The toughest schedules for hot seat coaches in 2025: No. 14 – Bill Belichick

Pressure is a part of being a Power Four college football coach. It’s constant: pressure to manage the roster, pressure to raise money, and, most importantly, pressure to win games and championships. FBSchedules is counting down the toughest schedules for coaches on the proverbial hot seat with the most pressure to win in 2025, and it all starts with No. 14: Bill Belichick.

Yes, that Bill Belichick.

Why Bill Belichick is Already on the Hot Seat at North Carolina

Despite not having coached a single game in Chapel Hill, Bill Belichick is already raising eyebrows, not just for his coaching philosophy. Instead, his personal life has taken center stage this offseason.

As reported by Pablo Torre, Belichick’s relationship with 24-year-old Jordan Hudson, a former cheerleader, has become a media spectacle and an unwelcome distraction. Torre notes that several influential UNC boosters and power brokers have privately voiced their discomfort with the optics and attention the situation has brought to the program. For a coach who was supposed to usher in a new era of professionalism and discipline, this tabloid-fueled storyline has cast early doubts on his cultural fit in Chapel Hill.

Do you think Bill Belichick makes it to Week 1 with UNC after the recent reporting about his relationship with Jordon Hudson?

"I think there's an absolutely real chance that he doesn't." – @PabloTorre 👀👀 pic.twitter.com/tzRhlklOeS

— The Domonique Foxworth Show (@FoxworthShow) May 12, 2025

That said, Belichick still commands respect for his football resume, and with the right results in Year 1, he could quickly silence critics. Fortunately, he has a schedule tailor-made for early success.

Easiest Path to Redemption? The 2025 Schedule

The Tar Heels’ 2025 schedule is among the most forgiving in the Power Four, giving Belichick a golden opportunity to start strong and shift the narrative.

North Carolina opens with three very manageable non-conference games: TCU at home (Monday, Sept. 1), at Charlotte (Sept. 6), and Richmond at home (Sept. 13). While TCU has been good, to very good, two of the last three seasons, that one bad season was terrible in 2023 and the Horned Frogs are a bit of a wild card. Sunny Dykes does have Josh Hoover, one of the best Big XII quarterbacks, returning along with some continuity on the offensive line, but the Horned Frogs struggled to run the ball last season. You know Belichick will ensure that UNC doesn’t allow the Horned Frogs to find ground efficiency in a Monday night environment in Chapel Hill. If UNC can’t beat Charlotte and Richmond, well, the seat will get hotter really fast.

In ACC play, the draw is just as favorable. Belichick plays Clemson at home, but avoids Miami, Florida State, Louisville, and SMU altogether. FanDuel has the expected win totals for Miami, Louisville, and SMU at 8.5 and FSU’s at 7.5. Those are only behind that of Clemson at 9.5. The Tar Heels get to play Cal, Stanford, Virginia, and Wake Forest. All four teams finished 3-5 or worse in the conference a year ago and had a lot of transfer portal attrition this past offseason. Syracuse is a game sandwiched between those that could be very tough, especially on Halloween up in the dome on a Friday night.

Playing Duke at home and NC State on the road will be challenging in the last two weeks of the regular season. Rivalry games are always difficult and unpredictable, and who knows what the health of each team will be by that point in the season?

In short, Belichick has no excuse not to deliver at least a winning season. With few true landmines on the schedule and having brought in some significant talent via the transfer portal, the real battle may be off the field, convincing UNC stakeholders that he’s the long-term answer. But from a football standpoint, no coach on the hot seat has an easier path to a bounce-back year than Bill Belichick.