Connect with us

Published

on

Although the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers may never stop celebrating, the NHL offseason has begun.

Over the past several days, Jonathan Toews agreed to sign with the Winnipeg Jets once free agency begins and there have been a flurry of re-signings, as well as a trade between the Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken, with Andre Burakovsky headed to the Second City.

The NHL draft will take place on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles, featuring seven rounds of selections and (most likely) a handful of franchise-altering trades. Then on July 1, free agency officially begins.

To help make sense of it all, ESPN reporters Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski reached out to sources in front offices around the league for their takes on the draft, trades and the free agent class, and deliver the latest buzz around the NHL:

Schaefer earned perspective through tragedy

Matthew Schaefer has been the projected first overall pick in this year’s draft (held by the New York Islanders) for months. But the Erie Otters defenseman isn’t all that concerned about where he ultimately lands.

No pressure. No stress. It’s all about enjoying the journey — a lesson Schaefer has learned the hard way.

“I’ve been through a lot,” he said recently. And that’s putting it mildly.

Schaefer lost his billet mother in late 2023. Two months later, his own mother died after a long battle with cancer. Then, during the 2025 World Junior Championship, Otters owner Jim Waters — with whom Schaefer was close — also died. Also during the tournament, Schaefer sustained a broken collarbone and missed the remainder of his season in Erie.

That would be a harsh 12 months for anyone to endure, let alone a 17-year-old on the cusp of achieving his life-long dream of playing in the NHL. Schaefer has an upbeat attitude about it all, though. What others might view as adversity he sees as almost a superpower, and it has helped him cope with the demands of being a highly touted prospect.

“There’s a lot worse things that can happen in life [than not being picked No. 1],” he said. “Going through injuries are super easy. I feel like when I was younger and I stubbed my toe, I probably would have thought the world was ending, but going through everything, there’s so much worse things that can happen in life. And honestly, you’ve just got to take the opportunities. You’ve got to work as hard as you can. I think just being a good person goes such a long way.”

Schaefer is quick-witted and personable, admirably earnest and genuine. He has done charity work with other kids experiencing grief-related challenges, and he plans to do more volunteering with the hospital where his mother received treatment. It’s not for show, either.

Schaefer readily admits he enjoys meeting new people and hearing their stories.

“I personally love helping people,” he said. “Respecting people, [treating them] how you’d like to be treated. Holding a door for someone, it goes such a long way. I think each and every day I just want to have a positive mindset. My mindset has changed a lot with everything. Seeing what my mom went through, having a smile on her face with cancer and everything trying to bring her down, but she wouldn’t let it bring her down. Wish I was as tough as her.”

Schaefer believes that his mom will be watching when the draft takes place, and perhaps even helping him in a familiar role as he prepares for hockey’s grandest stage.

“My mom used to go in net and put on the equipment, and I’d shoot on her,” he recalled. “When I’m shooting pucks in the basement, she probably spiritually has the hockey equipment on, trying to save them, and I’m missing the net because she’s probably blocker saving that. There’s a lot of things I’ve learned. I’m definitely a lot stronger now.” — Shilton


Could the Islanders draft Hagens too?

James Hagens knows how badly some Islanders fans want to see the Hauppauge, New York, native drafted by their team. After all, the 18-year-old Boston College center is one of their own: A kid who was in the stands cheering on the Islanders during playoff games at Nassau Coliseum who just happened to one day become a top NHL draft prospect.

“I still have the [rally] towel to this day,” he told me during the Stanley Cup Final. “I just remember being a little kid, screaming my lungs off. It was a small building, but it got loud.”

Hagens said he has had people walk up to him on the golf course back home expressing hope that he’ll be an Islanders draft choice. Driving back from a workout one day, he saw a car with a “Bring Hagens Home” bumper sticker on the back.

“I just tried to duck my head and drive by. Didn’t really try to make eye contact or anything,” Hagens recalled.

play

0:50

James Hagens’ NHL draft profile

Take a look at some of the best plays for Boston College center James Hagens.

He couldn’t help but get his hopes up when he watched the Islanders win the No. 1 pick in the lottery. There was a time when it appeared Hagens would go first overall in the 2025 draft. The venerable Bob McKenzie of TSN had him ranked first before the season, with nine of the 10 NHL scouts he surveyed in agreement.

There were a variety of factors for why Hagens slipped a bit this season — a great but not elite freshman season at BC, continuing concerns about this 5-foot-11-ish frame — but chief among them was the emergence of Schaefer as the Islanders’ presumptive No. 1 pick.

Yet here was buzz during the Stanley Cup Final that the Islanders might seek to make a draft-day splash by taking Schaefer first overall — and then trading back into the top four again to select Hagens. It’s assumed the San Jose Sharks are drafting forward Michael Misa (Saginaw Spirit) and Hagens hasn’t been linked much with the Chicago Blackhawks at No. 3. Utah has the fourth pick, while Nashville is drafting fifth.

