At the start of 2025, we wrote to you about January’s big news – the hiring of Bill Belichick as UNC’s football coach. Now as 2025 wraps and we’re at the conclusion of Belichick’s first season as coach, it feels fitting to revisit that topic and highlight a new sports-related controversy that’s brewing – the future of the Smith Center.
Belichick’s Tough Season
Carolina’s win-loss record this season was obviously disappointing for fans and concerning for those who followed what a sweetheart deal Bill Belichick received and the controversial process that led to it. So what went wrong? Perhaps it’s not as much about talent as it is about mindset.
As Luke DeCock wrote in his News & Observer column “Whatever it costs to move on from Bill Belichick, North Carolina has to pay it”:
“The fact that he cannot, at the end of that first season, bring himself to engage with even the most basic elements of what the role entails — his players knew the assignment, to their credit, offering their thoughtful perspective on a difficult season — only reinforces how uninterested he’s been all along. He was always a bad fit as a college coach, a role where, unlike the NFL, your public demeanor is a big part of the job.”
What DeCock highlights runs deeper, though. Being an NFL coach is a much different role than being a college coach. And perhaps more important than a college coach’s public demeanor is how they conduct themselves behind the scenes.
Belichick’s football program needs more than a remedy for the losing record. It needs to address the off-the-field activities of athletes – the speeding tickets, the reckless driving and the general culture of disorganization and division.
Carolina is famed for coaches like Dean Smith and Roy Williams. Did these men have impressive, winning records that made them legends? Yes. But what truly made them great – and so intertwined in Carolina’s history and identity – is how they saw themselves as leaders, mentors and caretakers for the young men on their rosters.
Dean Smith believed in doing things “The Carolina Way,” and that mindset reverberated throughout the Carolina community. To Dean Smith, his players’ performance in the classroom and in life was even more important than what they did on the court. Smith saw himself as an integral part of his players’ lives, and his student athletes were an integral part of Carolina’s community, as they saw themselves truly as students and not only athletes looking to go pro.
We all know that many, many of Smith’s athletes did go pro – but one of Coach Smith’s proudest accomplishments was his players’ 96.6% graduation rate.
Belichick would be wise to take note and heed “The Carolina Way” that has made this school and its athletics programs so successful. The best way to build teams and athletes on a college level is to continue building character. These are not grown men in the rough-and-tumble world of pro sports. These are young men entering a school-sponsored program as teenagers, and they are enrolled in an institution to develop their skills and get an education. Recognizing that will improve the lives and future prospects of these athletes – and Belichick’s coaching staff might even be surprised to see it improve the numbers on the scoreboard.
The Future of the Smith Center
The ethos of “The Carolina Way” that has led to so much investment in Carolina from athletics alumni also leads us to our next topic – the future of Carolina’s basketball venue.
There has been behind-the-scenes talk of renovating the current Smith Center or moving it to a new site, with some school officials reportedly leaning toward a new Carolina North venue.
“UNC chancellor Lee Roberts said this summer that he would like to make a formal announcement on the university’s final decision on the Smith Center’s future by the end of the year. That announcement will likely be delayed at least until next month, according to multiple sources familiar with the process.”
A prime reason for a delayed announcement could be the quick organizing of many Carolina athletics alumni when they heard administration officials favored a new Carolina North location and were attempting to get it rubber stamped.
A letter to Chancellor Roberts [TM1] signed by dozens of notable Carolina alumni, including “prominent boosters, retired coaches and administrators, former Board of Trustees members and former Tar Heel players spanning seven decades and five national championship teams,” urges against the Smith Center move. The full text of the letter reads:
“Chancellor Roberts,
We the undersigned, do not support the move of the Smith Center and our historic Carolina Men’s Basketball program off campus, specifically to Carolina North. We appreciate that you have decided to postpone any announcement about such relocation of our basketball arena and that you are now open to having select focus groups to hear from significant stakeholders. These sessions we trust are to create an open process for evaluating on campus options with greater collaboration. As stakeholders, we feel we have not been included to date in any known process and feel strongly that the Smith Center and men’s basketball must remain on campus.
We are interested in a far less expensive and far more fan and student friendly experience of a renovation or rebuild of the Smith Center on South Campus to include needed surrounding enhancements and amenities, long promised and underdelivered. We further wish to honor Dean Smith’s request that our cherished basketball brand and legacy always remain on campus. We feel this is all possible and hope for a collaborative process moving forward!”
As these alumni note, the current location of the Smith Center prioritized student and campus community access. It was important to Dean Smith that the venue was in a convenient location where students could walk to the games.
An abandonment of process and transparency led to all sorts of headaches this football season. It’s led to countless other issues recently in admissions meddling, tenure approval holdups and the creation of a controversial new school on campus. Let’s be sure it doesn’t happen in the decision-making process of the future home of our treasured basketball program. Thank you to the members of the Carolina community who jumped into action to sign the letter to Chancellor Roberts. That commitment to Carolina is how we’ll preserve “The Carolina Way” in the years to come.
[TM1]Can we post the letter somewhere so we can link to it here?