Photo: Getty Images
Six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick still has a realistic path back to the NFL, despite accepting the head football coaching position at the University of North Carolina on Thursday (December 12), due to a clause in his contract.
Belichick's five-year, $50 million deal has a $10 million buyout should he decide to leave, but only through June 1, 2025, at which point it will decrease to $1 million, according to the Athletic senior college football writer Chris Vannini.
"Bill Belichick's buyout to leave is $10 million... until June 1, 2025, when it drops to $1 million. So it will be easy for Belichick to go back to the NFL after one year if the opportunity presents itself," Vannini wrote on his X account.
Belichick's new deal is also fully guaranteed for the first three years, but not the final two, according to Ralph D. Russo, who previously reported that the contract ran three years before North Carolina clarified otherwise.
"Terms of Bill Belichick’s 5-year deal. The first three years of the deal are fully guaranteed. The final two are not," Russo wrote along with the contract details shared as an image on his X account.
"Never seen a college coaching contract like this. It basically is a three-year deal, without a clear explanation on who picks up the option on an extra two years," Vannini added in response to his colleague's post.
Inside Carolina's Adam Smith initially reported that North Carolina was finalizing a deal with Belichick as its next head coach on Wednesday.
"In a stunning development that has progressed from implausible to an actuality, North Carolina is finalizing a contract to land Bill Belichick as its next football coach, Inside Carolina learned from multiple sources on Wednesday," Smith wrote.
Belichick, who interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons' vacancy earlier this year after 24 seasons with the New England Patriots, is the third-winningest coach in NFL history and one of seven NFL head coaches to have spent more than 20 years with one franchise following George Halas (40) of the Chicago Bears, Curly Lambeau (29) of the Green Bay Packers, Tom Landry (29) of the Dallas Cowboys, Don Shula (26) of the Miami Dolphins, Steven Owen (24) of the New York Giants and Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers, all of whom have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.