What could be in play from the Islanders? Speculation surrounds 25-year-old defenseman Alexander Romanov, a restricted free agent due a sizable raise, as well as the Colorado Avalanche‘s first-round pick in 2026 that the Avs can defer to 2027. But that’s just a starting point for acquiring a top-five pick and, most importantly, a hometown star.

Isles GM Mathieu Darche has talked about his charges becoming an “attacking” team. Co-owner John Collins has discussed the necessity for the franchise to make “deeper connections” with the Long Island hockey community. Hagens would seem to address both needs, either at No. 1 … or if the Islanders can hit a two-fer in the draft. — Wyshynski


Clock is ticking on Tavares in Toronto

Unless Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs undergo seriously successful couples counselling in the next week, it’s unlikely the winger will be back in blue and white this fall. That ending has been projected for months, and frankly reflects some poor asset management by the Leafs that they’re about to lose this year’s top UFA for nothing.

Is there the possibility of a sign-and-trade, or another suitor interested in acquiring Marner’s rights, similar to how Toronto GM Brad Treliving acquired Chris Tanev‘s rights at last year’s draft? Sure. But again … don’t hold your breath.

Where the Leafs’ focus can and should be at this stage is on John Tavares. The latest word is that the two sides aren’t close on an extension, and Toronto can’t beat around the bush too long here, because there are not many other viable unrestricted free agent centers available.

Sam Bennett appears determined to stay in Florida. Toews and Matt Duchene have signed elsewhere. Beyond Tavares, the Leafs are looking at Mikael Granlund, Pius Suter or perhaps Claude Giroux.

There might not be much Toronto can recuperate from the Marner situation. Tavares is the opposite; he wants to be a Leaf and is willing to negotiate.

Dallas just inked Duchene to a four-year, $18 million extension. Yes, there’s some creative accounting in there between the base salary and signing bonuses coupled with Duchene’s continued buyout package from Nashville. However, a $4.5 million average annual value contract for Tavares isn’t looking so bad when you consider the Leafs cannot lose a second-line center who just had one of his best seasons ever at age 34. And the Leafs won’t have many options to replace Tavares if he accepts another team’s offer (of which there could be many).

This is a critical juncture for Treliving, and considering all the factors at work, Toronto needs to put its best foot forward and get Tavares back under contract. — Shilton


Can Panthers bring back the big three, including Marchand?

Having covered the Panthers for multiple rounds in the playoffs, I had hours of conversations about their three key unrestricted free agents: center Sam Bennett, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and winger/Dairy Queen enthusiast Brad Marchand.

There was a common perception about them before the Panthers hoisted the Cup for a second time, but some of those have shifted:

1. Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP, was a lock to re-sign. While scores of teams might have doubled his base salary ($5 million), Bennett and the Panthers have been confident something would get done. Then, at the Panthers’ victory celebration at E11EVEN in Miami, he loosely quoted “The Wolf of Wall Street” to tell the fans, “I ain’t f—ing leaving,” while a message that read “8 more years” was displayed behind him.

2. Ekblad, who was drafted first overall by the Panthers in 2014, was iffy to re-sign. He would be coveted as a mobile right-shot defenseman with two Stanley Cups to his credit. The Panthers reportedly made an offer to Ekblad that was rejected last summer, and Florida then explored the trade market for him.

But the winds have shifted here. Speculation in Sunrise is that the Panthers and Ekblad, 29, could swap a high cap number for term, which can be risky with a player who has Ekblad’s injury history. Florida really likes its current defensive depth — Ekblad with Gustav Forsling, and then Seth Jones on a second pairing, where the Panthers believe he’s perfectly cast. Ekblad now is expected to stay, but as he cautioned recently: “Things seem to come down to the last minute here.”

play

1:04

Kevin Weekes calls Panthers’ performance a ‘master class’

Steve Levy and Kevin Weekes break down how the Panthers pulled off back-to-back Stanley Cup titles against the Oilers.

3. Marchand took less money in Boston on his last deal for a player of his accomplishments — he made only $8 million in base salary in two of 16 seasons with the Bruins. So the perception was that he would sign with whichever team offered the highest salary with the term he was seeking, rumored to be four years. The Maple Leafs have been the focus here, in the ultimate “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” moment in NHL history. But suitors ranging from the Washington Capitals to the Utah Mammoth were rumored to be waiting on him.

However, the fit and success he found in Florida appears to have shifted things here, too. Marchand publicly asked GM Bill Zito to give him a contract — at a Dairy Queen, no less — and Zito has said multiple times he expects to be able to sign Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand at a cap hit that allows the Panthers “to bring in other good players.”

For what it’s worth, Marchand was caught on video at the famed Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale telling a fan that he’s not leaving and then flashing four fingers. But it’s Marchand. He says a lot. — Wyshynski


Do the Blackhawks have a big surprise in store for Round 1?

