Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Bill Belichick’s brief tenure as the University of North Carolina head coach has been marred with controversy in the months leading up to him stepping back onto the field. But despite the fact that Belichick now has his fair share of doubters, the man who preceded him in Chapel Hill, Mack Brown, believes he has the chance to do great things in short order.

Outside noise stemming from the involvement of his significant other, Jordon Hudson, within the North Carolina program has given off a perception that Belichick’s tenure in North Carolina may not be all that successful. But his predecessor actually believes that the current landscape of both the North Carolina athletics program, and college football as a whole, sets up perfectly for Belichick to have success.

During an appearance on The Herd on Wednesday, Mack Brown shared how he believes the newfound commitment to the football program at North Carolina from UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts should at the very least give Bill Belichick a chance to succeed.

“The first thing, Colin, Chancellor Lee Roberts is committed to football big time, for the first time in North Carolina history,” said Brown. “They are really wanting football to be good. So they are all in. That gives them a chance to be successful. Bill is arguably the best coach of any sport. You win that many Super Bowls, whatever level, the man can coach. He can evaluate because he brought in all those kids at the Patriots. And now, administrators don’t like to admit it. But we have pro football at some level in college.

“We no longer have amateurism. We have payment scales, we have NIL. Kids are asking for money, they have agents, there is negotiation. So I do think the fact that we are much more like the NFL than ever before will really help Bill with this transition. The other thing is, every coach wants his own players. It takes you two or there guys to get your guys in there. He has brought in 72 new guys. So you have got money, you can evaluate, and you can bring in who you want. I think he has a chance to win big and win big fast.”

Obviously, this is a bit of a backhanded compliment to the University of North Carolina. In a sense, Brown does appear to be saying that he believes that the University of North Carolina didn’t exactly commit to their football program as much as they should have during his most-recent six-year stint at the program.

But either way, Mack Brown clearly has respect for what Bill Belichick has done in his coaching career. So it will be interesting to see whether Belichick does ultimately live up to the expectations of his predecessor or not.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.