Bill Belichick’s hiring at North Carolina isn’t the first time an ex-NFL coach has gone back to school to coach, but the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach comes with a unique caveat.
Belichick will take over at UNC without any coaching experience whatsoever at the college level.
The entirety of the 72-year-old coaching resume is the NFL, which started in 1975 as a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts, so his tenure in Chapel Hill will represent a big change of pace.
It’s not new ground overall in football, though, as several coaches before him have been head coaches in the NFL before taking their first college head coaching job.
Here’s a look at how some of them fared.
Herm Edwards
Edwards’ first head coaching job came with the Jets, as led Gang Green from 2001-05 and then the Chiefs from 2006-08.
After a rather lengthy gap, Edwards returned to coaching in 2018 when he took over the football program at Arizona State.
His promises of a “restructured ASU football model” that was styled after the NFL came with modest results and Edwards went 26-20 during his time at Arizona State, though he had to vacate eight wins over recruiting violations, leaving him with an official 18-20 record.
He was eventually shown the door during the 2022 season after ASU started 1-2, with an exodus of players and staff leaving the program.
Pete Carroll
Perhaps one of the biggest names to be included on this list, Carroll is the gold standard, having successful runs in the NFL and in college football.
Another ex-Jet coach, Carroll got his first head coaching gig with the Jets (1994) and then led the Patriots from 1997-99 before taking over USC in 2001.
Carroll helped lead USC back to prominence, winning consecutive national championships in 2003 and 2004.
He was able to leave before the NCAA handed down sanctions — including bowl bans and scholarship losses — against the USC football program for rules violations and returned to the NFL to coach Seattle in 2010, winning a Super Bowl three years later.
Jerry Glanville
The man who started his head coaching career with the Houston Oilers and then with the Atlanta Falcons was a character.
But it never translated to massive success at the pro or college level during his coaching career.
Glanville was hired as the head coach for Portland State University in 2007 — more than a decade after he had last served as a head coach in Atlanta — and was there until November 2009, when he resigned after goin 9-24 during his time at the helm.
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin’s start as a head coach was not all sunshine and rainbows while with the Raiders as a 31-year-old in 2007.
His tenure with the franchise lasted less than two seasons, and he eventually rebounded by landing a job as the head coach at Tennessee, which lasted all of one season.
Kiffin left for the sunshine of Los Angeles to take over the head coaching job at USC following Carroll’s departure.
He spent four seasons at USC and was famously fired following a 61-41 loss to Arizona State in 2013 after the team plane had landed back in LA around 3 a.m.
After USC, he’s had head coaching stops at Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss.
Overall, he has a 104-52 record as a college coach.
Jim L. Mora
Yes, the son of retired NFL coach Jim Mora, is on this list after stints coaching the Falcons (2004-06) and Seahawks (2009).
He made the jump to college when he took the vacant gig at UCLA in 2012, leading the program to three-10 win seasons over his six years.
Mora now serves as the head coach for UConn, helping them get the program to a bowl appearance in 2022.