Chicago is set to pick at No. 3. After Matthew Schaefer and Michael Misa are all but guaranteed to go 1-2, the Blackhawks will be the first fascinating selection of the night.

Do they go center or wing?

When the scouting combine in Buffalo was wrapping up, it sounded like Chicago was zeroed in on either Moncton Wildcats center Caleb Desnoyers or Brampton Steelheads winger Porter Martone.

Martone’s stock has risen even further since the start of June, and while it may have been the Blackhawks’ inclination to go center, could they pass on Martone at this point? He’s 6-3 and 207 pounds, with a physical edge, creative playmaking, a great shot and terrific hands. Martone had 37 goals and 98 points in 57 games last season as the Steelheads’ captain, and scouts rave about his ability and potential to excel in the NHL.

Chicago already has one exemplary young center in Connor Bedard. While it’s tempting to add another potential standout at the position, the draw of Martone might just be too much to pass up. — Shilton


Oilers GM baffled by goalie decision

There’s no question that the Edmonton Oilers‘ goaltending was a detriment during their Stanley Cup Final loss to the Florida Panthers.

Stuart Skinner (.861 save percentage, 3.97 goals-against average) was pulled twice and eventually benched for Calvin Pickard (.878, 2.88) in their Game 5 loss, before returning to give up three goals on 23 shots in their Game 6 elimination. Both goalies were below replacement level in goals saved above expected over their last five playoff games. Meanwhile, Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky chugged along at 3.1 goals saved above expected in his last five games and did what he needed to do (.919, 2.45) in the Final.

This confused Oilers GM Stan Bowman, because he argued that Edmonton had the stronger goaltending in its three previous series in the Western Conference. “Darcy Kuemper, Adin Hill and Jake Oettinger, our goalies were better than them in each of those series,” he said. “I think that’s the reason we went to the [Stanley Cup] Final. And then in the Final it flipped.”

The assumption has been that the Oilers will prioritize finding an elite-level netminder who could theoretically prevent embarrassments like having to decide which struggling goalie will start Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. But Bowman said he’s still mulling over any goalie changes, with both Skinner ($2.6 million AAV) and Pickard ($1 million) signed through next season before becoming unrestricted free agents.

Bowman said changes for next season “may involve the goaltending or it could not,” and there’s a lot of analysis to be done in the wake of the Oilers’ second loss to Florida in two seasons before making that decision.

It’s hard to fathom that the Oilers would run it back with the same battery next season, but the options to upgrade are limited. They’ve been linked to John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, who has a 10-team no-trade list and two years left on his contract at a $6.4 million AAV. New Jersey Devils veteran Jake Allen is the best option in a thin UFA market that also includes Alexandar Georgiev (San Jose), Alex Lyon (Detroit) and Anton Forsberg (Ottawa).

Bowman said that’s part of the decision for the Oilers: Who, exactly, would be an upgrade over Skinner and Pickard in the playoffs?

“It’s not like you just go down to the corner and pick up an elite goalie,” he said. “They’re not just waiting for you to join your team. So how many are there anyways in that group?

“If you look at the [elite] guys, some of them have had some tough playoffs. So there’s no guarantee in the goaltending world. It’s the most important [position], but it’s also in some instances not why teams win. So if you have a strong enough team, then there’s been teams that win the Cup without elite goaltending and there’s been teams that won because of their goalie.” — Wyshynski


Is Nashville really open to anything?

Rumblings about the Nashville Predators continue to grow. The Predators are picking at No. 5 but are not in the typical position a team would be in with that selection.

Nashville wants to compete now. And it has a piece of draft capital to wield in trying to land an NHL player from a team that might be closer to that retooling stage.

If there’s a blockbuster happening in the first round, it feels like Nashville will be involved.

Specifically, the Preds could use a viable defenseman to shore up the blue line alongside Roman Josi. And we know from recent offseasons that GM Barry Trotz is willing and able to go all-in as necessary and get creative.

If Trotz believes in Nashville’s opportunity to rebound from a rough 2024-25, he’s likely to consider a fair deal for an NHL-level skater. — Shilton

Continue Reading

Sports

FSU freshman shot, in critical but stable condition

Published

on

By

FSU freshman shot, in critical but stable condition

Florida State freshman linebacker Ethan Pritchard was shot Sunday night and is hospitalized in critical but stable condition in intensive care at a Tallahassee-area hospital, the school said Monday.

According to the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office, Pritchard was inside a vehicle outside an apartment building when the shooting happened Sunday night in Havana, Florida, which is about 16 miles from Tallahassee, near the Georgia state line. An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

In its statement, Florida State said Pritchard was visiting family at the time he was shot.

“The Pritchard family is thankful for the support from so many people, as well as the care from first responders and medical professionals, and asks that their privacy be respected at this time,” the FSU statement said.

