North Carolina will be without its defensive coordinator for at least a bit of fall camp.
Head coach Bill Belichick announced Thursday morning that his son and defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick, has stepped away from the program on medical leave. When we asked whether Steve would be back in time for the season opener, the elder Belichick did not commit to a date for a return. He said only that his son would return "as soon as possible."
That was the extent of it. Belichick did not offer specifics on the nature of the medical situation, and he did not name an interim play-caller or lay out how the defensive staff will divide responsibilities while Steve is away. For a program already trying to steady itself after a rough debut season, the timing is not ideal, and the lack of a timeline leaves plenty of open questions heading into the fall.
Steve Belichick is entering his second year running the UNC defense. He signed a two-year deal worth $2.7 million last August, making him the highest-paid assistant on the Tar Heels' staff, and the youngest of Bill's coaching sons has been by his father's side for most of the ride. Before Chapel Hill, Steve spent the 2024 season as the defensive coordinator at Washington, his first job outside the Belichick family's NFL orbit. Prior to that he came up through the New England Patriots, where he worked his way from a coaching assistant into the safeties and outside linebackers rooms, eventually taking on a larger role in the teams defensive game planning and play calling late in his father's tenure there.
UNC finished 4-8 in Belichick's first season, the program's worst mark since 2018 and the end of a six-year bowl streak. The Tar Heels opened the year getting run out of the building by TCU and never found consistent footing, and the defense was a big part of the story. Losing the coordinator responsible for fixing that side of the ball, even temporarily, is not the kind of development a staff wants as fall camp ramps up.
Steve's absence also comes with the front office already down a key voice. General manager Michael Lombardi, the longtime NFL executive Belichick brought in to run the roster, was placed on paid administrative leave earlier this offseason. That leave is a separate matter from Steve's, tied to a human resources complaint filed by a former front office employee and a pending university investigation, and Lombardi's attorney has said his client had not been told the nature of it. Lombardi, a three-time Super Bowl winner as an executive, earned $1.5 million in 2025 as the highest-paid public college general manager in the sport. Between the GM's situation and now the coordinator's leave, two of the biggest names Belichick imported from the NFL are away from the building with the opener approaching.
For now, there is no clear answer on who steps in or for how long. Belichick's message was that Steve's health comes first and that he will be back as soon as he is ready.
We will pass along more as it becomes available. Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.