Six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick interviewed for the head-coaching job at North Carolina, Inside Carolina and the Raleigh News & Observer reported Thursday.
According to the News & Observer, Belichick “blew them away in the interview,” yet he is not likely to move forward because he is pushing 73 years old and has no experience in the college game.
After he and the New England Patriots agreed to part ways following a 24-year stint, Belichick interviewed for the head job with the Atlanta Falcons, who instead hired Raheem Morris.
The North Carolina interview is the first known instance of Belichick showing interest in a college position.
Belichick is expected to draw interest for NFL openings in the upcoming hiring cycle.
The Tar Heels retained an outside advisory firm to identify coaching candidates to replace Mack Brown, whom they fired at the end of the regular season. North Carolina went 6-6, including 3-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“We’ve had a tremendous response of people across the country, of agents calling us, coaches, people calling on behalf of other people that are in the industry,” North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in an in-house interview the school posted online earlier this week.
“We are very optimistic of where we are, the interest in our program is just extraordinary, and we’ll get a great coach to lead us. Who can lead us in the next three, five, 10 years? We need somebody that can come in and take us from good to great.”