Pritchard, who is from Sanford, Florida, enrolled at Florida State in January but did not play in the Seminoles’ season-opening victory against Alabama.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Army player rescues man from burning vehicle

Published

on

By

Army player rescues man from burning vehicle

Army football player Larry Pickett Jr. rescued a man from a burning vehicle early Sunday morning.

Pickett, a second-year cadet at the service academy, was traveling with his family when they saw a crashed vehicle surrounded by downed power lines on Route 9W in Fort Montgomery, New York, about five miles south of Army’s West Point campus.

The Fort Montgomery Fire Department reported Sunday that the vehicle had collided with a utility pole, causing the power lines to fall to the ground.

Videos posted by his family to social media show Pickett and his father lifting the unidentified man from the vehicle and carrying him safely away from the crash scene just moments before the vehicle burst into flames.

The U.S. Military Academy said Sunday in a social media post that it is ” proud of the heroic actions” taken by Pickett and his father.

Army athletic director Tom Theodorakis added that Pickett and his father “exemplify the values we hold dear, stepping up in a moment of crisis to save a life.”

Larry Pickett Sr. told multiple media outlets that the family was returning to West Point late Saturday night after going out to dinner in New York City. A redshirt freshman from Raleigh, North Carolina, the younger Pickett ran toward the vehicle as soon as he saw the crash scene.

“There was no discussion. My son just jumped right into action,” the elder Pickett told Raleigh-based ABC11. “He mentioned his military training kicked in, and we pulled [the man] out. He took care of him on the side of the road until the police officers got there, and then the fire department got there shortly after.”

Pickett had just made his college football debut on Friday night, recording a tackle in the Black Knights’ 30-27 overtime upset loss to FCS opponent Tarleton State.

Continue Reading

Sports

‘It’s made for television’: How North Carolina has changed in nine months under Bill Belichick

Published

on

By

'It's made for television': How North Carolina has changed in nine months under Bill Belichick

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Just minutes before taking the stage at the ACC’s annual kickoff event at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, Bill Belichick scrolled through his phone, reviewing his notes at a table in a dark service corridor as hotel employees stacked plates and glasses around. He had been shuffled through back hallways by conference and school staffers hoping to avoid the majority of the more than 800 media members gathered in an adjacent ballroom, all eager to photograph, question or simply glimpse college football’s biggest celebrity, but the spotlight awaited.

This is the new normal for North Carolina.

“It’s a little like the Deion [Sanders] thing at Colorado,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. “He grabs your attention. It’s made for television.”

The ballroom where Belichick addressed topics as banal as the modern use of the fullback remained packed for his session, the ACC having distributed nearly 40% more credentials than a year earlier. In a breakout room intended for a more informal Q&A, more than 200 reporters elbowed through the crowd to pose a question. Belichick spoke for more than 20 minutes, even cracking a few jokes.

One reporter asked what it was like sitting in living rooms with recruits during the spring.

“I haven’t done that,” Belichick quipped. “That would be a recruiting violation right now.”

For anyone who had lived through Belichick’s chaotic early days of recruiting and roster building, it might have felt like an inside joke. The start to this new era in Chapel Hill was marked by missteps, confusion, broken promises and “harsh” and “businesslike” decisions to nudge players out the door, all while a skeleton staff bereft of college experience struggled to keep up.

“It was very stressful,” said a former member of the staff. “Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”

It was a far cry from Belichick’s presentation at ACC media days this summer, where he appeared at ease in his new world — still far from his promise to bring a national championship to Chapel Hill but more aware of the pitfalls he’d face along the way.

When Belichick met with North Carolina’s team for the first time in December 2024, he delivered a mission statement for a program that has developed a reputation as a perennial underachiever. It was now being led by a man who had won 302 NFL games and six Super Bowls as a head coach. Things were about to change dramatically.

“We’re going to grind every single day,” he told the team, according to veteran quarterback Max Johnson. “It’s a process from January until the season starts.”

That process reaches its apex Monday night when UNC hosts TCU (8 p.m. on ESPN) in Belichick’s first game as a college head coach. It has been, according to more than two dozen sources including former assistants, current and former staffers, high school coaches, players, recruits and members of school administration who spoke with ESPN, at times enlightening and exhilarating, chaotic and tumultuous.

Belichick and his staff have had to adjust on the fly to the intricacies of NCAA recruiting rules, rebuild a roster and dodge scrutiny about the 73-year-old coach and his 24-year-old girlfriend. The promise Belichick didn’t offer to his team that first day, but the one that seems most likely to hold true, is that no part of this era would be boring.

“There’s things that we’re going to deal with that other schools aren’t,” Belichick said in his usual subdued tone. “That’s the way it goes.”


IF BELICHICK’S NFL résumé was a selling point to UNC fans, his status as a college newcomer quickly became uncomfortably apparent to numerous high school coaches, recruits and staffers who spoke to ESPN. They described the December and January recruiting push as a frenetic and disjointed process in which few people seemed to have a clear vision for the program’s direction.

