Fans brutally claimed that Bill Belichick is ‘tarnishing his legacy’ after his North Carolina tenure went from bad-to-worse on Saturday afternoon.
The Tar Heels were destroyed by the Clemson Tigers in Belichick’s fifth game in charge and found themselves 35-3 down at half-time in-front of their home crowd.
For some fans, that proved to be enough. ESPN’s broadcast cameras caught the moment when hundreds of UNC fans flooded for the exits before half-time.
And, in fairness to those that left, they didn’t miss much. After the break, a total of 10 points were scored in the game, which finished 38-10 in Clemson’s favor.
It meant that Belichick and the Tar Heels’ record moved to 2-3 for the season, as the legendary NFL coach struggles to adjust to life in college football.
Before the game was over, Belichick’s critics had piled onto social media to claim that he was ruining his legacy and urged him to retire from coaching.
Bill Belichick had an afternoon to forget as his Tar Heels were destroyed by Clemson Tigers
The Tar Heels found themselves 35-3 down at half-time in-front of their home crowd
ESPN’s broadcast cameras caught the moment when hundred of fans headed for the exits
Taking to X, one fan wrote: ‘Belichick should have retired when Tom Brady left town. He is tarnishing his legacy.
‘His stint at UNC will go down as a disastrous ending to a Hall of Fame career. He brought it all on to himself’.
‘North Carolina is Belichick without Brady and Gronk’, one brutally said.
Another wrote: ‘#Clemson has played much, much better. Love the motion, the movement. And UNC is a mess’
Meanwhile, Dave Portnoy said: ‘I would not hold it against Belichick if he just quit at halftime and was never seen again. Somebody has to get him the hell out of college football asap’.
To make matters worse, during the broadcast, ESPN aired an interview with a UNC student that pulled no punches when describing the team’s dire form.
Reflecting on their defeat to TCU on the opening day, the student said: ‘TCU was… I went to that game. And that was, that was one of the saddest feelings I’ve had in University so far. I’ve failed midterms before, so that’s saying something.’
Belichick will be hoping that he’s able to turn his form around when the Tar Heels next take to the field. UNC have another open week before visiting California on Oct. 17.
Fans – including Dave Portnoy – were quick to rip into Belichick on social media after the loss
Meanwhile, last month, a former leader at UNC filed a lawsuit against the school’s current board of trustees – accusing them of illegally hiring Belichick.
Chris Clemens, a former provost at the school, and his lawyer David McKenzie filed the suit in Orange County Superior Court – alleging the hiring of the 73-year-old head coach occurred in a closed session.
The suit alleges that UNC leadership have a ‘pattern and practice’ of hiding ‘matters of grave public concern behind closed doors.’
Clemens additionally alleges he was punished for ‘leaking closed-session information’ to faculty about a meeting with tenure deferral as a central topic in the lawsuit.
