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Bill Belichick Interviews for a Gig in... College Football?

Bill Belichick is leaving the New England Patriots.
Bill Belichick is leaving the New England Patriots.

NFL legend Bill Belichick may soon find himself on the recruiting trail.

The eight-time Super Bowl winner interviewed with University of North Carolina officials this week for the football program’s head coaching position, a report from 247 Sports said Thursday.

That shocking report revealed that recent rumors about the 72-year-old making a return to coaching were true—but at a place, and level, few in the sporting world would have expected.

North Carolina is far from a football powerhouse. Known for its elite men’s basketball program, UNC football is in the midst of a mediocre 6-6 season that saw it announce last week that its coach, Mack Brown, won’t be returning next season.

Bill Belichick was rumored last month to be eying a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Bill Belichick was rumored last month to be eying a job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The university has been heralded as the most appealing head coach opening in college football at the moment, however, and if Belichick does accept the program may soon have one of the sport’s all-time-greatest coaches calling the shots and wooing 17-year-old recruits inside their homes across the country.

Belichick taking the gig would be quite the curveball for the famed signal-caller. He’s never held a job at the collegiate level—in any capacity—despite being a coach since 1975, when he was a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts.

The Annapolis, Maryland, native has been out of coaching since January, when he and the New England Patriots decided to part ways after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl wins (his other two Super Bowls came as an assistant) together. New England went a measly 4-13 in his final year.

Belichick worked a number of gigs in sports media this year, but was first rumored to be eying a return to coaching in September. Then, earlier this month, reports emerged that said Belichick was exploring an NFL return as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars for next season.

Bill Belichick, 72, and girlfriend Jordon Hudson, 24, enter the field before a college football game this fall.
Bill Belichick, 72, and girlfriend Jordon Hudson, 24, enter the field before a college football game this fall.

Off the field, Belichick had been quietly dating a 24-year-old former cheerleader for over a year. In recent months, however, the couple have gone more public with their relationship, including them showing off their couples Halloween costume.

The coach, who‘s an avid supporter of Donald Trump and a father of three, has not commented publicly about any of his coaching rumors.