In a quest to “go lean,” Belichick quickly cut ties with much of the previous staff — from assistant coaches to entry-level personnel who handled the basic operations of recruiting. When he was in the office, Belichick spent most of his time behind closed doors in a staff room with Tar Heels GM Mike Lombardi and newly hired personnel staffers Joe Anile and Andrew Blaylock, with one source involved in the process saying the Heels initially couldn’t do “traditional” visits because there were so few people for players to meet with. Another source at UNC said the decision to move on from the prior staff was understandable, but “you still need someone who knows how to book a flight or a hotel.” Multiple sources confirmed Belichick ultimately relented — at least temporarily — rehiring some analysts just to fill the void.

“A couple times they brought in good players and ignored them on their visit,” a source with direct knowledge of the situation said. “There were times that the kids would be waiting 30, 45 minutes or an hour and then all of a sudden, you’re not meeting with Coach Belichick anymore, and we’ll go back to the airport.”

Belichick and his top lieutenants were often flying blind when it came to NCAA rules and regulations, operating by a Silicon Valley-style “move fast and break things” approach, while public records obtained by ESPN show numerous reminders from compliance staff about recruiting quiet periods and NIL restrictions, along with a protracted debate about the boundaries of where coaches could meet with recruits on official visits.

“That’s probably the biggest thing they’ve had to learn, with what you can and can’t do,” another source who has worked with the program said. “They found out fast how many rules we’ve been dealing with over the past couple of years.”

Those initial months were a barrage of hasty evaluations and high-pressure sales pitches.

One recruit, who ultimately didn’t sign with UNC, recalled meeting Belichick for just a few minutes before being handed a contract and asked to sign.

“I kind of felt it was disrespectful to just put me in that situation after just meeting a coach,” the recruit said. “It was just crazy that you’d make a player sign a contract in front of a coach right after you just met him, and you haven’t even talked about numbers yet or anything about what I would get at that school.”

In-state recruit Jariel Cobb was planning a visit to an SEC school when he got a call from UNC, saying Belichick wanted to send a car to pick him up if he could visit campus immediately. When Cobb arrived in Chapel Hill with his mother, they were given the red-carpet treatment, with an array of people in UNC gear shaking hands and lauding the recruit’s skill set. Belichick met with Cobb, who had always dreamed of playing for his home-state Tar Heels but didn’t receive an offer from the prior staff. Belichick delivered a stern analysis: “I don’t know why in the hell they hadn’t offered you, but I looked at the film. I want you.”

“They treated us like celebrities,” Terri Cobb, Jariel’s mother, said. “Other schools had told him to think on it, but right out of the gate, Bill stood up and said, ‘You rocking and rolling with me or what?'”

Cobb signed, enrolled early and went through spring ball with the Tar Heels, calling it a positive experience, but his mother had noted that, during his initial conversations with Belichick, the coach had repeatedly mentioned two other players from Cobb’s high school he hoped would also come to UNC. In retrospect, she wonders if the Tar Heels’ interest in her son was aimed at getting an inside line to other players.

“They were flying through visitors,” the former member of the staff said. “It was unclear if Coach Belichick had evaluated the tape with how quickly they were bringing kids in.”

By the spring, with a full staff and enough time to better evaluate talent, North Carolina went into its second roster rebuild of the offseason. Overall, 39 players transferred out after Belichick’s arrival, including nearly two dozen after spring workouts. Cobb was among them. After just four months at his dream school, he was told he was unlikely to play and encouraged to transfer. It was, according to his mother, a similar story for many of his teammates. Cobb is now at Charlotte, which will play the Tar Heels in Week 2.

Meanwhile, UNC heavily recruited transfers during the spring portal window, which, according to numerous coaches across multiple Power 4 conferences, was described as the most bereft of talent since the portal era began in 2021. The Tar Heels added 23 players.

“There’s a little guesstimate there,” Belichick said. “You do the best you can to figure it out, but it’s a very inexact science.”

To find worthy additions in April and May, North Carolina was aggressive in identifying potential transfers. Five coaches told ESPN that they had been frustrated with North Carolina’s brazen efforts, led by Lombardi, to contact players directly prior to those players entering the portal, with at least one coach contacting Belichick to complain. Though tampering has become commonplace in college football, it’s often done through back-channels — current players talking to friends or former teammates, for example. North Carolina was “blatant” and “brazen,” according to one Power 4 coach. One player who spoke to ESPN said that he had been contacted by UNC in an effort to convince him to transfer, and he was warned not to inform anyone of the communication. If he did, he was told, he could lose his eligibility.

“I don’t think they’re doing anything that hasn’t been done [elsewhere],” one source said, “but I do think it’s such a drastic culture change from [former coach] Mack [Brown], so that it looks completely different to the people at UNC.”

While the style is different, so are the results. UNC already has nine blue-chip commitments for 2026 as Belichick has grown more comfortable with the recruiting process and focused on a national approach to talent acquisition.

