CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bill Belichick confirmed he banned New England Patriots scouts from accessing his North Carolina program, the latest point of tension between the six-time Super Bowl-champion coach and the team he led for 24 seasons.
“It’s clear I’m not welcome there around their facility. And so they’re not welcome at ours,” Belichick said after his Tar Heels beat Charlotte 20-3, earning him his first win as a college coach.
League sources told The Athletic this week that Belichick had banned Patriots scouts from practices and speaking to coaching staffers, and that Patriots scouts’ attempts to view a practice in August were rebuffed.
Belichick has offered scouts who do attend practices narrow viewing windows, sources said. The policies have frustrated NFL teams looking for information and access to future draft prospects, with one scout calling the decision “petty.”
Belichick won 296 games (regular season and postseason) with New England from 2000 to 2023 but was fired after the 2023 season, which capped three losing seasons in four years.
Late in Belichick’s tenure with the Patriots and since his departure, there has been friction between Belichick, who served as the team’s coach and general manager, and owner Robert Kraft. Belichick’s split with the Patriots was called a mutual parting of ways at the time, but Kraft later called it a firing, and a 10-part Apple TV documentary was uncomplimentary of Belichick’s role in the Patriots dynasty. Kraft did tell Boston television station WBZ this week that the Patriots look forward to building a Belichick statue next to Tom Brady’s when Belichick’s coaching career ends.
Last month, Belichick told The Boston Globe that one of the joys of coaching in college was that “there’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son.”
(Photo: David Jensen / Getty Images)
Sep 7, 2025
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