his contract.
Although UNC technically hired Belichick to a five-year contract, it essentially functions as a three-year deal, because the final two years are not protected by a single dollar of severance. In other words, if UNC fired Belichick without cause after this season, it would only owe him for the 2027 season, under his contract terms.
“I have never seen any contract where there is a three-year guarantee and no guarantee in the last two years,” Martin Greenberg, an expert sports lawyer and former law professor at Marquette, told USA TODAY Sports last year. “This is an anomaly."
That exceptionally unusual buyout structure is the one shrewd move UNC made in this entire Belichick experience.
He could be gone after this season with a $10 million buyout check. That’d be a discount in this era of schools awarding coaches enough failure money that they could buy their own luxury island, down where the water is turquoise.
Belichick’s buyout would be less than one-fifth of the $54 million LSU owed for sacking Brian Kelly.
UNC isn't reaching for the escape hatch yet.
As Belichick would say, he’s on to Clemson this weekend. His pal and his son are out, but he and the Muse persist.
If Beli wants to make it to 2027, he must make the cost of firing him look less appealing than retaining him.
Winners can survive a mess. They can survive the drama of an investigation.
Losers walk, and the only question becomes how much buyout money they get.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UNC football didn't fire Bill Belichick, but don't think that it won't | Opinion
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