“We’re in there with some good schools,” Belichick said, “and it’s good to be able to get kids coming to Carolina over some of the top schools in the country.”

After the rocky start, Belichick has used additional resources promised as part of his hiring to nearly double the recruiting support staff from what existed under Brown, yet it’s often Belichick who’s the linchpin to selling a player.

Belichick’s first time on the road recruiting was traveling to Rolesville High outside Raleigh, North Carolina, to visit brothers Zavion and Jayden Griffin-Haynes. Zavion had been committed to North Carolina under Brown, but decommitted after the coaching change. Jayden never received an offer under the previous staff.

Belichick stayed for nearly two hours, according to Zavion, and he broke down tape with the brothers, a key part of the coach’s sales pitch with high-level recruits.

“They stayed on me,” Zavion said. “They came to see me practice during spring ball. They made sure it was love from UNC and that really stood out to me. He wants me to be the face of the program, but he also said I have to work for it. He’s not just going to hand it to me, but I’m the guy he’s looking for in the program.”

Both brothers committed in June.

Weddington (N.C.) coach Andy Capone remembers Belichick visiting campus this spring to meet with recruit Thomas Davis Jr., and he was awestruck.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of head coaches,” Capone said, “but I’ve only taken a picture with two of them: Nick Saban and Bill Belichick.”

What truly impressed Capone was Belichick’s pitch once the fanfare died down. Belichick described a detailed plan for UNC, spent time with three recruits, including Davis, and, from memory, recited plays he had watched on film from their games, relating each to plays run by some of the greats from Belichick’s past.

“He’d say, ‘This is how I used Lawrence Taylor or Mike Vrabel,'” Capone said. “It was really cool to let them see a perspective of how he sees players in his system.”

Capone said Belichick was honest with his recruits, and he pitched them on his long history of preparing players for the NFL.

Before Belichick departed, Davis, who ultimately committed to Notre Dame, asked the question that has been at the forefront of so many debates since the NFL legend arrived at Carolina. Was Belichick really planning to stay long in Chapel Hill?

“I wouldn’t have taken this job to go back to the NFL,” Belichick told him. “We’re going to win national championships here.”


VINAY PATEL WAS never a Belichick fan. The UNC board of trustees member applauded the hire for the Tar Heels, but he had seen enough of Belichick in the pros to assume he wouldn’t like the guy.

Still, Patel was curious, so he attended a welcome banquet held on campus this winter, hosted by Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.

To his surprise, the event was friendly.

“I expected some pompous SOB, and he definitely wasn’t that,” Patel said. “And she’s not standoffish at all. We chatted, shook hands. She’s polite.”

A few months later, amid a media firestorm surrounding Belichick’s relationship with Hudson, who is nearly 50 years his junior, and her role in managing his personal brand, Patel remembers being perplexed by the seemingly ubiquitous outrage.

“I had a friend saying, ‘Can you believe this Jordon Hudson?’ — this and that,” Patel said. “And I’m just thinking, yes, but if you’d told me a year ago that UNC football was going to be a news story on a daily basis, I’d have thought you were nuts.”

If Patel favored an “all publicity is good publicity” approach, many members of the often staid and conservative UNC community saw it differently. In December, Belichick emailed UNC staff, insisting Hudson be copied on all communications. Hudson proceeded to inject her opinion on how the school’s PR staff operated, sometimes frustrating longtime employees. In one instance, she insisted Steve Belichick never be referred to as Bill’s son, and in a February email, asked to have public comments on UNC football social media sites censored, including one she said described her as “a predator.” UNC public relations replied that it “hid/erased one comment that had been posted about your personal life,” but did not find additional critical comments on UNC football’s Facebook page, according to documents obtained by ESPN in a public records request.

Bill Belichick was frustrated that the emails were shared, according to multiple sources, despite warnings from UNC staff that, as a public university, the athletics department was subject to open records requests.

“He didn’t like it at all, but he’s never worked at a public school,” a UNC source said. “[Hudson] would probably be more involved if we weren’t a public school.”

By the spring, Hudson’s involvement became routine public fodder. At UNC’s final spring practice, Hudson roiled the school’s old guard not only for being on the field, but for the way she was dressed. More attention followed, from a controversial appearance on “CBS Sunday Morning” to reports that Hudson had been banned from UNC’s football facility to suggestions in a New York Times story that a planned season of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” featuring North Carolina was scuttled due to her involvement.

Sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN that the decision to nix the project was ultimately Belichick’s, saying he felt the timing of the HBO show, which would film only during fall camp, wouldn’t showcase the team’s strengths. The school instead pivoted to another project that will air on Hulu and cover North Carolina’s entire season.

Amid the spring’s media frenzy, the school was flooded with complaints from fans, donors and even professors, calling Belichick’s relationship “shameless,” “a disgrace” and “a laughing stock,” with one alum writing, “We’ve always prided ourselves on being a class act, but this is the kind of unnecessary distraction that does more harm than good. If Bill walks, he walks.”

