Bill Belichick reveals UNC’s rev-share approach: ‘I wouldn’t want to lose a good player over a few thousand dollars’

During his time in the NFL, Bill Belichick had to navigate a salary cap. He served as both the head coach and general manager of the New England Patriots before his departure, meaning he built and coached the roster.

Now at North Carolina, Belichick – like others around the country – are navigating the revenue-sharing era in college athletics. Schools can now directly share up to $20.5 million with athletes following approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, and that figure will increase annually.

As for how UNC is approaching rev-share, Belichick said the school is still getting a sense of what it will look like. That said, it’s also an area where general manager Michael Lombardi becomes especially important.

“I think that’s more of a long-term question,” Belichick said. “Right now, we’re kind of in-between in the revenue. What it’s going to be next year is a little bit different than what it is now. We’re going to have a recruiting class come in that’s going to affect it more than with last year’s recruiting class because we didn’t really have much of one. I think the economics are going to change significantly from ’25 to ’26. And again, that’s really something that Mike is more involved with than I am.

“Let’s just say, generally speaking, you want to try to get good players. I wouldn’t want to lose a good player over a few thousand dollars because, say, we were over our budget. If he’s that good of a player, we’d give him a little bit of the extra money to get them and figure it out somewhere else. It’s a very fluid situation that, to Mike’s point, I definitely agree. Mike and I are on the same page.”

Bill Belichick: UNC does not have ‘dollar figure’ per position

Bill Belichick’s philosophy lines up with Lombardi’s, stressing the importance of the trenches to build the program from the inside out. But skill players are especially important, particularly quarterbacks and pass-rushers. After all, as Belichick said, the goal is to score points.

With that, though, the goal is to put together a balanced team in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams. When it comes to putting a specific dollar amount on each position, though, Belichick said North Carolina doesn’t take that approach.

“Offensive and defensive lines are important,” Belichick said. “You’ve got to have that. You’ve got to have a quarterback, you’ve got to have somebody who can rush the passer, you need somebody that can cover and you need somebody that can score. The guards don’t score. So somebody’s got to be able to score a point. It’s not just that. But if you don’t have that, it makes everything else a lot harder.

“In the end, you want to build a balanced team that can win on offense, defense and special teams because at some point, you’re going to make the plays from each of those units to win critical situations and close games. If they can come through, you’re going to win. And if they can’t, you’re not. It’s not just that, but that’s a critical part of it. Yes, there’s a lot of emphasis there. Like, a dollar figure, no. We don’t have that.”