Three years after extra-long, mega contracts for head coaches were all the rage in college football, North Carolina just gave six-time Super Bowl Bill Belichick a deal that will be half the length of Dillon Gabriel’s playing career.
The three-year contract Belichick, 72, agreed to Wednesday, according to multiple people briefed on the terms, is two years shorter than the extension former Tar Heels coach Mack Brown received in 2023, which ran through 2028.
The super long deals were all the rage in 2021. Michigan State was among the first to dive in, giving 10 years, $95 million guaranteed to Mel Tucker.
What followed was 8-10 year deals for James Franklin at Penn State, Mario Cristobal at Miami, Brian Kelly at LSU and Lincoln Riley at USC.
The industry standard nowadays is six and up for big programs.
Conventional wisdom is coach contracts need to have at least four or five years remaining on them at all times so recruits can feel assure they will have the same coach throughout their careers. But with players so transient these days because of free transfers, does that even matter anymore?