UNC brass, including chancellor Lee Roberts and athletic director Bubba Cunningham, declined to comment on “the private lives of any of our employees,” as Roberts explained, and inside the locker room, few players seemed bothered.

Numerous sources who spoke to ESPN suggested much of the Hudson drama was overblown. One UNC administrator said that Hudson’s initial involvement was simply to “fill a void” until new PR staff could be hired and said Hudson hasn’t been a part of football-related correspondence since early in the spring.

A “talking points” email distributed to PR personnel and Belichick ahead of the ACC’s spring meetings in May detailed Hudson’s role, noting “once staff was in place, after about a month, she was no longer copied on emails. She is not involved in the hiring of staff, recruiting of players, communications related to the program or the building of the program” but “continues to be involved from a scheduling perspective.” The memo also noted that “Jordon is playing an active role in the filming and production of a documentary about Coach Belichick’s first season of college football, so in that capacity, she may be seen on the sidelines of Carolina Football practices or games.”

Multiple sources who spoke to ESPN doubted Belichick had been aware of the outsized attention she generated online — “He’s always watching film, not scrolling through her Instagram” — and believed that after the CBS interview, he took steps to limit her exposure in relation to the football program.

“It’s almost like you’re shielded from it,” one source with knowledge of the program said. “You’re finding all this stuff on TMZ and different sites, but nobody really talked about it around the building. It was more of a big deal nationally than it was here.”


A SMALL ARMY of reporters shuffled aimlessly outside a padlocked gate that, in a few moments, would provide a brief glimpse of North Carolina’s fall camp on a weekday in mid-August. Access to outsiders has been severely restricted, and a pair of onlookers standing at a fourth-floor window in a nearby building had likely already gleaned more information about this Tar Heels team than the local media had all summer.

In the Belichick era, there are insiders and there are outsiders.

North Carolina has beefed up security. When one local reporter used binoculars to glimpse Hudson and other visitors at a UNC practice through a narrow window of the indoor practice facility, a guard immediately interrupted. The football building inside Kenan Stadium has been off limits to all nonessential football personnel, and the school installed facial recognition sensors to enter the facility. No UNC player was permitted to speak to the media for the first six months of Belichick’s tenure, and Belichick is also skipping a weekly radio show, typically a staple for college coaches, ceding the stage to Lombardi.

Belichick’s staff is filled with trusted confidants. Lombardi had been an advisor with the New England Patriots and even co-hosted Belichick’s podcast. Lombardi’s son, Matt, is UNC’s quarterbacks coach. Two of Belichick’s sons — Steve and Brian — coach on defense. One of his former players, Jamie Collins, is the inside linebackers coach. Several sources suggest senior staff members monitor outgoing communications from other staffers to curtail leaks about the inner workings of the program.

On the inside, however, the view of Belichick has been far different than the public persona he has projected for decades.

“They’ve been really easy and good to work with,” said Cunningham, who had initially been skeptical of the hire. “It’s a different model. They wanted to bring in their own coaches and personnel and recruiting people, people they’ve worked with previously. It’s a very personable staff.”

This winter, Belichick had pizza delivered to UNC fraternities and sororities ahead of the Heels’ men’s basketball game against Duke. He did the same for several of UNC’s winter and spring sports teams.

Belichick is a longtime lacrosse fan, and as he surveyed the football practice field during the spring — the same field where the lacrosse teams practice — he posed a question: Where are the lacrosse lines? Belichick was told that, if the football team practices that morning, the lacrosse field wouldn’t get painted.

“He said, ‘Paint the lines,’ and we got them,” UNC’s women’s lacrosse coach Jenny Levy said. “I think he’s diving into what college athletics is all about.”

Former UNC linebacker Jeff Schoettmer attended the school’s “Practice Like a Pro” day to conclude spring practice, and he watched Belichick mingle with recruits, transfers and their parents. At a banquet afterward, the coach met with former players and donors.

“It’s pretty incredible to see how easily he moves among different types of people,” Schoettmer said. “Him holding court with former players — it’s just like you see some of these extroverted coaches who’ll talk to anybody, but you don’t expect Bill to sit there and tell war stories with guys he’s never coached. But that’s how much love I think he has for North Carolina.”

Inside the football facility, Belichick thought Brown’s former office on the fourth floor of the football building was isolating, so he set up his own office on the second floor to be in the same space occupied by the players.

“I can’t coach the players if I’m not around them,” Belichick told ESPN. “I try to go in and out of meetings and be visible and present.”

Cunningham said he has been struck by how accessible Belichick is to the team, routinely sitting in film study sessions and breaking down plays.

In June, Belichick met with his quarterbacks each day for about an hour, a process that began during his tenure with the Patriots because, he said, “It’s important for the coach and the quarterback to be on the same page.”

