Bill Belichick‘s head-coaching debut with the University of North Carolina is going to get some big-time TV attention. So much so, that the game against TCU has been moved from its originally scheduled slot (on Saturday Aug. 30) to Monday night, Sept. 1, and will have a standalone time slot on ESPN.
This is a significant change and shows the power of having a big-name coach in charge of your program.
Instead of getting lost in the shuffle of a strong opening week slate of games, that also includes Notre Dame vs. Miami, LSU vs. Clemson and Alabama vs. Florida State, the Tar Heels will now be getting a prime-time, national TV audience all to themselves.
It’s also one week before ESPN starts its slate of games for “Monday Night Football.”
North Carolina’s program has descended into mediocrity over the past few years and is coming off a 6-6 season under former head coach Mack Brown and a bowl game loss. But with Belichick arriving and bringing in an entirely new way of building the team (complete with a general manager in Michael Lombardi), expectations are going to dramatically increase. Rapidly.
This also figures to be the first of many North Carolina games to get major attention on ESPN given its broadcast agreement with the ACC.
Belichick is the most successful coach in NFL history with six Super Bowl rings as a head coach (and two more as an assistant) and is one of the biggest names in the sport. That sort of hire immediately takes your program from afterthought to prime time. North Carolina is already seeing the impacts of that before even playing in its first game.
