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Bill Belichick is a football icon. There’s no disputing that. His eight Super Bowls as a coach and 333 career wins speak for themselves. However, the sport he’s become synonymous with wasn’t his first love. It was lacrosse.

Growing up in Annapolis, Maryland — a lacrosse hotbed — Belichick became enamored with the Naval Academy, he told ESPN’s Paul Carcaterra in 2016. Belichick watched as Willis Bilderback built consistent championship rosters in the 1960s. It inspired him to play in high school and later at Wesleyan College.

Despite eventually taking the football coaching route, his affinity for lacrosse never wavered. His son Stephen played the sport at Rutgers, while his daughter Amanda became the women’s lacrosse coach at Holy Cross in 2015.

When North Carolina hired Belichick last December, his football pedigree dominated the headlines. But coming to a school with a storied lacrosse program added a wrinkle.

“When football recruits meet him and when lacrosse recruits meet him, that’s significant, and he has that tie of playing the same game,” Carcaterra told The Daily Orange. “There’s a lot of carryover, and that’s why I think someone like Coach Belichick understands that, because he’s lived in both spaces.”

Chapel Hill was a perfect landing spot for Belichick to intertwine his passion for both sports. Belichick developed a close relationship with current UNC and former Syracuse men’s lacrosse defensive coordinator Dave Pietramala during his time at Johns Hopkins. The connection allows Belichick to recruit elite lacrosse talent who might share an interest in playing football.

That element has already had an impact on North Carolina’s football program, which will face off against Syracuse on Friday. The 73-year-old has landed multiple dual-sport commits since arriving nine months ago.

Despite struggling to a 2-5 record to open his tenure at UNC, Bill Belichick has made a recruiting impact in both football and lacrosse. Courtesy of The Daily Tarheel

Jermaine Anderson, a four-star long stick midfielder, initially committed to UNC solely for lacrosse in 2023. Once Belichick was hired, he was offered a spot on the football team. Five-star 2025 lacrosse recruit Gary Merrill also initially pledged his dual-sport allegiance, though he decided to focus on lacrosse in August. Crew Davis — the second-best 2026 running back in New York, according to 247Sports — committed to UNC for football and lacrosse in February.

2027 UNC lacrosse commit Anthony Asaro is also a standout running back for Garden City High School (NY). Though Belichick hasn’t extended him a football offer yet, Asaro, Inside Lacrosse’s No. 6 overall recruit in his class, hopes to feature on the gridiron.

“It’s great that he loves both sports, he gets the best athletes for them,” Asaro said of Belichick.

The future Hall of Fame coach wasted no time integrating himself with the UNC lacrosse program. According to USA Lacrosse, Belichick’s first stop upon arriving in Chapel Hill was head coach Joe Breschi’s office, where he left him a handwritten note. Breschi said Belichick later told him, “Whatever you need for the lacrosse program, let me know.”

“(Breschi and Pietramala) were basically the people that he was closest to on campus,” Inside Lacrosse CEO Terry Foy said.

The connection between football and lacrosse coaches is paramount with dual-sport athletes, according to Foy. That’s why Belichick’s relationships with Pietramala and Breschi prove crucial. Foy said if someone is rostered for football, that’s where their scholarship is allocated. Typically, that means football takes priority. Some cases are different.

For example, take Notre Dame’s Jordan Faison, a standout midfielder and wide receiver. Faison walked onto the football team as a freshman while also helping the lacrosse team to the 2024 National Championship. Foy said there’s an understanding between Marcus Freeman and men’s lacrosse head coach Kevin Corrigan about Faison’s responsibilities.

When Notre Dame made the College Football Playoff Championship last season, Faison missed lacrosse practice to start the season. Eventually, he rejoined the Fighting Irish, finishing with 22 goals and eight assists. In 2025, he’s developed into Notre Dame’s best receiver with a team-high 436 yards.

The football/lacrosse crossover is nothing new. One of the first — and most iconic — examples is former Syracuse superstar Jim Brown. The legend tore up the gridiron while also shining as a lacrosse player.

More recently, Belichick helped former Penn State lacrosse standout Chris Hogan become a reliable NFL wide receiver. Hogan spent three seasons in Happy Valley before transferring to Monmouth for his final year of eligibility. After bouncing around several NFL practice squads, Hogan established himself with the Buffalo Bills.

However, his most notable contributions came with Belichick and the New England Patriots from 2016-2018. Hogan recorded 1,651 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns in that span, helping Belichick capture his fifth and sixth Super Bowls.

Jared Bernhardt — the 2021 Tewaaraton Award winner — is also part of the lacrosse-to-football pipeline. Bernhardt spent four years playing lacrosse at Maryland before transferring to Ferris State to play football in his graduate season. While he eventually gave up football, Bernhardt ended up playing a season in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.

Bernhardt, Hogan and others focused on one sport before switching to another. Recently, playing both at once has become more common, Foy said.

“I always think it’s very good to play two sports, because the footwork, steps and the motions, correlate with both sports,” Asaro said.

Belichick hasn’t publicly stated he’s emphasizing recruiting football and lacrosse players, but his presence looms large. In April, when No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Boston College matched up on the women’s side, Belichick was spotted on the sidelines.

“In general, for men’s and women’s, I think he’s put UNC in a great spot, because he has the best interests of those programs,” Carcaterra said.

Following the House vs NCAA settlement in June, UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham announced the athletic department was increasing its scholarships from 338 to 532. With Belichick’s notoriety, it’s brought in extra revenue for UNC’s athletic department, which can trickle down to the school’s non-revenue sports. Foy said lacrosse isn’t necessarily a direct beneficiary of UNC’s policy, but due to Belichick’s passion for the sport, “it’s reasonable to assume it’d have a significant effect on the program.”

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For recruiting, it’s hard to gauge the impact Belichick will have on dual-sport athletes. Going forward, Carcaterra expects to see more dual athletes at UNC, while Foy said time will tell.

The challenge is retaining athletes for both. Each sport is physically demanding, and considering football can end in December while lacrosse starts in January, playing both doesn’t leave much of a break.

“It’s definitely hard, it’s gonna be something that I manage,” Asaro said. “I just think that I’ll be able to do it and just kind of lock in with both.”

Cultivating a football-lacrosse pipeline at North Carolina could be a challenge. Belichick first needs to sort out his team’s performance, as it sits at 2-5. Rumors have swirled about Belichick’s future with the program after a rocky start and additional off-the-field drama.

But that won’t be on his mind Friday, as Belichick gets ready to compete in one of lacrosse’s pantheons: the JMA Wireless Dome. Belichick doesn’t get caught up in the dramatics. He’s known for being nonchalant and non-sentimental. As he gears up to face the Orange, his focus is on helping UNC capture its first win over a Power Four opponent this season.

Yet, as a lacrosse junkie, Belichick can’t escape the mystique of the Dome. One look up, and he’ll see Paul and Gary Gait’s jerseys hanging in the rafters, alongside Mike Powell’s. It might be out of character, but for one moment, Belichick can bask in the Dome’s glory.

“He knows the history of the sport and the significance, and he’s watched a ton of games over the years that have been played in that house,” Carcaterra said. “So yeah, I’m sure he’ll connect. But he’s such a professional and a great coach that it’ll probably last for just a second.”

Published on October 29, 2025 at 11:54 pm
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