BOSTON – New UNC football coach Bill Belichick will not return to the state he has called home for the past two decades, as school officials have told ESPN he is not expected to attend Saturday morning’s Fenway Bowl.

Belichick’s new program will close the final chapter of its 2024 season when the Tar Heels (6-6) face UConn (8-4) at 11 a.m. at Fenway Park on ESPN, even if Belichick will not be present at the Fenway Bowl on media day Friday his presence became apparent.

“I think it was really exciting,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham told ESPN. “People are excited about the future. We talked about how college sports are really changing. The idea of ​​having Bill and someone with his background in professional sports join us is something we are all excited about. That’s the direction we’re going in, and it’s good to be an early adopter.”

UNC linebacker Amare Campbell said Belichick was not at UNC bowl practice. Cunningham said this ties into the same reason he won’t be in the bowl game – Belichick doesn’t want to be a distraction.

“He was completely focused on building the squad,” Cunningham said. “He didn’t want to go to practice or distract the kids or coaches at the bowl game.”

He added: “It was great. He and Mike Lombardi locked themselves in a room and really spent the entire time since his announcement building the roster for this spring and next year.”

Campbell entered the portal and then returned to UNC after being pitched by Belichick. He had 72 tackles and 10.5 TFLs for UNC in 2024 and won the team’s defensive MVP award. He received interest from SMU, Colorado and Michigan, he said, but stayed because of the plan Belichick laid out to him in a phone conversation.

“I knew how he would develop me and we would compete at a high level,” Campbell said.

On the recruiting process, he added: “You know how it is, it’s monotonous. He has a kind of robotic voice. He just said, ‘We’re going to compete, we’re going to get better. We’ “I go to work every day.” And that’s been my attitude since I grew up. This is something I can really support and I trust him as a coach.

With interim coach Freddie Kitchens joining Belichick’s staff Friday and representing UNC, the coach and players presented a universally consistent message: “Be where your feet are” to stick with the game. He said he talks to Belichick every day, but he won’t have any influence on the game.

UNC is looking to avoid its first losing season since 2021, and UConn is aiming for the school’s first nine-win season since 2007. Even the Fiesta Bowl team only won eight games in 2010.

Mora may have had the best insight into what awaits Belichick, having been a head coach with the Falcons and Seahawks before taking the head job at UCLA in 2012. He said Belichick’s biggest challenge will be dealing with a different age group, namely college players, who need their coaches in different ways.

“If he just brings out the fatherly side of him, he’ll be fine, and he has (his son) Steve there (as defensive coordinator) and I think that creates a family atmosphere,” Mora said. “Bill is a professional and he is incredibly smart and will adapt well. And football is football, he’s a master at it. I just feel like I just feel like he’s going to fall in love with (college football) like I did.”