Clemson’s Dabo Swinney reacts to UNC hiring Bill Belichick as new football coach

Clemson football plays a road game at North Carolina next year.

Out of everyone Tigers coach Dabo Swinney thought he might meet on the sidelines in Kenan Stadium that day, Bill Belichick was probably last on the list.

Now, it’s a reality.

UNC made the biggest hire of the 2024 college football coaching cycle yet last week when the Tar Heels tabbed Belichick, who won six Super Bowls as coach of the New England Patriots, to replace Mack Brown, who was fired last month.

Belichick, 72, has never coached college football before, and his hiring at UNC after a year out of the NFL was the biggest sport in all sports last week.

Swinney’s reaction?

“Amazing,” Clemson’s longtime coach said Monday. “It’s incredible. I think it’s a great compliment to our league, for sure. It’s hard to get better than Coach Belichick. He’s an unbelievable proven coach and winner, and I think it’s really cool. ... I’ve met him one time over the years but look forward to welcoming him at the right time.”

For years, Swinney, 55, has been the ACC’s most prominent coach. He’s led Clemson to two national championships and is the conference’s all-time leader in wins while leading an ACC program with 180 (seven more than Florida State’s Bobby Bowden)

He’s also won nine outright league championships, including one against SMU two weeks ago in Charlotte, and has led the Tigers to seven College Football Playoffs, including a first-round game at Texas in the inaugural 12-team CFP this Saturday.

Now, he’s got some major competition with Belichick — not that he minds.

“I’m a big fan,” Swinney said of Belichick, adding on his outlook at UNC: “I know there’s been a lot of people talking about it, but there’s nothing in his past that says that he won’t be successful. ... I think he’ll do an awesome job.”

Dabo a ‘big fan’ of new counterpart

Belichick has won eight total Super Bowls as an NFL coach and has six as a head coach, the most in NFL history. He coached the Patriots for 24 seasons and was the main architect, alongside quarterback Tom Brady, of a franchise that won 17 divisional titles, made 13 AFC championships and appeared in nine Super Bowls.

Belichick and the Patriots mutually agreed to part ways after the 2023 season, and despite interviewing for multiple NFL jobs this offseason, Belichick didn’t get one.

He spent this fall in various media roles before emerging as an out-of-left-field candidate for the Tar Heels job and ultimately getting hired last week.

“That wasn’t on my radar coming into the season, that the guy who’s got more Super Bowl wins than anybody would be coming to our league,” Swinney said. “But I think it’s really cool. Great opportunity for those kids that are in that program.”

Belichick will replace Brown, 73, who was fired late in the sixth season of his second stint at UNC this November. Brown coached North Carolina from 1988-97 before leaving for the Texas job. He returned to the Tar Heels in 2019.

Swinney said “everyone” in football, college or pro, has been following Belichick over the years and described himself as an admirer of one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Belichick has won 333 combined regular-season and playoff wins, 14 shy of breaking Don Shula’s record 347 with Miami.

Swinney and Belichick have formally met once, at a pro day on Clemson’s campus, but Clemson’s coach has been in his orbit a good bit. That includes trips to Minneapolis for Super Bowl LII in 2018 and Atlanta for Super Bowl LIII in 2019.

Both games featured Belichick-coached Patriots teams and former Clemson tight end Dwayne Allen, who was on New England’s roster both seasons. Swinney watched the Patriots lose to the Philadelphia Eagles in the “Philly Special” game before watching them beat the Los Angeles Rams the following year.

That was the last of six Super Bowls Belichick won with the Patriots.

Now he joins UNC on a five-year, $50 million contract and will try to turn around a team that made bowl games consistently under Brown but never became a true contender in the ACC or the CFP field.

The specific date of the game won’t be released until January. But Swinney and Clemson know they’ll be making a trip up to Chapel Hill at some point in the 2025 season as one of their four ACC road games to play UNC and Belichick.

“It’s amazing,” Swinney said. “Really cool. Great for college football and certainly great for our league,” Swinney said. “There’s a lot of great coaches in this league. And again, for him to want to come be a part of that, I think it says a lot.”

2024 CFP first round: Clemson vs. Texas

• Who: No. 12 seed Clemson (10-3) at No. 5 Texas (11-2)

• When: 4 p.m. Saturday

• Where: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin

• TV: TNT

• Line: Texas by 11.5 points (VegasInsider)

• Next up: Winner faces No. 4 Arizona State in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl