Bill Belichick was hoping for a fresh start this college football season, but Paul Finebaum believes it’s just the beginning of the end.

It’s not uncommon for college football head coaches to have a transitional year before taking a step forward as they build their programs. And that’s exactly what Belichick is probably hoping last year was during his tumultuous rookie season as head football coach at the University of North Carolina. But as Belichick prepares for the second year of his program to kick off this Saturday against TCU in Dublin, Ireland, Finebaum is already predicting that he won’t see the season through.

“He’s a grouch, he’s a bully, and his career in college is about to go down in flames…I don’t think Bill Belichick is going to survive until the end of the season” – Paul Finebaum pic.twitter.com/FUutmKjsGw

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 25, 2026

“He’s a grouch, he’s a bully, and his career in college is about to go down in flames,” Finebaum said Tuesday morning on First Take. “He lost Michael Lombardi, his chief assistant and GM. His son disappeared from the staff a couple weeks ago as the defensive coordinator; it is mass chaos in Chapel Hill. I don’t believe they’ll win this game in Ireland, and I don’t think Bill Belichick is going to survive until the end of the season. And the idea that somebody who has easily wrapped up the title as the greatest NFL coach of all-time with his six championships in the Super Bowl…is going to go down in flames, but he did it to himself.

“He couldn’t accept that nobody in the NFL wanted him anymore. And because he is Bill Belichick and he knows more than anybody, even though we all now know it was Tom Brady who led him to all those Super Bowl championships, Brady proved that the second he got out of there. Bill Belichick had to find a university that would offer him a job, and he would show the world that he is the greatest coach of all-time. Instead, he’s proven to be a disaster. He’s one of the worst college football coaches in a short period of time I have ever seen.”

Rip him for what he’s doing at UNC, sure. But stripping the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach of any credit is cold. Finebaum going after Belichick is becoming a bit of a pattern, however. Just last month, Finebaum similarly predicted a “pathetic” end to Belichick’s career. And while Finebaum guessed UNC won’t fire Belichick, he did advise the college football coach to consider retirement.

To be fair, Belichick has given Finebaum no shortage of ammunition since unceremoniously exiting the NFL after parting ways with the New England Patriots and failing to land a new job. He went 4-8 in his first season with UNC, and expectations aren’t much higher this year.

It only took five games for Finebaum to claim Belichick was on the verge of becoming the “worst coach in college football history” last year. Part of that is because it’s not just the win/loss record that has been bad for Belichick. His college football tenure has also been marred by headlines featuring his 25-year-old girlfriend, media feuds, off-field investigations, and reports of a divided locker room.

Finebaum might be rooting against Belichick, but at this point, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes there’s a better chance of Belichick turning UNC into a powerhouse than there is of him going down in flames as arguably the worst head coach in college football history.