Johnson, one of the few holdovers from Brown’s 2024 team, said the involvement of the coach in the small details of the game is unlike anything he had seen.

“We did something different every day,” Johnson said. “Everything is really detailed, and that’s what I’ve loved.”

If Belichick’s tenure has been marked by a steadfast devotion to those in his orbit at the expense of those on the outside, it has done little to temper enthusiasm around the program.

Donations are up, season tickets are sold out, and UNC has added new premium-seating options that will further expand its revenue opportunities. Rick Barakat, the athletics department’s new chief revenue officer, said UNC will exceed its all-time gross revenue record this year.

“The pitch has changed because the excitement’s never been higher,” Barakat said. “We’ve had bouts of success historically, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen Carolina football at the level it is right now in the national news cycle, and that trickles down into every conversation.”

Even entities in Belichick’s orbit seemed to bask in the glow of newfound attention. Phillips raved that Belichick “is great for the ACC and great for North Carolina.” One executive for the Charlotte 49ers referred to a sizable uptick in season ticket sales as “The Belichick Bump,” and AD Mike Hill was tasked with finding more seating capacity for the Week 2 game by bringing in “bleachers everywhere.” Charlotte’s initial advertising for the game focused on Belichick, a decision critiqued by the school’s chancellor, according to public records obtained by ESPN, for ignoring its own new coach, Tim Albin.

Many of North Carolina’s administrators who spoke to ESPN said the investment would be judged on wins and losses, but it’s also possible the spotlight could be a springboard to something else.

“You’re seeing a lot more people involved as far as helping out the program,” one of those sources said. “You can feel that UNC is embracing more on the football end. It’s been the talk of the last two years, but the push to get to the SEC, I think, was a major reason for this show of investment in football.”


UPON HIS HIRE, Belichick immediately pushed a new tagline for Tar Heels football. They would be “the 33rd NFL team,” and those early days included an influx of professional know-how, from Lombardi to former Patriots nutritionist Josh Grimes and Moses Cabrera, Belichick’s longtime strength and conditioning guru.

“Coach B comes in with a different mindset in terms of everything’s going to be at the highest level possible, no matter what he has to do to get there,” wide receiver Jordan Shipp said.

Belichick has delivered that message repeatedly, both inside the locker room and to the media, often saying players who “don’t want to work, they don’t want to be good. That’s OK, but if you’re like that, Carolina’s a bad place to be. It’s too important to the rest of us.”

Belichick retained Freddie Kitchens as the lone full-time position coach from the previous staff, in large part because of his NFL background. Kitchens spent 16 years in the NFL before moving on to college, including a stint as the Cleveland Browns head coach. Belichick has said all of the systems they are implementing — from offense to defense to special teams — are NFL-based.

“Fundamentals and techniques that go with them are based on that too, practice, structure, meeting, installation, teaching. There were some modifications we had to make, but basically it’s all the same,” Belichick said.

Belichick has gotten more used to recruiting as well. Those who interacted with him on the recruiting trail in January noticed a big difference in their exchanges six months later, describing him as “more personable.”

“He understands that he had to change his way of doing things, and he’s doing that, and he’s really adapting to this new culture,” said Rolesville (N.C.) coach Ranier Rackley, who has three players committed to UNC. “So that’s why he’s getting a lot of these guys because of that.”

Collins, who played for Belichick for parts of seven seasons during a 10-year NFL career, said he has seen a softening of the coach who, in the pros, was known for his all-business approach to relationships.

“The old Bill comes out, but we live in a different world now,” Collins said. “I’ve seen a different side of Bill coaching these guys.”

In June, Rackley brought a group of players to UNC’s 7-on-7 camp, and he took note of Belichick moving from one group to the next, watching as many teams and players as possible. There was a different energy to the experience, he said.

In all, nearly 4,000 kids showed up during UNC football camps that month. For Belichick, who has often downplayed the leap from the NFL to college, it was an eye-opening moment.

“Once you actually see it, it feels like Normandy,” Belichick told ESPN. “It’s like, ‘Here they come.'”

North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC title since 1980, but with Belichick on the sideline, there’s no lack of optimism in Chapel Hill.

“We’re here to win football games,” Shipp said. “He let us know that yeah, we’re going to have a spotlight. But that’s not what we’re worried about. We’re worried about winning games.”

For UNC, though, there’s more to the story. Belichick is a bona fide winner, but he’s also a show — occasionally controversial, often recalcitrant, sometimes funny — and for a program looking for attention, he has delivered.

“We want to be competitive in football,” Roberts said. “We want to be part of the national conversation. Carolina stands for excellence across the board, and we want to be excellent in football. I think we’re well on our way.”

What comes after that remains a mystery — one Belichick has fiercely protected throughout a long offseason. Now, the veil is lifted.

The new era of North Carolina football is here.

Michael Rothstein and Eli Lederman contributed to this story.

Continue Reading

Trending